Carnivore scat - Shenandoah National Park, VA

[Steffan]

Hi,

perhaps some of you hunter/tracker types would be able to help me identify these scat found on a trail in Shenandoah National Park this weekend.

and

The older scat had what appeared to be bones and skin/gristle in and lots of hair. I'm assuming the fresher specimen came from the same or similar beastie.

Overall length of knife is about 3" (~7.5 cm)

Could post larger images if that helps.

Thanks

Steffan

[Justin Time]

I don't think I fulfill your criteria, but they look like some sort of big cat, can't really see if they're twisted at all. Was their any other sign around the scat? scratches in the soil, was it on an obvious high psot?

[the naughty boy]

no idea but this thread is s**t..literally!
where is shenandoagh park then?
the second one looks like a cumberland sausage.

[Steffan]

no idea but this thread is s**t..literally!
where is shenandoagh park then?
the second one looks like a cumberland sausage.

Virginia, USA

[Steffan]

I don't think I fulfill your criteria, but they look like some sort of big cat, can't really see if they're twisted at all. Was their any other sign around the scat? scratches in the soil, was it on an obvious high psot?

Couldn't see any other sign such as tracks - although I looked for a while up and down the trail. Not obvious high spot - just open on the trail. There were 2 fresh scat within 200m of each other, and the older one another 100m down the trail.

My first thought on the cat front was cougar, but there aren't supposed to be that many (if at all) left in Virginia according to a quick search of the net that I did last night.

S

[al]

wolf turd has a lot of hair in it,i really wish i could answer you with confidence, i just bought animal tracks and signs which is brilliant,once again another door has been opened, there`s a pic of wolf scat in it and it looks like the top one, full of hair . hope that helps, if you find out by an expert can you let me know please ? this is an area i really want to explore also steff how did you break your axe ? cheers al

[Steffan]

Al - broke my axe on a bit of knotty pine trying to make a paddle. Gransfors replaced it - no questions asked.

S

[al]

just found this on the woodsmoke links http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eoa/nature/tracking.shtml may help, had my first go the other day and managed to follow a fox , picked up heeps more but i could hear a voice in my head going "you missed that one , and that one , and that one " :-D

[Powderburn]

Coyote.

Possibly feral dog, but I'll wager coyote. No wolves or mountain lion in those parts, that I am aware of anyway. :wink: Definitely not bear sh!t, and way too big for fox. That leaves coyote, feral dogs (I say feral because of the fur in it) or a human with a strange diet. :shock: