Scat

“I have been searching for a good web site that will tell me about animal and bird sign. Your help is appreciated--thx :) Mary”

“try this

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

I put Animal Scat into Google and found some good sites.”

“For best results, park your newly-washed car under a tree!”

“I think this is a better one.

http://www.northwoodsguides.com/animal_scat.htm”

“Oh boy, I can just see this thread exploding with popularity! :-)

Whenever I'm hiking with friends that don't backpack as often, they often give me strange looks when I get excited after identifying owl or bear scat. I see it as a definitive sign that the animal was there, and an opportunity to gain insight into their diets. My non-backpacking friends can't get past that it's a pile of poop.”

“I've found the book "Animal Tracks" by Olaus J. Murie ISBN 0-395-91094-3 helpful. It's a paperback, probably a bit heavy but fits in a pack pocket.”

“The $h!t is pilin' up!”

“I ordered the book stumprider--I don't care if it is heavy--I can take photos and look things up when I get home.

Thanks Maple--I think I found what I was looking for on the first site you sent me to. You would think there would be more info available.”

“I enjoy looking for tracks, scat, nests, dens and animal sign in general on the trail. Part of what I love about hiking and why I'm more of a woods wanderer than peak bagger.
I have a book, but not sure what the name of it is. I also take pictures to identify once home - sometimes they're blurry or the detail I need doesn't show up though.”

“not bird "sign" but good pics and you can listen to bird calls:

bird identification”

“Twigeater, you take pictures of scat?”

“and how come you never post these pictures - there's a Friday quiz there ;o)”

“Its a wonder CMB hasnt posted on this one...Yet..lol”

“Yep. I also take pictures of mushrooms, birds and other critters - sometimes dead ones (if they're interesting, lol), plants and flowers and anything else I might want to identify or remember later. I've tried taking pictures of tracks, but they seldom come out well enough to identify.

LOL, from now on I'll post the scat pic's I take with my digital camera - I never got the hang of scanning.

I see lots of interesting stuff (i.e. roadkill) while biking as well. Have lugged a few home for the feather and bone collection. =D”

“"I enjoy looking for tracks, scat, nests, dens and animal sign in general on the trail."

You sayed it sisster!”

“I get excited when I find scat. Even if it's just deer pooh. It means the animal was there and still is around the area somewhere.

Olaus J Murie was a pretty darn cool guy! I just got done reading a book about his and his wife's life together and their efforts to preserve Alaska. They worked very closely with the Sierra Club, and I think he may have been the president of it for awhile. Two in the Far North, by Margaret Murie.”

“To get a better picture of prints, take some flour along and sprinkle it around the outside of the track for contrast--suppose it's not LNT, but maybe some other substance?”

“I heard that if you take flour into the woods and sprinkle it all around the trees at night you can see all the spider webs. Id love to try it. you dont relize how many there are until you go and look.”

“Sass--

After being up i AK, I read Two in the Far North.


Twig --

That is how we spend our time in the woods. Moving from pile o'poop to pile o'poop.

Learned it from my parents.

Lots of fun to come across bear poop.

Maryphyl --

We have a few combination pocket guides to poop and tracks. Both in book form and in laminated car form. They're out there. We found ours in EMS and similar stores.

For a really cool second grade project my son's teacher got some owl pellets and had the kids pull them apart, then reconstruct the skeletons and identify the animal.

My wife and I were very impressed. What a cool thing to do with kids!!”

“While shopping for supplies in Gatlinburg Tn. a few years back I was looking for one of those bear bells. I found one that looks like a smaller version of a cow bell. I asked the clerk if they worked. He replied "they work GREAT!". I wondered about his enthusiastic response and asked how he knew if they worked or not. He asked if I knew how to tell if scat was bear scat or not. I said no and he replied "well you can tell its bear scat by the little bells in it!"”

“The reason I asked my question was because some scat that my Robert and I had thought was mountain sheep wasn't. We had believed this for years. I decided we need to find out exactly what we are looking at and not just make things up and then believe them. I now think it is mountain lion but I will wait until I get the book and take my time looking things over.

A friend of mine had a running battle with her husband--she liked to bring the scat home in a baggie and keep it in the freezer.”

“The book was not what I was expecting--I got a plastic laminated field guide. I like it. Anyway....I was right in the first place about the poop it is bighorn sheep. We do have mountain lions but not that many of them and they mostly stick to the rims of the canyons and we find this stuff all over the canyon.”

“my favorite....Coyote Scat...You never know what you'll see in it :D”

“so you pick through scat, eh

sicko”

“LOL AT THE TROLL

yeah what are you looking for? human bones?


I remeber when our dog ate a bunch of crayons. then pooped rainbow colors!”

“maple, only your dog...LOL!”

“don't get me started on the stuff this dog would eat.
let me leave you with this thought....BEADS”

“TMI! You should see what my 5 year old neice will eat. LMAO”

“I once had to pull a sheet of paper out of Claudell's butt.”