Mystery track

February 3, 2015 5:59 PM

What the hell left this print on a piece of snow by our front door? (Boston area.)
posted by Behemoth to Pets & Animals (16 answers total)

Raccoon.
posted by amro at 6:02 PM on February 3, 2015

Wait, no, I'm wrong.
posted by amro at 6:03 PM on February 3, 2015

Best answer: Someone wearing Bearpaw brand boots.
Look at the bottom of the boot on that page.
posted by Adridne at 6:03 PM on February 3, 2015 [13 favorites]

What's the scale? I was going to say a bear paw (they have very human-like hands), but depending on where you are and what the size is, it might not be.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:06 PM on February 3, 2015

Does this help?
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:08 PM on February 3, 2015

The single large pads and then the claws that don't seem to be associated with any pads at all is pretty odd. I'm not seeing anything that looks like that.
posted by alms at 6:09 PM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: To clarify -- it's a small print, maybe an inch, inch and a half long, and there was no sign of other markings from a boot. Couldn't find this on any charts.
posted by Behemoth at 6:09 PM on February 3, 2015

That looks like the back of a boot print, the rest is on the rest of the snow, or a tiny hellbeast.
posted by vrakatar at 6:14 PM on February 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: It's not an animal print. I'd guess it's some snow that was compacted on the underside of a boot that fell out in one piece.
posted by hydrobatidae at 6:15 PM on February 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Definitely Bearpaw brand. Look at their logo. Identical.
posted by Cygnet at 6:22 PM on February 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah, my immediate impression when I saw the pic was "That's not from an animal, it's too perfect. It's some kind of a stamp." So the logo on the bottom of a boot makes perfect sense.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:56 PM on February 3, 2015

Is the snow around it hard and compressed or soft and powdery?
posted by aubilenon at 7:14 PM on February 3, 2015

Response by poster: Ok, so, with this new guidance we discovered that one pair of wife's boots is actually a Bearpaw, with the paw positioned in just such a way as to make a nice piece of snow with no other boot marks nearby.
posted by Behemoth at 7:50 PM on February 3, 2015 [5 favorites]

The print is from your wife.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 7:59 PM on February 3, 2015 [26 favorites]

Response by poster: DUN DUN DUNNNN...
posted by Behemoth at 8:00 PM on February 3, 2015 [8 favorites]

It's coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:37 PM on February 3, 2015 [28 favorites]