Wonder what made this...

[Unreal_tk]

Found this on a back dirt road in the woods here, my thoughts was a bobcat scratch possibly or maybe squirrels? It wasn't high enough to be a marten I don't think.

[Ker_man]

Is that one of those china imports? Sorry couldn't resist.

[Marshall]

Your knife

[mark]

Looks like it was made by a red headed double breasted bed thrasher

[Unreal_tk]

It was made by something other than me, nice knife jokes lol.

[Tom A]

Some kind of bird scratch.

[Mike Leonard]

I have seen similar marks on old roads and trails before . you can see the animal that made them was scratching from the bottom to the top as the photo shows and the nail prints trace out to just a slight scratch at the end.

If you have ever watched a coyote or a fox for that matter go along and smell a spot and investigate the smell at times they will rake it slightly with a paw hoping to unveil a little more scent for confirmation of the source. i would guess this was a pup coyote doing the scratch and sniff test. LOL!

I have several hounds that when a track really gets old and has some time and or weather on it they will scratch it with a paw to reveal more scent sniff it and confirm and then bark and move on.

[Unreal_tk]

That makes sense Mike, thanks for the input. I've seen these several times, but never was to sure on what had done it. I have hear of dogs licking a track as well when it is hard going, have you seen this before?