Early spring/late winter we find more mountain lions

[Okanagan]

Not sure why but our family has found more cougars and killed more of them this time of year, late Feb. into April.

My son and I got out Saturday and found tracks of four different lions.  The first was a family of three, mama and two teenage youngsters whose tracks were the same size as their mother's.  The tracks were 16-18 hours old, made while the snow was soft and melting a bit the late afternoon or early evening before and frozen hard when we found them at mid morning the next day.  We circled ahead on old roads and cut their tracks again but they were travelling, low odds that they would still be in hearing range so we went on looking for a fresher track in the good new snow. 

The second one was much higher elevation, right where the deeper snow stopped us from driving. Quite fresh, made that morning.  Smallish cat with a halo around each track like a lynx.  The stride was a smidge longer than I'd exect from a lynx, but hmmm. Supposed to be no lynx in that country.  We called, no joy.

An interesting to me tidbit was that this cat walked up the road till it came to a deer track crossing the road, then it followed the deer's tracks BACKWARD, back trailing the deer.  200 yards farther the cat returned to the road. 

[FinsnFur]

Thats already more cougars than I want to encounter in one day