Large prints in the sand

I would just like to share a quick story, and see if I can get any help. I live in Kodiak Alaska, and was walking on a desolate beach with my g/f looking for fossils. There was no one else around for miles, and this beach has just 1 road, with 1 access to the beach. It is small with steep bluffs on either side. The sand is black and wet, holds tracks very well. After we were done looking, we were walking back to my truck, and right across our footprints, were large "dog" prints. Think great dane x2 with huge claws. We ran back to my truck. To understand that this was not a dog someone was walking is to picture a beach with no one around for at least 10 miles, and no houses for at least 30. You would know if someone else was in the same area. The buffalo on the beach never spooked, so whatever it was does not bother them. I cannot even begin to imagine what was sharing the beach with us that day, but any help of dog like prints would be appreciated.

well ive heard u guys get grizzlies up there? if so it was most likely that.....

We do have the Kodiak Bears, this was far to small to be even a young bear, and bear prints look nothing at all like dog prints.

it likely was a large dog, prints can spread depending on the consistancy of the sand and appear larger than they would in dryer sand.

Or it may have been..........

pbskids.org...

[edit on 113131p://380111 by instar]

Im gunna go with 'bear' tracks...

Also the possibility of a big wolf?.....
..Cougars have HUGE paws, maybe a mnt lion?

I thought Cougars WERE mountain lions, same animal diff name? and are there any in Alaska?

Your right they do look nothing like dog prints it could be a new specie of dog or perhaps a dog that had just been token to that same beach....really though.....unpredictabilty is always a possibilitie basicly chaos thery....so maube it was just a big dog that left the town

If it was someones dog it would be large and skinny and dying. There was no one around, and any wild dog would not live very long in this climate. As for wolves there are no KNOWN wolves on this island. And a mountain lion is an interesting point, I have no idea if they are around here. Don;t you think one would have scared the buffalo though? Buffalo seemed indifferent to us, but could a mountain lion pose a threat? How big do they get?

As for the dog that left town theory if there was a town, I would agree with you.
You need to remember, this is Alaska, not california. A dog would never make it this far, and would almost certainly express some interest in some friendly helpful humans on the beach.

[edit on 12-1-2005 by mxboy15u]

How many finger marks did the prints show? Were the claw marks very long compared to finger lenght? Also: were the fingers very splayed? Were there web marks between the fingers? All of this is important. I am almost tempted to say they were sea otter tracks, but I wait for more datas...

I did not hang around and examine the track when I saw them, I literally ran when I saw them. As for claws they were very large, and the toes not splayed any more than a dogs. A otter is what I am thinking as well. A big one though.

This is how river otter's tracks look like. Sea otters are considerably larger (they easily weight in excess of 90 pounds), although they spend considerably less time on land than their freshwater brethrens.

Originally posted by mxboy15u
I did not hang around and examine the track when I saw them, I literally ran when I saw them. As for claws they were very large, and the toes not splayed any more than a dogs. A otter is what I am thinking as well. A big one though.

What a wuss....

maybe they were already there before you just didnt notice?

This is Alaska, things here can eat you, my gun was at home. So call me a wuss all you want, and then come here, be there and say it.

The otter idea is the one I like the best. As for not seeing them before, definately not, we were looking down looking for fossils. We would have noticed. I wish I had seen this giant otter, if it was there.