can anyone identify this paw print?

[cheeka]

this is in the bottom of a standard dish tub used to hold extra water for the chickens, I keep the tub in an area near where my birds like to hang (huge lilac shrubs) during the day... the track was made when the tub was full of water. I've never seen anything like it. we have no raccoon ... or possum, we do have the occasional porcupine,







I drew the circle around it... with a stick, probably shouldn't have... as there are several tracks in the tub, but it was so weird to me that I didn't think about the fact that I mucked it up some...
it's about the size of a 2 year old human child's hand, and there aren't any of those round here either...



this is Prickle, he lives at the base of my hill, where there is better vegetation and water


4 toes on the front, 5 on the back...? maybe a hind foot?
(but the tub would've been knocked over maybe??? it wasn't...)

 

[Ted n Ms]

Looks like coon track to me.

 

[Tigertrea]

yeah, looks like a raccoon print to me too. I see lots here. possum prints have the same look to them though. Not sure what else it could be. Are you sure you have no raccoons?

 

[cheeka]

I've never seen a single one in the 12 years i've lived here... neither have my neighbors who've lived here 20 something years... although, we're in a drought, so maybe they are ranging up looking for food and water? while there was still more water down the hill, most of the predators stayed down below, but we've not had but one rainstorm in 5 weeks... who knows... closest raccoon I've seen to my place is like 2 miles away...
thanks, have borrowed have-a-heart trap, we'll see what I get

 

[Ted n Ms]

I've never seen a single one in the 12 years i've lived here... neither have my neighbors who've lived here 20 something years... although, we're in a drought, so maybe they are ranging up looking for food and water? while there was still more water down the hill, most of the predators stayed down below, but we've not had but one rainstorm in 5 weeks... who knows... closest raccoon I've seen to my place is like 2 miles away...
thanks, have borrowed have-a-heart trap, we'll see what I get

I live where their is plenty of coons. But i never see one until it is in one my traps.

 

[cheeka]

Point taken. I have the trap set up with sardines, all my cats are inside, so I can't trap them by mistake... I'll have to wait and see

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Coon tracks. Coons love water and get into the water dish that I have for my cats. I find those tracks in the bottom of the dish all the time. Coons are for the most part nocturnal so you won't see them often. If your trap is large enough for a coon you might catch one tonight. Coons love sweets too. So bait the trap with marshmellows and you can leave your cats out without worrying about catching them. Cats are not interested in sweets. Be careful if you catch one. They get real nasty when caught in a trap.

 

[cheeka]

cool, if i don't have something in the trap by morning, i'll pick up marshmallows after work... I've been asking around the hilltop, and even those who like trapping claim there's no food source for coons up here...
I've got a nice big trap, plenty of space

 

[okallthis4eggs]

I bet you catch the neighbors cat... lol. Depends who gets there first. But you will catch a coon with marshmellows. Probably more than one. Put one or two marshmellows near the entrance to the trap (freebies or samples) then a couple more half way in the trap. The rest in the back of the trap. Keep us posted

 

[okallthis4eggs]

cool, if i don't have something in the trap by morning, i'll pick up marshmallows after work... I've been asking around the hilltop, and even those who like trapping claim there's no food source for coons up here...
I've got a nice big trap, plenty of space

A coon will eat almost anything. They will find a food source anywhere. We have to tie our trash can lids on around here to keep the coons out of the garbage.