Anyone good at analyzing foot prints to identify predators?

[Meg-in-MT]

Can't imagine anything much smaller than a coyote carrying off a duck with leaving drags marks from carcass.

The third picture...does that look like a drag to the left of the tracks?

 

[aart]

The third picture...does that look like a drag to the left of the tracks?

Yes, I saw that....still must be a pretty big animal with that little drag.
I'd guess at least a fox if not a coyote.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Yes, I saw that....still must be a pretty big animal with that little drag.
I'd guess at least a fox if not a coyote.

Ah, I misunderstood what you said. Don't mind me!

 

[bernie131]

Very tough to offer help with those pictures. Some degree of scale would help. (Put your hand alongside) - as would a close up picture of the prints where definition of toes, claws / nails and pads might be clear. In one photo I think I see raccoon toes, and in another I think I see a rabbit track.
I'm usually pretty good at tracks but there's not much clear in the pics.

You can enlarge them with your fingers, put 2 fingers on them and push outwards,..

Very tough to offer help with those pictures. Some degree of scale would help. (Put your hand alongside) - as would a close up picture of the prints where definition of toes, claws / nails and pads might be clear. In one photo I think I see raccoon toes, and in another I think I see a rabbit track.
I'm usually pretty good at tracks but there's not much clear in the pics.

ju yuuu

 

[bernie131]

She was pretty heavy and setting next to the pool just about 6ft from the back door where they walk through at dusk to stay on the back porch at night

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[sciencegrrrrl]

Definitely a good-sized rabbit, a few deer, and then your mystery predator. I'd guess fox by the size and stealth. Raccoon tracks look like little hands, possum are similar but not as hand-like. We have more trouble with raccoon than fox here in Ohio...but only because there are way more coins and they are quite fat and strong.

 

[microchick]

I live in a predator rich environment also. Deepest condolences on the loss of your duck. Looking closely at the pictures the only prints big enough to drag off a heavy duck look to possibly be 'canine' in appearance. We have more coyotes than I can count around us, and I've seen mature yotes as big as a GSD. Their prints will resemble a dogs with subtle differences. We find them back in our timber after a snow.

A fox print will be small and elongated. I've seen both adult and kit prints around my coop and was impressed with how delicate they are in appearance. The kit prints about an inch long, the adults larger.

A predator having found easy pickins' will be back for more. In your place I would put up more security/game cameras, lock my birds up and keep them locked up until the threat is eliminated and once identifying the threat find a way to trap and dispatch it ASAP.

I can only imagine, if I were in your place I would be sitting outside with my hunting rifle across my lap in a blind in full Rambo mode.

Good luck, and once again, condolences

 

[Vicker]

Yeah, I can only make out the deer and rabbit tracks. Was the area accessible from above by a hawk or owl? They usually leave a pile of feathers, but I have had them only eat the heads of chickens and ducks. I think it happens when something scares them off before they finish. I interrupted an owl around dusk once as it was doing the dirty deed. It actually pulled a chicken out of the little coop door and ate the head and neck as I was going out to close them in for the night. If I hadn't seen it happen, I would have suspected a ground predator.
I loved my ducks and geese but unfortunately won't be getting any more. I like water fowl to be able to live like they are meant to live--foraging, mating, raising young in a water source that can't be mimicked with a kiddie pool. They had a floating shelter in the middle of a large stock pond, but unfortunately, they preferred to sleep on the banks. I can't afford to install a fence tall enough, with a cover, to keep out all the predators that eventually killed them off.

 

[Lynn Woehrle]

Something got my duck and left her body but her head was gone. This happened right before dusk when they come inside. I have an acre of land and they took her from my back door to the end of my land. I had a camera hooked up but it didn't get any footage and I need to know

Could it be an owl or hawk. I've been told they take the head because of the nutrients--especially in the winter.

 

[NikkiW17]

Could it be an owl or hawk. I've been told they take the head because of the nutrients--especially in the winter.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I know young hawks will take a small piece with them...mostly because they’re practicing which sounds sad...but young hawks, especially males prostrate (best word I could come up with) when they make a kill....sorry about your duck....I hate when I lose them to predators.