Help with animal track ID please

We found these tracks near our porch recently. We live in southern Colorado immediately west of I-25 and north of the New Mexico border. We have bear, cougar, bobcat, coyote on the ranch for the larger predators. These do not look like bear especially since the hind print is just like the fore. The width of the track is a bit wider than the span of my hand (~ 5 inches) and definitely looks canid to me. Since they are introducing Mexican grey wolves on the Vermeijo Ranch just south of us, I'm thinking that is what made these. They look too large for a coyote.

Any ideas? Thanks! I also posted this to Fauna.

Here is a pattern of multiple tracks. The object is a roll of plumbers pipe tape that's ~ 3 inches wide.

Definitely canid. Based on the size you mentioned, (5" wow!) it's a big "dog" domestic or otherwise. If you could find some scat that might help. How far were you able to track these? That might give a clue.

There is no doubt in my mind about these tracks....bigfoot exists in Colorado!!!

Jack

Pamela, wolf prints are about 4" across. The front of two together should be smaller than the back one and it seems to be. But it could be a big dog too I'd guess. Coyote, fox and bobcat would all be half the size.

The only other hint you might get out of these tracks is if you had a long stretch of them to evaluate. Do they wander aimlessly, or do they seem to have a destination in mind? Domestic dogs have a tendency to wander, while wild dogs tend to go from one place to the next. It's nothing concrete, but it might give you an idea.

Scat would help a lot, if there is any...

Any other tracks than what I've posted are buried under snow. What ones are visible seem to travel in a straight rather than wandering path. No scat visible unless it also is under snow. My husband said he saw a "coyote" about 3 weeks ago. While researching Mexican grey wolves it was stated that at first glance they are often mistaken for coyotes.

Don't count out a large domestic dog such as a Great Pyrenees, Great Dane, or St.Bernard. Another possibility is a wolf-hybrid which are common in Colorado, normally they are domesticated pets, but some do escape into the wild. But given that wolves are south of you it could very well be a wolf. They are known for traveling long distances in search of new territory. We once had a wild (escaped domestic) St Bernard frequenting our back yard since we have a water feature in back. The dog escaped new owners after the original owners left (20miles west of us). There were notices out for it and we had one of the searchers positively ID it from video I took of it. It never was caught, but it was finding food since when I video taped it, it was over 4 months after it had runaway.

My guess was "sure looks like dog" and that was before i read Don's reply.