any idea what made this track?
 

I hunted a week and a half ago, I followed this for over a quarter of a mile, mostly down a 2 track, then this went under a 12" high branch, and into a large area of pine trees. Some of the comments around here are a pregnant or nursing animal, a beaver, some animal dragging another one. Just curious if anyone has seen anything like this. There wasn't much snow on the ground after it melted either, we had just got about an inch of new snow the night before.

I believe it was made by an otter sliding along on its belly.

I found one just like this in Vermont several years ago. It wa made on a grade where the otter expends minimal energy, depending almost entirely on gravity to keep pulling him/her along.





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Dean,
Thank you, the first picture on the 2 track was a slight downhill grade, then when it went under the branch, it was starting to go back uphill slightly. I do not know of any body of water around though. I thought about an otter too, the width of the impression is about 5 inches wide. This is a mostly wooded area with hardwoods and scattered areas of poplar trees and pine trees. I don't know of any river or beaver dam or lake around. Thanks Ed

That’s not an otter I’ve seen many like that before . That’s a Bigfoot with polio , they never got the vaccination so many have walking problems . Did I mention I usually saw Bigfoot tracks after a decent evening or night with the adult elixer :whistle::rotf::rotf::rotf:

A bigfoot doing the limbo under a 12" high branch, the bigfoots around here are pretty limber, I think you might have it guessed:rotf:

Five to about eight inches is about right for an otter. A female or juvenile will leave the narrower trail while an average sized male will leave the wider.
On a steep grade you won't see many footprints in the trail but while on the level they need to propel themselves and will leave significant footprints in the trail.
They often travel long overland distances between water sources.





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Dean, I thought otter also, but possibly a fisher, I have seen them in the UP, but dont know if there are any in Ed's neck of the woods.

Harold, I’ve never heard of a fisher propelling itself in such a manner. We have lots of fishers here in MA and in VT where I hunt. All the fisher tracks I’ve seen in the snow have been made in a weasel-like or mink-like manner, being made in a semi-hopping manner.
Otters, being playful, will slide and glide any chance they have.

A porcupine will leave a wide bidy trail like that but it will be a lot wider than 5 inches and won’t be so well-defined at it’s edges and will have lots of footprints in it for its entire length.





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Yep, I have seen otter trails in the snow, but just didnt know about fisher in the snow.

otter :)

From:

WINTERBERRY WILDLIFE

January 9, 2019 Janet Pesaturo

“Do Fishers slide?...”

“The fisher and its cousin the river otter often create tracks and trail patterns of similar appearance. If tracking conditions are poor and tracks are unclear, distinguishing between these two mustelids can be tricky business. However in snow, otters usually slide frequently, creating a characteristic toboggan-like impression. But do fishers slide, as well? Not very often, and I don’t know if they ever really slide for the purpose of efficient travel, as otters do. Maybe they do, but my interpretation of the fisher “slides” that I have found so far, was that the animal was dragging and rubbing its underside, probably for the purpose of scent marking, maybe for grooming, but not sliding to move quickly. For this reason, I prefer to call these “drags” rather than “slides”, for the latter implies a similarity to what the otter is doing….”

Otters can be ferocious critters. A friend, long ago, was 'coon hunting with his 'coon dogs and they struck a trail that ended at a leaning tree. When my friend arrived there was an otter up on the leaning tree, with the dogs all around baying. As he watched, the otter jumped out of the tree into the midst of the dogs and whipped them soundly, then went on his way. He said he had never encountered anything that fought dogs like that otter.

Otter. I see a lot of those sliding tracks off the end of a lake west of Fairbanks that has some springs in a swampy area that keep water flowing and holes open all winter. The otters love that place because they can get into the water all winter and there is a maze of slides between the open holes.

I have seen porcupine leave tracks like that.

thanks for all the information, I didn't have the notification button on.