Step Inside for a Scat Scan

[Outdoor_Fool]

First guess is porcupine, then marmot, then beaver (not sure if there are beaver there, they usually don't poop on top of rocks though), next is Scatman's Clif Bar.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

If you're interested in improving your abilities, here are a couple of good books. Murie's book is a classic. The second book is by James Halfpenny and is highly recommended by many folks.

 

[Perry]

Okay I need a positive identification from The Team. Morgan County, Utah. 5,100 ft December. Pretty sure it’s elk.

There was lots of deer scat around... much smaller and rounder than this.

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[Udink]

These are from 2009, taken in Lost Spring Wash in the eastern San Rafael Swell, south of Woodside, Utah. I'm pretty sure it's bear scat, which is a little unnerving 'cause I've camped in nearby Cottonwood Wash many times and wouldn't expect to run into a black bear there.

Torrey on the ATV for scale (before she was a white-faced old lady)


Bear(?) scat? Full of juniper berries and a little bit of grass.


Bear(?) scat?

 

[Reef&Ruins]

@Nick I'm no expert but it appears to have a decent amount of berries in it. I'd guess fox or ringtail.
@Udink again no expert, but I'd agree with you on bear.

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Yes possibly Bear Scat. Bears are omnivores and can be both in the lower elevations and higher elevations. looks like quite large scat as compared to the vehicle's tires. Just my opinion.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

@Perry - agree on elk.
@Udink - sure looks like bear, not really classic black bear country, must be a lot of cottonwoods in the washes.

 

[SKLund]

I am a total novice at identifying flora and fauna but am eager to learn. Many times we don't see animals in the back country but often they leave behind their scat. We have many members who might be professional wildlife biologists or at least know their sh*t. @scatman may be one of them, hrm. So, I thought it might be educational to have a thread where we could post pictures of scat to be identified by our highly qualified scat scan crew in hopes to provide a way for us novices to learn more about our environment.

Along with posting pictures it might be helpful to post details about the location, elevation, time of year, etc. to aid in accurate identification. I'll defer to our scat scan crew for exactly what details would be most helpful.

So, I'll go first. I'm fairly sure the picture below is from a mule deer. It was taken in late October in the Wasatch Mountains at approximately 6,000 ft. The 72mm lens cap added for scale. Can we get confirmation from the Crew?

View attachment 72037

Ungulateous...

 

[Perry]

Here’s another one for our most excellent crew. June 23, 2019, Uinta mountains at approx 9500 ft.

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[Bob]

I don't think I'll even comment.

 

[Kyle P]

View attachment 72042

Pretty certain this is Raccoon. ^^^^

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Coyote. ^^^^

 

[Jackson]

Here’s another one for our most excellent crew. June 23, 2019, Uinta mountains at approx 9500 ft.

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Here’s another one for our most excellent crew. June 23, 2019, Uinta mountains at approx 9500 ft.

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Fox or small coyote? There's a lot of hair in there.

 

[Stephanie B]

A few years ago my hubby gave me a “Scat and Tracks” book for my birthday. Quite the romantic he is! It has hand-drawn black and white illustrations, though, that we don’t find to be very helpful for identifying scat.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

Fox or small coyote? There's a lot of hair in there.

I'm with Jackson on this one. Looks like coyote, especially with altitude info thrown in there. Some range maps do not even show raccoons in the Uintas, out of curiosity, has anyone seen one there?

 

[Kyle P]

I'm with Jackson on this one. Looks like coyote, especially with altitude info thrown in there. Some range maps do not even show raccoons in the Uintas, out of curiosity, has anyone seen one there?

If referring to my post, I was saying Raccoon to what Nick posted last year in the photo above.

100% agree that the second photo I quoted from Perry is coyote.

Sorry for the confusion. I'll edit the post and clear it up.

- Kyle

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

If referring to my post, I was saying Raccoon to what Nick posted last year in the photo above.

100% agree that the second photo I quoted from Perry is coyote.

Sorry for the confusion. I'll edit the post and clear it up.

- Kyle

Ah, understood. Thanks for clarifying. Now I see what you did. I should have caught that.

Although scat in photo from Nick appears to have lots of wood fiber in it, which is not typical of raccoon diet. I could be very wrong about what is in the scat, but it looks like bark or similar.

 

[Stephanie B]

Taken two days ago in upper Butler Wash, San Juan County. This is one of the smaller droppings of the four "groupings" we saw, presumably all from the same animal. It was jet black, not fibrous, no hair, plenty of seeds. We thought it was black bear. But, after reading about the size of bear droppings I'm somewhat doubtful. ??

 

[Nick]

What I suspect is mountain lion scat, seen on a ridge above Bountiful, UT yesterday afternoon. We also ran into a moose nearby. My wide size 12's for scale.

 

[Wanderlust073]

Pointy ends, my money is on

 

[OwenM]

Somebody's apparently been on a dry diet. It's fresh, though. I was close enough to smell him.