I'll say it was leftover from someone who skinned it and removed the claws to make a bear rug or hang the pelt on the side of a shed. Taxidermist? And then probably a coyote, dog, or some other animal made off with the paw and dropped it wherever it was found. Just another example of how the media gets to use words like "fabled" and "legendary," but then doesn't do a follow up to give the public the truth by letting them know what was determined by forensics. If this kind of tactic wasn't so persistent I might not mind- but it is persistent across nearly all media platforms, either on TV or in print.