It's not very often that I get to see evidence of predators while I'm hiking. Sure, there are occasional occurrences like the time I found massive piles of bear shit on my trail in the Smoky Mountains, and I'll sometimes stumble upon coyote scat, but I don't get lucky enough to see the pawprints of predators. That is, until I went hiking at the Turkey Creek Unit of Big Thicket National Preserve, where I saw an entire unbroken trail of bobcat prints in the thawing frost covering a boardwalk. How do I know they were bobcat? First of all, no claw marks were evident, which is the main way you can tell the difference between canine and feline prints. Next, they were much bigger than your average house cat prints, but smaller than a mountain lion's. Finally, I see bobcat prints all the time at work; I know what they look like. It was neat to see the prints on my trail, especially because I know the bobcat can't eat me; mess me up, maybe, but it can't kill me. Maybe my luck is changing and I'll see more awesome stuff like this on my upcoming adventures!
Leave me a comment below and tell me about a time you saw the prints of animal, or any other evidence of them!
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