I did so much scouting Sat/Sun I have blisters on my feet. The snow is deep here. I found enough bobcat sign (tracks) to satisfy me. Do cats like to follow the same trails and does it mess them up if I walk on their trail?

They'll follow your path in deep snow,they do follow some of there trails over and over,good luck.

They've been walking the same paths since prehistoric times, over and over. You find a track and you'll find a bobcat.

It won't bother them a bit.In deep snow,I have plowed a trail with my feet from set to set.Cats will follow it out of convenience,if they feel like it.I once had two cats drop into my trail in knee deep snow and head straight toward my snares in a series of rock ledges.It gets your heart racing.After a few yards,they just turned off my trail and headed off through the deep snow,through the woods,presumably to hunt.That is a cat,in a nutshell.They rarely follow a road or a trail for long distances,as a canine might.

I think of tracks in two caregories:hunting or traveling.A hunting cat may zig zag a lot,following it's eyes,ears and even nose.This movement can be very random.

A traveling cat is more likely to use the same trail or line of travel again.Terrain can dictate how tight they follow this line of travel.A trapper,seeing cat tracks needs to assess whether this animal is traveling or hunting or other such random travel.If it is just cutting through big woods with few features,it may not travel again,on that spot,within your season.Ask yourself why is it there.Is it paralleling a stream,swamp edge or line of ledges?Is it going over a saddle in a ridge or crossing a beaver dam or is it following a brushy draw in open country?You have to decide if there is a reason for it to return on that particular line of travel.If not,move on.

When the pre-breeding season starts,toms will start following traditional travel patterns.They will travel from one female home range to another.This is a good time to be a cat trapper if you can figure out those routes.This may fall within the last half of your season.I think it was smart to pick that late season tag.

Anyway,good luck,I hope you get a whopper.

Cat sign had dried up on me but I found a couple fresh ones today. Didn't have time to set today but I'll put a set in there tomorrow. I Still have a few days before the season closes.

We catch bobcats in the same exact locations year after year, mostly on old logging roads in the woods and along farm fields.

Some tracks have been hard to distinguish if they are bobcat, because of melting snow. One thing I wish I was better at is identifying tracks.

If there's a X threw the track its a dog and if there's an M for the pad its a cat.

Canine tracks tend to be more elongated where cats tend to be more circular, wider. If you look at enough of them you can tell at a glance. We had a cold, clear evening and the cats moved last night.

Here's a cat track when the temp was above freezing,Logan caught this cat it was heading to the walk thru,it was a 24lb tom.

I found this very insightful, Taxi. Here's a pic of a cat I caught on camera over a month ago and it just come through again. The camera is on the same tree as it was the first time I captured its pic. Same tree, different angle but the cat was traveling in the same direction. I'm assuming it's the same cat and odds are, it is.

I put two sets in there and it walked within six paces of one of them but ignored it and kept on moving. I got the cat in multiple frames and it's clear the cat was eyeing and moving toward the set before it decided to veer off.

I did find one area where a cat has been hunting and put a set in there yesterday. I ran my traps this morning and had nothing. Freezing rain right now so I imagine tonight will be the night he decides to step on the pan.

AJE,you can still tell the difference between a cat and a canine when the track is either completely melted out or snowed over-most of the time.Forget the track that has no detail.You have to stand back and look at the stride pattern.A canine moves fairly quickly so his stride makes sweeping,graceful curves.A cat walks more slowly and places it's feet more deliberately in a straight down fashion and because of this,you won't see the graceful curves in the track pattern.Watch how the track turns around a big tree or bush.A coyote will make a more graceful sweeping curve but the cat will hug the object,fairly closely and the turns in that stride pattern are more abrupt looking.

Cats really don't like walking in the snow so they pick their feet up and put them straight down,very deliberately.If they encounter a patch of bare ground near their line of travel,they will take it,most of the time.Because of their habit of picking their feet out of the snow and placing them straight down,their is rarely a drag mark behind each track,at least in a few inches of snow.Imagine a coyote,trotting along at a fairly good speed and the sweeping curves he creates in his track pattern.Now picture a cat walking more slowly,picking his feet completely out of the snow and placing them straight down.You will learn to tell the difference from a distance.

Now we are going to delve a little deeper.When that cat puts his foot straight down,in the snow,it creates what I refer to as a "halo" around each track.You can see that in the above pictures.This happens with mountain lions, lynx and bobcats.Coyote tracks hit the snow at an angle,with more speed so it can look more like a deer track,sharp edges and no "halo" around each track.

I moved West about 30 years ago and have ridden with many lion hunters-some,no longer with us.I immediately noticed that those guys could drive down the road at a good pace and identify tracks like we are talking about,from,20 to 30 yds away,without stopping.Once in awhile we would have to get out and examine the track itself,to be sure but still,those guys were about 95 % accurate at asessing tracks from a moving truck.They are only looking at that stride pattern.You can learn to do the same thing if you stop and pay attention.I do it,now,myself.I can drive up a canyon at a pretty good pace and don't slow down for fox or coyote tracks.When a track looks "catty" I will slam on the brakes and check it out.If it is a melted out track,I may have to follow it a few yards to be sure.

I can identify most at about 30 yds,without closer inspection but not always.If I have explained this clearly?,you can too.Canines,long,graceful curves in the track pattern,cats,a more zig zag pattern,closely hugging large objects,and often exhibit a halo around each track,in 1 or more inches of powdery snow.

Anyway,I hope I made this clear enough that you can identify a predator's track when it is either melted out or snowed over and I expect to see pictures!Good luck,guys.
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In snow cats will often go out of their way to walk on rocks. It's amazing how far they can jump from one rock to another.

https://www.bear-tracker.com/guide.html - scroll down, click for detail.

I should add,if you have a line of tracks that are badly melted out,follow them aways.If they pass under a shaded spot,like a big conifer,you may find a couple of tracks that have enough detail that you can tell all you need to know.Save this stuff.I don't want to one finger type it again!

Tomorrow I'll see if I can spot the 'halo' you mention

I'm saving this thread

WOW! Tremendous insight Taximan, thank you! I also tend to get a little overwhelmed trying to identify tracks.