yeah...
if i saw a cougar zoom by, it seems to have been smart enough to take the sidewalk to avoid tracks. and i DID see it up along the sidewalk. but there's no tracks coming on or off the sidewalk. more importantly, there's no tracks coming back and forth from the tree, which is what i was really worried about.
there's some tracks across the street, but they look smaller. skunk, maybe. or even a house cat.
so, i basically have no evidence. and i'm not calling in such an outlandish claim with no evidence. i'm not going out after dark for a while, though....
i tell you, though, it sure looked like one. but it was dark.