Right where he had missed his step, a deep, round pit almost the size of his foot was hidden by withered yellow leaves.
After brushing aside the nearby layer of leaves, he could clearly see a line of tracks heading off toward the Yukon River.
'Footprints this big… could it be a moose?'
"First, I can rule out Tundra Wolves or Yukon Wolves. A wolf's paw print isn't much different from a dog's; it should be shaped like a cloverleaf, with sharp claw marks."
"A round track like this, and so deep," he crouched to examine it carefully. "It's deep on two sides and shallow in the middle. From far away it looks round, but up close it actually looks like two overlapping, football-shaped petals."
Perhaps the color of the soil made the shape of the track less distinct.
"One thing's for sure—this track was definitely made by a hoof, not a paw."
"A large herbivore! A moose or a Musk Ox. In Alaska, those have to be the only two possibilities, right?"
