We speed-hiked by the woods, decided to make it to the high-mountain lake earlier than lunchtime. On that spring morning in Montana’s Swan Valley, nothing sounded higher than a day of fishing and consuming sandwiches beside the water. As we rounded the nook of a hairpin flip, we observed a large pile of inexperienced scat steamed on the sting of the worn path. The pile was so huge and uncharacteristic of different animals, we instantly considered grizzlies. However bear scat identification isn’t all the time straightforward.
“Shit,” Austin stated.
“No kidding,” I retorted.
We gripped our bear spray, unsure if it belonged to a griz or a black bear. Austin took the life like method and jogged my memory that we had been doing every little thing proper—making noise, staying alert, retaining bear spray on the prepared. We made it one other hundred yards earlier than seeing the massive bear tracks interspersed with matching little tracks—cubs. Once we heard the rustling forward on the path, we determined to show round and never tempt destiny. The fishing must wait for an additional day.
Nonetheless, there’s a number of good looking and fishing in bear nation, and any outdoorsperson price their salt can study to establish bear droppings. These bear scat identification suggestions will train you to establish bear scat so you possibly can higher perceive a bear’s sample, food plan, and extra.
What Does Bear Scat Look Like?
Typical bear scat is finest described as a giant, messy pile. Relatively than the uniform pellets from deer and elk, or the small mesocarnivore scats of foxes and coyotes which might be largely hair, bear scats are outlined by their dimension, contents, and asymmetry.
The tough nature of figuring out bear scat comes from the spectrum of meals they eat, says Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear biologist Jamie Jonkel. Bear scats fluctuate extensively primarily based on what meals sources the omnivore is digesting. Various kinds of bear scats embody:
- Vegetation scats
- Berry scats
- Insect scats
- Meat scats
- Fish scats
- Rubbish scats
Vegetation Scats
Each black bears and grizzly bears eat extra vegetation than you would possibly assume, particularly once they’re ready for berries to pop within the spring. Such a green-heavy food plan could make for a very inexperienced scat.
“When it’s recent, it’s virtually olive-green, possibly just a little darker than an olive that may have a pimento in it,” Jonkel says. “That’s the one which most individuals see.”
![vegetation bear scat](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/bear_vegetation_scat.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
Bears eat nettles, fireweed, dandelions, and a wide range of different weeds and grasses. For those who come throughout a black, sun-scorched scat that’s the consistency of jerky, it’s in all probability a vegetation scat. For those who’re actually curious, Jonkel says, rehydrating it could actually assist establish its contents.
Berry Scats
Just like how vegetation scats are normally inexperienced, berry scats are sometimes a darkish purplish-red or brown coloration. However one of the best ways to establish berry scats is by its seeds, Jonkel says.
Each black bears and grizzly bears eat huckleberries, chokecherries, snowberries, mountain ash berries, and hawthorn berries, amongst numerous different varieties. However a bear’s digestive system normally struggles to interrupt down the seeds, pits, skins, and typically even the berry flesh. That’s why a number of berry scats are stuffed with complete fruit.
![bear scat with seeds and berries](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/05/bear_scat_berries.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
“Bears have a reasonably quick gut, in order that they need to eat loads to glean the sugar” from the berries, Jonkel says. “With the huckleberry scats, you possibly can wash them out and make a pie, though I don’t advocate that.”
Insect Scats
Black bears and grizzlies each search out bugs for meals. Additionally they ingest bugs by the way whereas uprooting vegetation and foraging for berries. Because of this, some bear scats seem like they’re coated in a black, fragmented shell. That’s what Jonkel calls an ant scat.
“Ant scats virtually sparkle, as a result of they’re stuffed with the shells or armor on ants,” he says.
![black bear eating from a tree](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/AdobeStock_537684155-scaled-e1686069428680.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
However a bear’s bug food plan doesn’t finish with ants.
“Military cutworm moths will come out extra grey, however quite a lot of occasions you possibly can nonetheless distinguish the wings. They usually eat quite a lot of hornets or yellowjackets, and people are all the time stunning. It comes out simply stable, nicely, hornets,” Jonkel says. “Relying on the physique form and the power of the insect they’re consuming, the scat will look completely different.”
Meat Scats
As voracious scavengers and apex predators, grizzlies and black bears will each find yourself with quite a lot of meat, cartilage, fur, and bone of their scat. All of these elements of a carcass will cross straight by the bear’s digestive system and are available out the opposite aspect.
![bear scat identification meat scat](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/05/bear_scat_identification_meat.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
“When it first comes out, it’s sort of a moist, nasty-looking mess,” Jonkel says. “Then it slowly turns white over time. If it’s dried out, it’s all white, and quite a lot of the time you’ll see bones and quite a lot of hair. After they’re consuming the cover off a winter-killed moose or one thing, they’re these big scats full of hair. It comes shunting out in a giant, lengthy, lump of hair. These are fairly distinctive.”
Of all varieties of bear scat, meat scats are the hardest to establish as bear scat as a result of they’re exhausting to distinguish from different predators. A small bear might need a similar-sized meat scat to a big mountain lion or a wolf. However, as Jonkel says, dimension does matter. So if it’s larger and extra of a pile than a conventional predator scat (extra on this in a minute), it’s in all probability a bear.
Fish Scats
![bear eating fish](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/AdobeStock_57279947-scaled-e1686069042775.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
Fish scats are typically stuffed with fish bones, scales, and pores and skin. This type of bear scat is essentially restricted to bear populations that reside close to water, until a bear drags a fish carcass out of a dumpster. Inland bears eat a number of freshwater fish, whereas coastal bears eat saltwater fish, seaweed, razor clams, and the occasional useless sea mammal.
“One of many worst bear scats I’ve ever seen was from a bear that had been feeding on a useless whale,” Jonkel says. “That’s a giant nasty pile of fats and froth.”
Rubbish Scats
![black bear in garbage](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/AdobeStock_411636150-scaled-e1686068907614.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
A bear’s incapability to totally digest a lot of its forage additionally happens with human-provided meals sources. Piles of bear scat close to dumpsters and livestock feed normally include a spectrum of surprises.
“Sadly, once they’re in rubbish, that’s a straightforward one. I’ve seen complete diapers and stable plastic. Or they’ll get into pet food, hen seed, horse grains, and quite a lot of occasions you possibly can simply decide these out in a scat,” Jonkel says. “I talked to somebody who discovered fingernail clippers in a scat. I discovered a Forest Service hearth cache seal, a metallic circle with wires [used to label fire-fighting supplies scattered in the backcountry]. It’s superb what you’ll discover in there.”
Grizzly Scat vs. Black Bear Scat
There is no such thing as a dependable approach to inform a black bear scat from a grizzly bear scat with the bare eye, Jonkel says. The scale of the scat pile loosely signifies the dimensions of the bear that left it. All issues equal, mature grizzlies are larger than mature black bears, however variations in age and intercourse make this a tough rule of thumb. The one different approach to decide which bear species is within the space is by discovering close by tracks. If the toes of a bear observe creates a straight line and the claw prints are set ahead from the toes, you’re taking a look at a grizzly bear observe. If the toes are extra rounded down on the skin edges of the paw and the claw prints are nearer to the toes or nonexistent, it’s a black bear observe.
![bear scat on street](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/05/bear_scat_garbage.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
Biologists are at the moment creating a way for extracting DNA from scat, Jonkel says. It entails lifting the mucus cells {that a} bear’s digestive system leaves behind on the scat and finding out them. These cells carry DNA that may reveal piles of details about the bear, together with which species it’s.
Canines may also develop into useful in bear scat identification. Jonkel is at the moment working with Working Dogs for Conservation to coach canines to establish wildlife scats, particularly bear scats. It stays to be seen whether or not the canines will have the ability to decide black bear scats from grizzly scats, Jonkel says, however it’s a piece in progress.
Learn how to Inform Bear Scats from Different Animal Scats
Relating to correct scat identification, dimension completely issues. The size of the pile would be the finest indicator of what animal you’re coping with, Jonkel says. If the pile is similar to the dimensions of your bootprint, you’re speaking about one huge critter. However bear scats can fluctuate in dimension, too.
“Little cubs have little poops, medium-sized bears have medium poops, and large bears have huge poops,” Jonkel says.
If the dimensions of the pile signifies that the animal may both be a mature deer or a younger bear, search for an absence of uniformity in form. Deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, and horses poop in what are usually an identical pellets and balls. Bear scat, then again, is far much less uniform. Carnivorous mountain lions and wolves may have extra cat- and dog-looking scats, respectively. These are extra log-shaped and each can be chock-full of hair. As with a bear’s meat scats, mountain lion scats and wolf scats will flip whiter with age as they dry out. However a pile of bear scat is mostly messier and sloppier than a single mountain lion or wolf scat.
Bear Scat Identification FAQs
Is there any approach to inform grizzly bear scat from black bear scat?
No, not primarily based on the scat alone, and never with a unadorned eye. Search for close by tracks, which can give a greater indication of what bear species is hanging round. Sometime, DNA evaluation and canines would possibly have the ability to assist with bear scat identification, however it’s unlikely that people will ever have that capacity. You’ll be able to, nonetheless, have a look at different signal close by for clues, together with bear tracks.
How will you inform how recent bear scat is?
If the pile is moist and giving off warmth, it’s probably a couple of minutes to an hour previous. If scat is simply moist however not steaming or giving off warmth, it might need rained just lately, so see if the moisture content material of the scat is according to that of the bottom round it. Conversely, scats which might be dry, mild in coloration, or the consistency of jerky have been round for a very long time. The truth is, says Jonkel, they could have survived an entire winter preserved in snow and ice.
![bear scat washed away](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/AdobeStock_441685604-scaled-e1686068294735.jpeg?strip=all&quality=95)
Does smelling or crumbling scat assist with figuring out it?
Bringing your face and nostril near a pile of wildlife feces shouldn’t be a good suggestion, and neither is crumbling it along with your naked fingers until you possibly can disinfect them earlier than making ready meals or amassing water. Whereas Jonkel is a proponent of investigating scat, bears (and plenty of different animals) carry parasites of their digestive methods that might simply switch to people if we are available shut contact with it. Nevertheless when you’ve obtained a bottle of hand sanitizer or a stick helpful, dig in. You can see some mixture of a treasure trove of pits, seeds, vegetation, and possibly some bones and fur. Simply hope there’s not trash in it.
Do bears all the time poop in the identical place?
Bears don’t all the time poop in the identical place, however typically they may. Naturally, bears will defecate close to their meals sources, particularly if these meals sources are recurring. For instance, a bear will probably go away a number of piles of scat close to one moose carcass if it feeds on the carcass for a couple of meals. Jonkel recollects a time when he and a buddy thought they noticed a bear den by binoculars, solely to method it the following day and uncover what they thought was a gap was truly a large pile of a number of bear scat.
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“I name these poop castles,” he says. “Similar to how we like to make use of the previous outhouse, and it’s important to verify earlier than you sit down to verify the ‘cone’ isn’t too excessive. You must hold the shovel round to tip the pyramid over from time to time. Bears have an identical technique once they’re utilizing the identical website. They’ll all the time hand around in the identical spot, and also you’ll discover these poop castles. I’ve seen them two toes excessive.”
![bear scat with track](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06/bear_scat_identification.jpg?strip=all&quality=95)
Why Bear Scat Identification Is Vital
With the ability to rapidly establish bear scat helps hunters zero in on bears’ patterns, meals sources, and journey areas. That is particularly essential for spot-and-stalk hunters who have to deal with areas with recent bear signal. But it surely’s additionally essential for common outdoor folks to know what bear scat seems to be like. We must always all the time apply good bear country protocol, however getting affirmation that there was a bear within the space just lately is a stable reminder to remain locked in. —Alex Robinson
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Last Ideas on Bear Scat Identification
For those who come throughout a pile of scat, you possibly can attempt to establish it as belonging to a bear primarily based on a couple of options. Contemplate its dimension, location, and its contents. You’ll be able to anticipate finding undigested seeds, vegetation, bugs, hair, and even trash in bear scat. For additional clues, search for different bear signal close by.
The tracks within the mud didn’t make it any simpler for Austin and I to establish the scat that we had been taking a look at. 5 claws dug deep into the mud above 5 toes on a comparatively flat aircraft. The remainder of the observe was tough to make out, so we weren’t certain if we had been chasing a grizzly or a black bear. However one factor was for certain: it undoubtedly wasn’t a horse with a digestive challenge.