Making tracks

Shortly after moving here, I purchased a small "Animal Tracks of British Columbia" book.  Over the past few months, whenever I was out wandering I was always intrigued by the various animal tracks I saw and really wanted to learn what they were.  With the recent snowfall, the tracks are that much more visible and so my track book is getting alot of use.  So far I've seen deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits/hare, coyotes and birds.  And then there was this one.  I was traipsing through a new unexplored-by-me part of the forest with my neighbour yesterday, when all of a sudden I saw this track.  My neighbour and I speculated on what it could be but both agreed we thought it was a type of cat.  And I'm not talking a domestic cat if you know what I mean. ;)  I didn't have my track book with me, so took a pic with my iPhone to check my book and also to ask my love what he thought it was.  He also thought cat...as in Mountain Lion.

As we didn't have any fresh snow overnight, I ventured back to the same place this morning to see if I could spot the tracks again and I did.  Brought  my camera this time and took a few more photos and then followed the tracks a ways further as I could see it was following a deer as well as a hare.

I would probably prefer not to see a Mountain Lion face to face, but if I did, I would do everything in my power to scare it away.  Needless to say, my awareness is heightened and I will be looking over my shoulder and up into the trees a bit more when wandering.