Could this be Mink track? Help requested.

I feel like from these print and trail photos I should have enough info to ID this track. But, since I am a novice, perhaps more experienced trackers can help either confirm the guess I have made or help me see what I am missing.

My current guess is MINK.

5 toes, prints average about 2" long and 2" wide

Straddle was between 3"-4"

Bound pattern, same sized prints in set

Average 11.5" between the 3 groups

But something seems a little off. I think the impressions look a bit too hefty. I guess I expect mink prints to be lighter and more delicate. Can anyone help me?

Here's another photo of the bottom set of prints:

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by PEZ on March 9, 2010 at 12:07pm: What a great sandy patch! Is this in your sit spot area? I am seeing lots of tracks in this photo...

Can you pull out your Elbroch and list what he says a Mink should be in terms of track dimension, straddle and stride?

5 toes tells us it's probably in the Mustelid family but what else could it be?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Linda on March 9, 2010 at 12:56pm: Hi Kate,

Those are great track photos! I'd ask myself if I could determine how large the animal is by "air sculpting" the space between track sets 1 and 2 or 2 and 3...is it larger than a house cat? Can you see that each set has a front and a hind foot and a right and a left foot? Which is which? Does that pattern help identify the animal?

These are common tracks that you will come to know...a Missouri friend found them on her back deck after a snow last winter, and I've seen them often here in Western Washington.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate Guenther on March 9, 2010 at 2:49pm: Okay- thanks so much for the coyote mentoring here. I don't have time to work this right now, but will go through both your suggestions tomorrow. I suspect it may be raccoon from your post, Linda. And I had thought about that and will again tomorrow, but that hadn't fit with my reasoning either. Maybe it's none of those. Anyway, thanks and I'll get back to you!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tim Gibbons on March 9, 2010 at 2:47pm: Kate,

Do you notice something about the groups of tracks, particularly set 2? Are the tracks symetrical? Do you notice anything unique about the gait? The awnser is in the gait.

Or we can tell you..

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Permalink Reply by Kate Guenther on March 10, 2010 at 7:41am: Wow. Trackwork of any kind is always humbling for me. Thank you, Paul, Linda and Tim for your guiding questions. Here's my new thinking to your questions.

Paul- For my area, here are the 5-toed critters to consider (ruling out animals squirrel size and smaller): Mink, Fisher, Otter, Weasel, Woodchuck, Muskrat, Raccoon, Beaver, Skunk. When I reviewed the print dimensions for mink in Elbroch, they are 1-7/8 L x 1-5/8 W which is smaller than my 2"x2" estimate. But close. Still, even I had mentioned these tracks looked a little hefty to me for mink, and I was right in my doubt.

Linda and Tim- The main thing I missed was that these tracks were not symmetrical, thus having a front and back print in each set. So I got the gait wrong from the start, which led me down the wrong track, literally. Set #1 really looked symmetrical to me and like a bound pattern. Set# 2 clearly does not support that. The fact the straddle changed between Set #1 and #2 should also have slowed me down to think through the gait more.

I followed up on my hunch that this is raccoon, which is what I now say this track is (hope I'm not humbled yet again...) Elbroch's dimensions of the straddle for raccoon is 3.5"-7". So this track is on the far low end of that range, but fits. the print dimensions are solidly within Elbroch's ranges for front and hind prints.

When I air sculpt this, Linda, I feel like we have an animal here that is bigger than a cat. The drawing in Elbroch page 201 showing a 2x2 walking gait look about perfect, and the photos on 203 upper left are a good match too.

The main reason I didn't consider raccoon earlier, beside my misread of the gait, was that I always think of the raccoon front print looking like a hand OR I am used to seeing the heel pad print on the rear foot. Surprisingly, I had to really work to get all the feet identified as well. Hope I am seeing these correctly now.

So, in summary: NORTHERN RACCOON
Set #1 Front left and Hind right
Set #2, Hind left and Front right
Set #3, Front left and Hind right

Correct? (please god, please god...); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PEZ on March 10, 2010 at 7:57am: by jove, I think she's got it...

So where is this spot Kate? Is this in your sit spot area?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kate Guenther on March 10, 2010 at 4:16pm: No, I wish. It is on a friend's property that is riverfront about a 10" drive from here. Prior to the flooding we had in December, you couldn't really track there, but the floods brought in a whole new silt bar spit. It's a beautiful spot and I'm lucky he let's me check it out.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PEZ on March 10, 2010 at 4:19pm: Congrats on your ID of the raccoon!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cindy Ruprecht on July 26, 2010 at 9:04pm: My current guess is raccoon... In the top pic, you can see in the middle set of tracks that a front and rear track are right next to each other, as they walk differently. I'm no pro either...; ▶ Reply to This