Track Identification: Cougar, Lynx, Bobcat 

The cougar are known as extinct here in West Virginia. They are called the Eastern Cougar. I have seen them all my life and have one that comes in every year. Sometimes I think her siblings come through as well. She raises her young and then leaves. Sometimes she breeds here too. I have been aware of this cat now for 10 years coming and going. I have horses and have to make sure they are safely closed up in the barn before dusk. Thanks for the info. Although I've been 15 feet away from her at times, I have used the shouting method, "Get out of here!" and I've been fortunate that it has worked every time. She hisses at me and runs away. I know when she's around because I've learned to check for tracks. I get my work done before dark and allow her to hunt in my yard at night. Sometimes she's a pain, but it's her right to hunt and there are plenty of deer here. She even raised one of her babies one year in my old barn with my barn cats. I thought that was strange, but they are all cats. She buries her food in the soft ground by the creek. Sometimes the smell is putrid. When she first came here she would growl at me at night if I was too close to her. Thank God she has never attacked me. A friend of mine said it is not in their nature to attack humans because we walk upright and we don't crawl on the ground or have 4 legs. Their favorite food is deer and we can learn to live together in peace. I think we both have discovered a peaceful agreement. The night belongs to her.

the hunters were walking down the terraces alongside of a fence toward the river and the timber next to them. one terrace forms a triangle that collects water. they were just below that terrace when the big cat let loose inside of the corn! They didnt know if they should run or walk but they decided game cams could be checked another day because their pants were suddenly squishy

Hey Jim, wonderfully informative. Helped us to differentiate between the cats and identify the prints in our back field - cougar! Have seen it only once, but will never forget how majestic and beautiful. Awesome to witness from the safety of our living room. (We live in the BC mountains - Cariboo region) Anyway, thanks for the info. Keep up the videos!

Thanks, this was very informative! Was trying to identify a wildcat I saw while dog walking. Your great video helped.

Good video. My brother saw a bobcat in the woods behind our house around 1956 or 1957. That is the only sighting I know of around here in the metropolitan area of Birmingham, Alabama.

Thanks!! Boy I'd LOVE to see those trail cam pics!! I saw a partial print in the mud this summer... it was just a single toe print really, but there was no sign of a claw, and the print was BIG. I looked around for another print but the dirt was too hard. I know it could have been a lynx or a very large dog, but I don't know! Thanks for watching, and thanks also for your comment!!

Yes, they're all closely related and hybrids are possible. Thanks for watching, and commenting on my video!

A cougar was attacking wild horses in my grandparents pasture. It was screaming like a banshee and we could hear the horses' hooves pounding on the earth like thunder. It was an eerie night.

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this video and please keep them coming.

If i ever get my hands on one, I'll send it along! i've been very happy to see black bear and lynx slowly move back into the area i grew up in, and I'd be just as happy to see the cougar come back, even if i have to be more alert when i'm in the woods at home. funny you say "large dog", because thats what DNR told my father and uncle they say when they reported the cougar that saw. both had small kids at the time and wanted it removed to another area. needless to say they where a little pissed!

Thanks Jim , take care.

Beautiful creatures. We have Bobcat and are rumored to have Cougar. I'd rather face a bear than have a cougar looking at the back of my neck.

I am wondering how to differentiate a cougar kit (less than 1 year old) track from a lynx track in snow? I saw some tracks yesterday that had a bit of snow in them and thought I was looking at a lynx track until I saw a second set with it that were different and obviously an adult cougar. If I hadn't seen the second set I would have thought the first was a lynx.

I am in north central Iowa. Cougars had been hunted extinct in this area in the 1800s. They are starting to show back up again because the deer pop is out of control. In the past 10 years there have been maybe 7 confirmed sightings. Those produced a carcass either by rifle or roadkill. There are no game laws for cougars right now. No reports or even suspicians that cougars have killed pets humans or livestock here

My sister-in-law just got a picture of a 5 toed animal with a measure of 3 inches from side to side. It resembles a cougar track but has one toe to many. What could it be? I'd attach a picture but when I tried it didn't work. This animal was tracking a doe and her fawn and followed them over a fence. It was in Veneta, Oregon where there has been cougars spotted in the area.

What state are you in Randy?

Great comparison video

Thanks Willy, glad you enjoyed it!

Jim, I know you're in NS.... where or what is 'Keji Np 2 years'?

my boss has been tracking the bobcats on his place. he doesnt want any of them trapped or shot so he limits access. He had a couple of reports of a large cat making noises in the corn when some deer hunters were checking game cameras. There have been a few sightings and roadkills of cougars here in past years. There is enough deer population to keep them eating what they should be

thanks for showing the comparisons. Very helpful.

Good vid Jim

i grew up in western Cape Breton, I've never seen one, but my father and uncle swear they saw one about 10 or 12 years ago. I also have a friend that works for parks canada, he claims to have seen hundreds of trail cam pic's from parks in NS of cougars. the parks use the cam's to keep tabs on local population. I figure those that are left, learn to avoid us a long time ago. great video btw!

Titles says the video is about tracks. But very little of it showed actual tracks or talked about how to ID the different species via tracks.

Cool :) Thanks for watching Todd!

I have a video of some tracks I can't identity. They're from western New York. Bigger than what's normally seen around here. Any chance I could email you the video?

Do you have a video of the differences in their calls?

Nice info...I live in the Midwest where we are supposed to have bobcats. I haven't seen any yet, but a friend who had a farm had cats that on occasion became pregnant by a bobcat, the kitten were cute and when they grew up, they looked very much like a bobcat only smaller.

I live in the UK and my Dad said he saw something way bigger than a house cat any advice on what to do?

?4U: Will a bobcat eat squirrels? A friend had a bunch of squirrels in the camp site. Then saw either a bobcat or lynx from the trail camera and has not seen or heard a squirrel. Will be sending your video to the friend to see if its a bobcat or Lynx. Thanks for the information. Great informative video. Have a grand day.

Thank you for sharing!

I saw a partial print here in Miramichi during the summer. One toe was very clear in the mud near a logging road puddle, but tried as I might I couldn't find a complete print. So NOT a positive identification :(

Thanks for watching... although I don't know how useful this North American information is to someone in Germany! I suspect large cats in your area would have been driven into extinction thousands of years ago. Thanks again for watching Tito, and also for the positive comments!

As for the search engines, there has been a quite severe argument between online newspapers versus Google, which displayed parts of their articles in google searches. After 3 years or so of court fighting, the newspapers won (there were various engaged, from various countries) and immediately lost a hunk of readers. A few days later they withdrawed....ergo i doubt that anyone will want Google not to display their content, there have been jobs created to do the opposite (web search optimazation)

Great vivdeo Jim but I have. A question ? What chances do people have to get puma scare if we fights back like you said it Thank you very much for. Help us Here in. El Salvador. We like your videos

Thanks for the info :-)

For sure Kamo, for sure!

Nice video thanks for the info

Yes, in germany they are; Although i think at least the US has rather strict regulations as well. If I were for example the photographer of one of these images, making money with selling them, I wouldnt be all too happy with people using them all over the internet without me getting anything for it. On the other hand we have a felt 50% of worldwide videos prohibited in germany for "copyright matters" on youtube. It´s a complicated matter.

haven't seen a rabbit for five years except 3 towns away where it felt like bear country with the bush so thick it was spooky.

Cool video got to love the name Muskrat Jim! Jasonbear here!

Great video with very good information. thank you. You are welcome in my forest anytime!!

Great vid c:

good stuff, saw lynx tracks at Keji Np 2 years,

No problem bud, and thanks for the heads-up! Sounds like your copyright laws are quite severe in Europe. I don't know how the search engines like Google & Yahoo can get away with displaying those images in searches, they are obviously commercial sites. It looks like another example of one law for the corporations and another stricter law for the little guy. Are you familiar with the OCCUPY Movement? That's on of their complaints.

Very Educational!

nice video man

ha! the tablet posted before I could finish..I saw tracks at kejimkujik National Park here in NS.

Um, did I miss where you explained the differences in tracks? I only caught the differences in species.

Yes it is overly complicated with the lawyers making all the money. The more complicated it becomes, the more money lawyers can make. My RU-vid channel is not monetized, but if I get any complaints, I will remove the offending videos, change my profile picture, delete my account, or do whatever it takes to satisfy them. Thanks for all your correspondence on this... it's good to be aware.

Thanks for your comments and dropping by my pond.....LOL

Ok, I had to Google Iowa to see how far east it was. The cougar population is definitely on it's way back. I am in New Brunswick (Canada). The last confirmed cougar was shot in the 1940's I think, but as recently as 2004 Cougar DNA was collected in Fundy National Park on our southern border. Unsubstantiated claims of cougar sightings happen every other year. We have healthy white-tail deer populations too.

Thank you Jim for the info ... Greating from Rob down in the New Jersey Pine Barrens .... a few years ago a Cougar traveled from South Dakota to Lake George in New York State, thats The Adirondack region of the state, the Cougar traveled 1800 miles , it was witnessed by some residents, and it was identified by its scat ( DNA ) and paw prints were also identified, by the New York State Department of Environmental Protection ( NYSDEC ) The last Cougar seen in NY State was in the late 1800's or 1900 in Westchester County NY. Over the years residents have been reporting sightings to the NYSDEC, the State always denied the existence of Cougars in NY State, on the NYSDEC Website there is a sighting form, The State keeps denying there existence in the State .. That Cougar made it further down ,maybe 150 miles South and was killed by a car on I 95 in Connecticut. ..

I was stalked by a Lynx some years back. It turned out to be some ones pet. This happened out in the country, by myself and at dusk. The cat approached me from my back side. I could hear it coming closer, but when I turned around the rustling sounds stopped. I could not locate anything by sight, but, once I faced forward, the noise from behind began again. This time I knew I was being hunted. I was lucky enough to have some food with me and I thought it may be possible to lure the cat away. Finally I turned and saw an awful sight. The cat was about 20 feet away, it was low to the ground as though it was ready to pounce. It's teeth looked more like fangs and its ears were wicked(like they were notched). I could not stop myself and I ran dropping the food along the way. I looked back only to see that the cat would stop and eat what I dropped and then proceeded to continue its hunt. My food was all gone and I felt doomed. I was able to escape to a trailer that had an attached deck and the door was open. That cat followed me up the deck and all the way to that door just a few feet from me. Then I heard a mans voice right outside the door say, he was sorry his pet got out. Then that guy chuckled and said he wished he'd had a video camera and that he could have made some money. This is a true story. I really wish it hadn't happened, but its memory has kept me alert while trekking in the bush. Thanks for the vid, Jb.

We do have mountain lions in state pa , I know there here .

the type of videos i make, seeing one of these or a bear always scares the hell out of me. i go off trail and thru small caves and kinda wander off in the abyss. Check my videos out and let me know if you have any advice on how to deal with mountain lion or bear..

Thank you Jim ... Rob down in the Pine Barrens

Very interesting

very interesting from Pa. usa

If I were to REFUSE to remove the images after a court order THEN I could be sued by the copyright owner. Have a nice day KimbaPuma :)

you do know that you can get sued for using these images, right

This video is called "track identification". Where is the track identification in this video? So this video didn't help me at all.

It's going to be the normal thing to see without a cage which for me is a no go...

Hard to mistake a cougar for a large dog when you see it with you own eyes...

I´m not canadian but here in germany you can actually get sued for using these obviously copyrighted images. Just yesterday i learned that you will have to pay up to 12.000€ for using only one wrong facebook thumbnail picture, and that´s a non-commercial puropse. Also no need to get angry, dude. I´m just telling you

Cant get started without a Horton's Eh? Hoser.

Thanks, it's gotta be a bobcat my dog is trying to pee on, same track. Big one for sure. Thanks for sharing... (back then)

A taunting squirrels worst nightmare 💀👻 K cup joe here

Ha! Ha!

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I know hunting is legal in Canada but I fail to understand why we kill animals if they are not threat or for food, even fish catch and release , injures fish as they are injured and cannot eat and though released , still die, I will not like a fish hook on my butt or a hunters Bullet !

They need to make a hunting season on bobcats in Ohio they get a lot bigger than 22 pounds