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
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