spoor stumper

[nartreb]

What's small enough to crawl under my fence but big enough to leave big-dog-sized poop? The dung is piled into a cone, a bit like the scoops on top of an ice cream cone and a bit like the spiral of soft-serve ice cream (the texture is in between). It's a bulgy cone with maybe a four-inch diameter base and at least that tall. If you straightened out the folds and spiralings, you'd have a tube about an inch in diameter and nearly a foot long. Broken open, it seems to consist mostly of bits of grass or perhaps bark; the texture is similar to horse dung, maybe a little more finely ground. I have not seen any berries (wrong season anyway), hair, bones, insect parts, or anything else within the scat. No evidence of scratching or covering , the poop simply sits in the grass. The conical deposition suggests that the animal squats to poop.

I've seen rabbits and smaller critters inside the yard, but none of them are anywhere close to producing this kind of poop. I guess I need to check my fence for coyote-sized holes? Would their dung have a lot of plant matter?

 

[Chip]

Would their dung have a lot of plant matter?

No, not that I've ever seen. Almost all hair. Wrong shape too.

 

[buddy]

Sounds like it could be bear poop. A bear can easily climb almost any fence and the content description sounds about right for this time of year. I live in Northampton MA where the phrase " bears roam our streets like squirrels" is only a small exaggeration. See a lot of what you are describing deposited by our local friends.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Sounds like it could be bear poop. A bear can easily climb almost any fence and the content description sounds about right for this time of year. I live in Northampton MA where the phrase " bears roam our streets like squirrels" is only a small exaggeration. See a lot of what you are describing deposited by our local friends.

I second that. Bears are omnivores, and prolific poopers. They'll eat whatever is in season/available, and their scat reflects that.

 

[gaiagirl]

Sounds like an omnivore for sure, but could a bear actually crawl under the fence? Obviously depends on what they're eating, but could this be raccoon? Their scat can be quite large and the form you suggest is not out of the realm of possibility.

 

[nartreb]

No way a bear fits under the fence. It also seems unlikely a bear could climb it without leaving claw marks - though I haven't been looking for them. It's one of those palissade type fences, quite smooth on one side, about six feet tall.

But a raccoon could climb it, no sweat.

The other mystery is, what's it eating? None of the plants in the fenced back yard seem to have any nibble marks. (It's quite a dramatic difference compared to the unfenced front yard, where the dear eat everything. I practically stepped on one that was napping beside my front door last night.)

Hm, we do sometimes hear scratching noises at night - we were thinking squirrels in the eaves, though we haven't found an entrance hole. Maybe we've got a raccoon den, and it's leaving a calling card on its way to or from dinner. There's a spot under a sort of patio that I'll have to check.

Or a bear den? I don't think I'll mention that possibility to my wife yet

Next time the overnight forecast is dry, I'll put down some talc and see if I get any tracks.

Now, does anybody know how to keep frogs out of an in-ground swimming pool, or at least convince them to hop out of their own volition?

PS I was once quite familiar with the streets of Northampton MA at night, but never saw a bear there.

 

[buddy]

A raccoon is a good guess as well. Bears often leave very little if any trace of their passing by as far as tracks or claw marks go. The ground needs to be very soft mud in order for a print to be left and scratch marks can be faint or non existent. The bear population in Western Ma has been steadily building for the past 20 years. In the last 10 years the bears have been adapting to in town living. I've had bears in my yard 3 times this year and have seen them in other parts of town as well. A neighbor of mine had a bear denning under her porch. She called the local fish and wildlife folks who told her that the bear had been denning there for three years. They new this because a U mass research team had radio collared the bear and had been tracking it. also note that there have been more sightings in the eastern part of MA as well. A bear has been spotted on the cape last year and one was shot out of a tree, by police, next to the MA Pike near Boston this spring. It's inevitable that they will populate the entire state. Bears are attracted to peoples yards for three main reasons, bird feeders (they love to eat the seed ), unattended pet food left out and unsecured trash cans. In Northampton you can be fined for leaving feeders up, pet food out or not securing your trash if you have created a problem bear. People's fear level when encountering black bears is generally out of proportion to the actual danger. Urbanized black bears are not easily provoked ( even when cubs are present ) and there are many myths that persist even when the evidence does not support them. The number of people injured by black bears in a developed area is so small as to be practically non existent. The few black bear attacks that do occur in North America generally occur in very remote areas where an adult male black bear may consider a lone human a food source, these type of encounters have mostly occurred in Canada and Alaska. The general rules of thumb are, do not create a problem by providing food sources and bear will leave you alone if you do not mess with them, fact is they will run away if you do.