Scat/dung question...

[Suebiscuit]

Sunday saw many piles of horse-like dung - conglomerations of 2-3 inch medium-dark brown 'boulders', 4-8 per pile - on the lower part of the Moriah Brook trail (a couple off trail as well, as we had to bushwahck a bit to find a good crossing). Anyone know what animal produces that?

 

[Barbarossa]

That sounds like horse dung to me.

I believe moose nuggets are smaller, about an inch across, and they don't seem to relieve themselves close to civilization. Also, any moose pile I have ever seen seems to have dozens of nuggets.

Correct me if I am off base, folks, but I would hate to lose my 'poop expert' status.

 

[spider solo]

A large pile of brown "pellets" would be moose. (not always pellet shaped if they are having a "bad" day gastronomically speaking). Pellets by the way ,to my understanding, are a sign of a animal, that's a herbivore (vegetarian, by nature.)
The size of scat is increasingly smaller with the animals size...smaller for a deer and smaller still for a rabbit for example.
Horse dung...often refered to as "road apples"..not pellet shaped but still with some form to it.
Some times bear scat takes on various consistency depending latest on the menu, but is noticebly very black in color.
...and domestic cows..well they just don't seem to follow the rules...

If it looks like horse dung I would also vote its from a horse.

 

[forestgnome]

It was probably bear scat. Unlike most that of most animals, it doesn't always look the same. It depends on what the bear has been eating. Right now, it resembles moose or horse because they are eating alot of vegetation that gives it that appearance. During blueberry season, it's purple and softer, resulting in a purple pile, instead of brown clumps. When the raspberries are ripe, it will be a red pile.

I saw many fresh piles on Saturday on Sable Mt, just south of Baldface Circle. It was the brown and clumpy, but I also saw older piles, which were darker but had the same consistancy.

 

[Suebiscuit]

status

Barbarossa, your moose poop expert status remains intact unless someone else pipes up and proves you wrong. We saw lots of prolific piles of pellets produced by moose, as well those with the horse/road apple appearance (not renegade cow pies). The scat we saw was very smooth and regular in consistency. Tasted like chicken . But seriously, it was hard to tell what the beast had been eating. And the problem with the horse dung theory is that we were a mile and a half in from the Wild River, so hard to believe a horse was out there, especially off trail... unless there are wild horses up there I've never heard about?!

On the other end of the scale, we did see a 2" hummingbird that hovered about for a minute or so while we were having breakfast...

 

[Suebiscuit]

Thanks Forestnome - makes sense that it's bear... just hadn't seen any looking like that before...

 

[spider solo]

oh ho....looks like the horse theory stands on shaky ground...looks like I'll have to 'bear' with it and change my vote...

 

[Jasonst]

If I might piggyback on this question... For the poop experts only: I was descending the 19 mile brk trail a few weeks ago and noticed medium size piles of scat with a consistency shaped like 1" long by 1/4" thick "wormy" looking pellets. Anyone recognize that? I can't say as I have ever seen that type of scat before.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Suebiscuit, bear was my first thought. They can have especially odd scat after denning. Without pictures with some scale and breaking it up to see the contents it is hard to make a guess but that's what I would go with.

Keith

 

[SAR-EMT40]

If I might piggyback on this question... For the poop experts only: I was descending the 19 mile brk trail a few weeks ago and noticed medium size piles of scat with a consistency shaped like 1" long by 1/4" thick "wormy" looking pellets. Anyone recognize that? I can't say as I have ever seen that type of scat before.

Things to try to find out are things like the contents of the scat. That can help. Was it in the middle of the trail? Was it on an elevated structure like a log or pile of rocks. Ends tapered or it sounds like they are blunt in this case? You really have to break open scat to find it's contents to help identify it. Also how it is displayed helps identify the animal also.

And no, I am not an expert but have done a little tracking and scat reading over the years and taken a few classes. Mostly mantracking though. Animals is just a side line.


Just my $.02,
Keith

 

[Suebiscuit]

wormy scat

JasonSt -

We also saw a lot of scat that sounds like what you saw - medium brown worms that looked like wet sesame sticks, mmmm... I believe that those are from a grouse...

 

[Jasonst]

Yes, that is the type. Those were awful big piles for a grouse - that is, unless they were recycled through a bear first...

 

[Suebiscuit]

Apparently they can poop as many as 50 'worms' at a time...

They can also be quite aggressive: a couple of years ago, cycling on the road in NH in early July, about 80-100 feet from the edge of the woods, one came rushing out of the trees and attacked my head! Another good reason to wear a helmet.

 

[Mayflower]

Scat

Jasonst, I agree with others that what you saw was grouse scat. We saw the same pile, and there was another pile on the south leg of Imp trail the same day. According to my scat guide, "In winter, deposited in snow nests in large mass of 50 or so scats. May be scattered if roosting in trees." Hope it doesn't start raining grouse scat!

 

[stopher]

If the poop suebiscuit saw was greenish brown, then it was probably moose. This time of year moose are on a new diet and their scat changes considerably. If you suddenly changed from a diet of twigs and needles to succulent spring greens your digestive tract would do some adjusting too! The attached photo shows a more or less typical NH spring moose scat. Sometimes it's a little more clumpier and if one of these clumpier turds gets rained on, which has been happening a lot lately, it can look very similar to horse poop. The fact that so many samples were seen in one hike also makes me suspect moose. They are very prolific.

Sometimes moose poop will look remarkably like cow flop. This also happens in the spring and summer. The typical oblong "nuggets" are from when they are eating browse (twigs, older leaves and coniferous needles). These turds can last for a year or more and, consequently, are more familiar to hikers.

Bears can also have a wide variety in feces shape and consistancy (same as me). But if you saw many piles of fresh poop both on and off trail, I doubt it would be bear.

 

[HAMTERO]

Lots of different scat

There was lots of moose scat but also some other poop from a large animal. I would say bear although they are supposed to have tubular scat. Above posts indicate it varies on time of year and diet.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Sue/Hamtero: I remember that scat, above the Gorge in the Birch section not far from the 100 year old beaver dams. Bear, definitely. I also was attacked by a grouse as I took it's picture (strange coincidence?). Had to duck or it would have hit me square in the forehead. I'll post my pics eventually (after I clear out last week's storm stuff, mow the lawn, pack for the weekend. No darn time! Need to quit work!)

 

[Suebiscuit]

Thanks SherpaK. Can't wait to see the grouse attack photo(s)! Are you off to somehere fun this weekend?

Sue

 

[Gris]

Yes, not long after I asked Sherp what that was from (a bear), i saw a VERY large and unmistakeable pawprint in the mud next to another pile. Both the d-d-d-droppings and the p-p-p-pile were very fresh too.

 

[CatskillsYeti]

Is this scat, and if so, what kind?

This was right in the middle of the trail to Giant Ledge last October 13. I thought it might have been bear, because of the berries, but I'll defer to an expert opinion. Thanks!