Man or Beast?

... was a hunting legal twelve years old and probably on the third deer hunt with Dad way out in the middle of nowhere (as it concerned me) in the vicinity of  'Glencoe, PA (his favorite area - gorgeous backcountry up there in 'Somerset County')... "Hey Dad - check out these tracks! Who the heck is up here running around barefoot!??"... "What the hell's wrong with you boy - those are (Black) Bear tracks!!"... "OOOOOooohhhh...." - never forgot that lesson, especially when out tryin' to impress the 'old man' - but man, their rear feet sure can resemble human tracks as we've witnessed many times thereafter - also went straight to the school library first day back and checked out every book on Black Bears and animal tracks - there were a few surprisingly...

... so was out fly fishin' late last Monday night and came across this along the river bank...

... was a single print sunk deep in the "creek mud"...

... searched "high and low - not another print in sight either, other than the two vague impressions identified above... think that we're gonna' stick with a human print on this one, though - were a lot of large rocks to hop - figure that someone missed this one and landed in the mud - besides, we wonder about that large toe... however, slightly earlier while walking along the riverbank we did spook something large that dashed off ahead, unobserved thru the brush - figured it was a deer considering all the matted river grass - had just jumped one near the exact spot two days earlier as well... but there's nothin' wrong with bein' wrong...

...Edit 09/11: Was a small print - about a size 7...

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... definitely a "beast" here...

... a large 'Wolf Spider' ready to pounce - was a pretty big one - photographed 'em the day before -  not "sickly" poisonous venom, but a painful bite none the less that leaves a large welt for a few days - take our word for it...