Fox and Wild cat tracks??????

diverdave

Well-Known Member
I was out stalking yesterday, hopless in the deep crunchy snow but great to see what is on the ground. We were able to identify the usual roe and red deer tracks, which is great to see, and we also saw the usual mountain hare and rabbit on the low ground.
We saw fox tracks, showing the claw marks as usual, and following their usual routs and tracks, and we are quite used to these, but we also saw tracks that were slightly larger but without visible claw marks. Would these have been wild cat tracks? We do have wildcat in the area, though only very occassionally see them but these tracks were seen over quite a bit of our ground and therefore probably more common on our ground than we imagined. The area is not ever lamped bu us, it would be almost impossible. We stalk round it, a high area of small pine trees, but rarely actually stalk through it.
Anyway, my question is, am i correct that fox tracks would show claws, and wild cat tracks would not show a claw and would be about the size of a large fox. The tracks were in slightly melted snow so may have expanded slightly as the snow melted round them, but were similar to the size of the supposed fox tracks we saw.
There are absolutely no dog walkers here and this is not a big cat story, just a scottish wild cat one.
Any help appreciated.
 
Many thanks, they were round now you mention it and it was interesting that we saw no claw marks. So we have wildcats on the high ground as well as the valley, excellent!

Cheers

dave
 
Very very jealous mate, always wanted to see them! Mind you, saw a Water Rail from the highseat the other day, and heard a Goshawk when out on new years eve walk.
 
It is a superb place. We have buzzards and perigrines, as well as tawny and barn owls. Interestingly we also have a healthy population of water voles, now that we have got the mink basically erradicated. We have red and Black grouse (ok, only seen 2 black grouse) and very occasional Ptarmagan. In the past they also had capercallie, and we have seen evidence of them, but have never actually seen or heard one.

The downside is it is a tough area to stalk and has considerable snow at times, which is hard going for us and really difficult for the animals. The rabbits seem to do ok, and there was plenty of activity of them this week. The hares also seem to be doing ok. I am a little worried about the deer. I went for a stalk / walk there on saturday, and saw some roe that looked in very good condition. What is worrying me is that these harsh conditions normally start later this month and go on until March. Hopefully the animals will do ok, but at the moment i worry they are in for a hard time.
 
Hi and happy new year,

I have shooting in Aberdeen and have nearly trod on a small cat.
I dont know if it or I got the biggest shock. it was definitely feral but not a wild one.
The nearest houses are over two miles away....it was young and in good condition.

unless you get eyes on you can never be too sure what you have especially in old snow as it will distort the print.

I hope you can get a picture as they say the markings on a wild cat are lovely.

atb to you and all for 2011,

Frank
 
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