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copythat
01-08-2007, 02:21
i recently came upon three separate, but similar, sets of droppings. i've scanned the internet and can't find any photo that agrees completely with what i saw. sorry, no photo. (i still live in the photographic stone age.)

torpedo-shaped, tapered ends, maybe 1/2" thick (diameter), ranging in length from a couple of inches to perhaps four or five inches ... two sets were drying. they contained obvious fur. the third set was VERY fresh. still glistening (and it had not rained in hours). same shape, etc., but the third set had less fur, but a very coarse fiber, all facing the same direction (with the "grain" of the dropping). the fiber looked like the horsehair people used to make mattresses of. (yes, i've slept on one.)

ok, here's my confusion ... it looks like bobcat scat, EXCEPT, bobcat scat (and mountain lion, too) is supposed to be segmented and blunt at the ends, kind of like (squeamish, stop now) the old tootsie rolls that you'd break off one section at a time. ok, so maybe it's coyote scat, except coyote scat is MUCH less well formed, more like wool pills pulled off a sweater.

both creatures are known to live in the area. i was on a ridge flanked with significant ledges, a favorite of bobcat.

any opinion??? any resources to recommend??? :confused:

coyote: http://www.bear-tracker.com/coy1scat.html
bobcat: http://www.bear-tracker.com/bobscat.html

StarLyte
01-08-2007, 06:26
You can't find it on the Internet? Wow.

I have an ADKs book on this, I'll look it up today.

Photos do not look familiar to me though.

MOWGLI
01-08-2007, 07:30
Tapered ends would tend to favor bbocat, but without a photo its hard to say.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
01-08-2007, 11:18
Could it be fox scat?

Sly
01-08-2007, 11:44
Try tasting it. If it taste like coyote, it's bobcat, if it taste like bobcat, it's coyote!

copythat
01-08-2007, 11:57
Try tasting it. If it taste like coyote, it's bobcat, if it taste like bobcat, it's coyote!

i woulda, but i forgot my hot sauce. :eek:

f.d., the fox scat idea looks like a good one, but if it was a fox, i may not see any more; apparently they wander like mad and sometimes just don't return. :(

i need to get back out there, with my daughter's camera.

Jim Adams
01-08-2007, 12:26
sounds alot like fox. fox wander good distances as they hunt at night but usually in large circles and usually stay in the same area whether they are denning or not.

MOWGLI
03-11-2007, 21:45
OK, yesterday on the Benton MacKaye Trail I came across coyote and bobcat scat, bobcat scratches, and best of all, Bobcat & Coyote tracks in the same dried up mud puddle!

The tracks were confirmed by an expert, as was the bobcat scat.

To see a trip report and close-up photo of bobcat scat and bobcat & coyote tracks right next to one another, checkout this link - http://americanhiking.chattablogs.com/archives/046131.html

TJ aka Teej
03-11-2007, 21:56
close-up photo of bobcat scat and bobcat & coyote tracks right next to one another, checkout this link - http://americanhiking.chattablogs.com/archives/046131.html

That's a fantastic photo!
TJ the tracking-aholic

peanuts
03-12-2007, 10:33
o wow....awsome pictures..need to get out there
repeat again...need to ge myself outthere.....