Below is a footprint my OH found on our property today (acreage about 15 minutes south of Calgary)

The smaller one on the left is one our male Akita made. What the hell made the other one?

I am informed that it is larger than a female human hand spread out

That would be a bear wouldnt it?

Or maybe a great dane or mastif or some other big dog?

Godzilla?

We had some tracks like that last winter, we were informed it was likely to be a cougar but I don't think you would see claw marks with a cougar as cats retract their claws when walking, so I think Wolf.

Cougar

and not the ones that are usually in high heels

I rarely wear high heels

I'm going to go with wolf for the same reason.

My guess is cougar.

I believe it is large enough to be a bear, but it doesn't have the claw marks one would expect

I thought cougar too but, as there aren't many trees around here (as in ones that would provide decent coverage), I don't know how realistic is is for cougars to be about.

Is it realistic to expect wolves around here (east of Highway 2, between Okotoks and High River)?

This link suggests a cougar. I will have to get the measuring tape out when I get home: Canine tracks v. Feline tracks

I had a look at that link, but your photo doesn't show the toes as being out of alignment, they are about the same length - and it states that cat tracks will show toes as not being even. I can't see the 3rd 'lobe' to the pad on your photo either.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/wolves.html

Interesting article on how to identify whether it's cat or canine: http://homepages.dordt.edu/~mahaffy/..._print_id.html

Have you heard any wolf calls? They do move around a lot looking for food. I'd say it's more likely to be a cougar, I've seen a cougar but not a wolf. Which I realize is a sample size of one.

A picture of the same print with a quarter alongside to give scale.

Unfortunately, it has been snowing

It's obvious now - it has to be a "cougar" that was looking for change for the taxi ride home from the bar.