what kinda track?

[Gary Gentry]

any one know what this track might be?




in the two pictures you can tell it walked one way and back along the same trail and under the same branch and along the same tree. this is the area I found them in slew with brush on ether side.


we have not had any new snow for about 4 days got a little skiff 2 days ago and they are 3days old maybe.

[BOSS HOG]

just a guess but id say judging by the tear drop shape toes and the lack of claw marks it would most likely be a lion track but without a better pic its hard to say

[houndnem]

rabbit maybe? it looks like it walked under a branch that was pretty low. jmo

[Mike Leonard]

Yellowstone River day walking slew coon. LOL!

[Gary Gentry]

yeah it ant no lion the branch it walked under is maybe 18 inches off the snow. and the tracks are way to small and it ant no rabit ether, it did go up and down trees. could be a coon track.
Mike you know something about my area? how did you know that is a yellowstone river slew? or where you just gessing?

[Mike Leonard]

No Gary I know that area I graduated from high school in Baker and I hunted the Yellowstone from Miles City, Terry, Glendive, Savage, Sidney a lot many years ago and gathered a ton of fur.


We use to take the hounds out on the nicer days into the tule and cattail sloughes with a little snow on the ground and let them trail those coon tracks. Although coon den up pretty hard when it gets below 28 degrees and stays there on the nice days and evenings they will come out and peck around some. Come later in January and early February in those places when those boar coons start to rut you can get some races on them you will swear you are running a coyote. They will just come out and make the miles going from one sow den to another and just holing up in the day where they land. You can catch some realy big ones during that time.

[Gary Gentry]

nice you ever come back up this way and hunt? how long ago was that? was there alot of bobs around then if so did you have much sucsess? I have like a millon qusitons for you know. lol

[Mike Leonard]

Long time ago Gary I left Montana in 78. I did come back for a number of years and hunt annualy until an old hunting partner of mine passed away. May make it back up there again occasonaly now as I have a son relocating to Williston.

I grew up just across the North Dakota line on the Little Missouri and we had a lot of bobcats. Bobcat pelt prices were fairly low back then so trapping pressure was not very heavy. Also the 1080 coyote control had been used for some years and it just about wiped the coyotes out and so the bobcats who were not prone to taking coyote getters really boomed to balance the rodent and cottontail population. The badlands area were perfect for bobcats and they were good sport for the few people who had hounds. Even though mule deer and whitetails were thick then I never saw a lion track in all those years of hunting there. We had to travel as far as the Pryor Mountains to get into any longtails then. Now lions are becoming more common again as they were in the pre- Theodore Roosevelt badlands days.

[cat and bear]

My guess, possible coon, probably porky

[twist]

squirel or weisel looks as though it is hopping in a few places. turn out on it next time it maybe a lion

[inchtowntracking]

squirel looks as though it is hopping in a few places. turn out on it next time it maybe a lion

I was thinking squirel too but with everyone picking bigger tracks had me second guessing.

[Gary Gentry]

thanks everyone I sould have told you the size of the track or put something down to compair it to. it is not a lion and to big for a rodent lol the tracks where maybe the size of a quarter to a half doller.

Mike we are sarting to get more and more lions here in the last ten years I have found a number of kills and tracks but have seen 4. we had one in town this year around hollween they had warnings on the radio warning not to trick or treat and for people to watch there pets. there was anther one that was taking down 2 and 3 year old colts! fish and game took care of that one I was told it was like 220# but that what I heard. this last summer I seem a female that had two kittens with her have been wanting to go see if I could cut the track and cut my dog lose but he is only a year old and I would like for him to have some back up. dose your son hunt with hounds?

[Mike Leonard]

Gary,

My son has hunted a lot with hounds and was around them most of his life. However these days he is too busy with his work to keep hounds and prefers to bare ground hunt on horses so he just comes down and hunts with me when he gets some time.

I had a very great hound way back then that came out of a bluetick Mr. Theil there near Sidney had. I believe he has switched to House bred walkers these days but he had a good line of Vaughn and Smokey River crossed dogs back then and one of my first truely great hounds came from there.


As close as that critter that made those track went to the tree and then doubling back on himself and the size of the tracks makes me think just an old feral tom cat out to try to get him a pheasant in those cat tails.