Yesterday , my gf and I walked out to the spit, its a pretty wooded area on the tip of the sound. We seen these tracks as we were walking the dogs. They are as big as my hand approx 7" across. and the stride on it was at min 1 and 1/2 yards.
Then a deer popped out in front of us....... yea im pretty sure i know what it is.
yea and dont look at the title of the attachment for clues either..
Im not sure if the pic is going to be big enough to see, it came from my phone and then i had to make it smaller.............get your glasses out.

 

Pics to small to try and make out. I would say its a black bear from what little I can see?

Animal Tracks - Mammal Tracks

 

this might be better


theres four claws on top of its paw and a dew claw you can barely see to the left.

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Its too fuzzy to tell for sure, but its either a medium sized black bear, or a big cougar. I see plenty of cougar tracks out where I go hunting, its the only thing that scares me in the woods... besides snakes. You can hear a bear coming, or tracking you, and usually they're more scared of you than you are of them. The same can't be said for a mountain lion/cougar. They aren't scared of anything but fire and a gunshot. And you don't know where they are around you, we were followed by one on a quad once, thank god my buddy Chris spotted him, otherwise one of us might not have come back that afternoon, we decided it wasn't worth hunting if he was around anyways. His father shot a deer in the same area the year before, and before we even got to where it dropped the carcass was gone, dragged off by likely the same cougar. Once they know they can get a free lunch out of you they show up year after year. The DEC officers managed to tag him this year I guess, I told him I wanted a tracking device so I know where he is when I'm out hunting .

 

I think it was a couger for sure, by the length of the strides. over a meter or yard for you mericans and a half long ,how its dew claw dug in when it ran. the positon of both front paws and back paws......
Well were heading back out there again this morning. I hope he isnt around anymore. I dont think her dogs will do anything to protect us.........really kinda freaked us out. Cougers are the most scariest things out here for the excat reason yu said, they stock you. BUTthe good thing is there is lots of deer around there , so they can eat them.
Im going to call the Conservation officer, if we see them again......and were bringing a big bonker and a knife....

 

and heres her dogs...........

 

Well, the dogs really do help, they aren't going to scare away a cougar, or win in a fight, but it'll make that cat think twice before it does anything, and the dogs will let know know if its around. My Alaskan Malamute wouldn't shut up the one day we went walking out on our property, sure enough when I got to the creek about 500yds away was a cougar sitting on a rock just watching me.

At the time all I had on me was a knife, now I won't go too far from the cabin without the shotgun, loaded. They're beautiful animals, as long as they don't touch me, or my animals, if they do, they won't be breathing much longer.

 

Jen,

That's most likely a cougar. If I'm certain at all you won't hear it. Watch your dogs ears when they are out and about or a horses ears. Stop dead quiet and listen for birds leaving in a hurry - this is about the only noise they make.

I've been really close to 2 big cats in my life and both times I was scared to the point where the little hairs on the back of my neck were poked right out straight. One time, we stumbled onto each other across a path we both ran away (I was about 12 or so at the time) and the other time I was about 20 or so and riding in the bush when I heard this branch crash and a bunch of birds take off quickly - the cougar was stocking us. Not pleasant.

This time of year on the west coast they are hungry and brave. Make lots of noise and carry a big stick is about the only advice I can give.

Be careful.

 

Well we made it back, seen a huge bear across the estuary, i got pics and a video......pretty big . look like a black grizzley......glad he was across the water from us..

No couger, tracks are gone, but we stayed out on the dyke and didnt venture close to the woody areas.........ya no thanks, that made my hair stand up yesterday.today i was a little sick to the stomach.......
but that might have been the cause of too much sun..so hot here, we are burnt.
have a tan in no time..

 

its bigfoots kid!