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My uncle took this cast of a track a few years ago on a prairie road by his farm. Sorry if the pictures aren't the best. And I don't have the exact measurements of the print.





The "L" made by my hand has the following dimensions:

From the crook in the "L" it is 5 inches to to top of my index finger. From the same point it is 3 inches to the end of my thumb.

Could be a long tail but it is tough to tell with the pics

I tell you what, it looks like a bear track to me, front pad maybe. What part of the state?

It was found between Heaton and Cathay, ND. If you don't know where that is it is in the Central part of ND, about 20 miles west of Carrington.

I know it isn't the best picture. When I was back there for deer hunting I quick snapped a photo of it on the way out.

Is there claws visible infront of the toes?

I looked at that. I know that if it's a cat there will be no claw marks seen. I couldn't make any out from what I saw. I am not sure what he used to make the cast or if it is the right stuff to use. I am however going back there over Christmas and I will look at it again, get some measurements, take some better pictures, and look at the claw situation.

I see Bear tracks all the time around my place. You do not always see claw marks with bear tracks. It just depends on how soft of mud you have. I have bears right behind the house and I can find tracks almost any day of the week. The more I look at the casting it looks like a bear track. Across the front pad anything over 5" would be considered a big bear. 3.5" - 4.5" would be a typical size bear maybe 150lb to about 250 lb. When I lived in Buxton North Dakota there was a bear spotted several times just East of town. I have a friend who lived up by Bottineu, ND and he had pics of a couple of bears that the locals farmers had given him.

I will have to give my uncle a call one of these nights and see if he has heard of any bear sightings around the time he made the cast. I never expected someone to say it could belong to a bear!

I talked to my uncle last night. The track was found in soft mud a few years ago. The reason he took the cast of it was he was suprised as there were NO claw marks to be found at all.

Well, I sent your pictures off to a biologist, Sue Mansfield that I know that is suppose to be an expert on tracks and sign. I will let you know what I find out.

I will pretty dumb if it turns out to be a big dog or something.

Hi Jamie -

This looks like a cougar track to me. A bear's palm pad is large in comparison to its toe pads, and the toes form a nice arc over the palm pad. A bear's palm pad is also asymmetrical -- with the wider part being towards the outside. The slightly tear-drop shape of the toe pads in your track picture is also cat-like.

Below is a set of bear tracks frozen in ice -- the front left is the top one, rear left is the lower one. Notice the kidney-shaped palm pad on the front foot -- with the narrow part towards the inside. The small inner toe did not register so it appears to have only 4 toes -- same for the rear track. Notice the gentle arc formed by the toes over the pad.


Hope this helps.

Sue

That's pretty sweet. Thanks for looking into that Jamie.

you bet, it is cool figuring that stuff out.