As a hunter, you must be able to tell animal scat since it helps with identifying the species and how recently the animal was there. Sometimes, sex can also be determined, as well as what it ate. Here are some of the different critters you should be able to recognize to make your hunting experience much easier!
Turkeys
Turkey poop is one of the most interesting since you can be able to differentiate the sexes by just looking at them. Female poop is a spiral blob that looks like a snail shell with a white end, while male poop is j-shaped. This shape is due to their rudimentary sex organs. Turkeys poop on the same place as their roost sites, especially if there are feathers on them.
Fox
If there’s a competition for who has the smelliest poop, foxes would win. Fox droppings are usually 2-3 inches and are full of bones and fur. The color varies from light to dark brown depending on their area. It depends on their habitat since rural foxes love to eat small birds and mammals, while urban foxes consume birdseed, bread, and McDonald’s products. Be careful, though, since fox poop usually poses several health risks.
Deer
Deer poop looks like raisinettes since they are oval, pellet-like, dark brown to black, and scattered in piles. They also get clumped sometimes when their summer and fall diets consist of fruits and succulent plants. In the winter, they have hard scat with woody fibers. Remember, the bigger the poop, the bigger the deer!
Coyote
It’s often confusing to distinguish between wolf poop and coyote poop, but remember that coyote poop is usually scattered in the middle of roads, trail crossing, and other prominent spots because they use it to communicate with their fellows. The end of their stool is also usually tapered and an inch in diameter. Their scat is darker in winter and lighter in summer as they eat more berries and fruits.
Elk
Elk leave chocolate-covered almonds which also take the form of pellets during winter. During summertime, elk consume fresh grass that is why their poop resembles that of cows. They are also tapered on both ends.
Bobcat
Bobcats’ love to mark their territory using their feces, which are tubular, hard, compressed, 1-inch long. You can also determine it by the bones and hair present in them as they love to eat berries. Bobcats scratch a bare spot before pooping and then cover them sometimes. It’s their response to predation by larger cats. However, they also love to show off their poop to threaten other animals their size or smaller by doing it in the middle of trails!
Raccoon
Raccoon droppings may look gross as they contain parasitic worms that can cause irreversible brain damage. They are also radioactive since inhaling them ca cause chronic damages to your body. Raccoons poop in the same area all the time in the bases of trees or raised areas like fallen trees. The color ranges from black to red and even white. It looks granular, segmented, and tube-shapes, from 2-13 inches long. It also contains undigested food like seeds and hair sometimes.
Bear
Bears’ feces are large and look like pies. It’s hard to distinguish between brown bear poop and black bear poop. It is tubular like human feces, but larger, from 5-1 inches long and 1 /2 to 2 ½ inches wide. There is a slight taper since they are usually made of grass, roots, and fruits. Sometimes, they also love to munch on meat when they find one. Most bear scat has ant, pine nuts, and berry remains. For instance, a straight diet of strawberries results in semiliquid mass.
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