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I have hunted lions for the majority of my life and I have wondered the exact same thing in my younger days,so I sarted paying attention a little bit more.I have meassured every track over the years that i have ever turned loose on and caught and i have came up with this....If you meassure its stride(meaning from the toes or center of its left or right foot to the next place it puts its right or left foot) and it is 40 inches or over,it is gonna be a tom 100% of the time.Anything under that will be a female.A tom by the time he is weaned from his momma will have a bigger stride than she does.Your average female track is gonna be around 30-36 inches and a tom is gonna be right around 40 to 48 inches.Now like i say,this is been 100% of the time for me over the years,but the exeption to that formula has been Nevada.For some reason the cats are more lanky down in that country than they are up here in Idaho and Washington.I caught a female down there in 2006 hat had a 43 inch stride on her and she meassured 7 foot 3 inches.I have caught a tom with a 51 inch stride that meassured 8 foot 10 inches. And you cant just meassure one track because even up in this country i have seen females take an extra big step to get over a log or rock or something,so meassure a few different tracks when they are walking normaly.I have compared pictures and meassurements of cats from down there in Nevada with cats from up here and they even look more long and skinny than they do up here.Im not sure why this is but it seems to be a fact.now i have turned loose on a tom track and have caught females before too,but as i have walked the track out,I have seen where the tom hooked up with a female and the dogs got on her instead of the tom.As far as judging weight of cats by the stride,well that i dont have the answer for.Im sure there is a formula but i aint figured that one out.Anyways,Try this out and see if it works as good for you as it has for me.If you are up in this north western country,you will be suprised at how accurate it is for ya.Good luck and happy hunting

Catslayer,

EXCELLENT!

Thank you!

I measured a female with 2 kits 2 weeks ago that had a pad width over the 2" stated so this is not science and gait (stride) can change with behavior and terrain. I think the best is the overall track size coupled with stride.

This old dogger I used to know said a 2 1/2 inch heel pad is about 150# cat and for every 1/8 inch it goes up 10 pounds. 2 5/8 - 160#, 2 3/4 - 170#, etc. I've never really kept track of this other than a few cats, and it was pretty accurate, but that ol' guy sure treed a bunch and swore by it.

yeah i have never really paid much atention to track size but i guess there is a therom behind that too.Track stride length has been spot on for me over the years up in this country.If i have a hunter with me,I can tell em that its a small female or big tom before we ever turn on it.Some look at me like im retarded untill we put it in the tree and its exactly how i called it The stride system has worked great for me over the years for sure.Ill have to pay more attention to track size though.Like catdog said about weight and track size.that would be awesome if it works.Guys would think i was some kind of a phycic when we caught it

Stubby wrote:

I measured a female with 2 kits 2 weeks ago that had a pad width over the 2" stated so this is not science and gait (stride) can change with behavior and terrain. I think the best is the overall track size coupled with stride.