Bebop Skeedle-dee- Da Dow

Prints and scat—and no, I don’t mean the kind jazz greats are known for— are something I’ve learned to identify. You know that rustle in the underbrush you hear off about 20′ in the distance? Well, if you see fresh poo or prints you can have a better understanding of what’s around you. Also, if you have chickens and you’re finding white calcified fur-filled twisted poops you’ll have a better idea what is casing your coop.

We have all the major mammalian predators present on our property. I can watch the black bear walk up and down what I lovingly refer to as blackberry lane at the tail of the season and hoover up his fill of what we didn’t take and see his seed studded piles left in the middle of the road. I know the stretch of road our juvenile bobcat frequents while hunting rabbits. I know where the deer eat and what paths they take because they leave footprints in our clay. This also lets me know where to be on the lookout for our most dangerous predators.

What you notice about these deer prints is that their front toes are not fully splayed, meaning that this is a browsing path that a lot of predators don’t actively use as hunting grounds.

These are really useful skills to have when you own land in the PNW. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to get wrist deep into the leavings of animals but paying attention as you walk is key. Noticing a pile left on a road or trail is really helpful information and honestly, the animals are giving you a lot of help in the ever increasing deterrent arms race you’re in if you have livestock of ANY kind.

My ID skills aren’t time tested yet but I know the one at left is Bobcat. Our little guy eats well and I caught him on trail camera on that trail two nights before I found this. The middle one I belive to be Cougar. The pile got disturbed but it has that cougarish corkscrewing to it. At right, it’s either bobcat or coyote. Oddly, on our property the coyote poops can look VERY bobcat like. They eat the same diet and they eat well which means a lot of hair and usually a lot of bone.

Regardless of if you’re great at IDing everything, just being observant in nature can tell you a ton about what’s happening when you are and aren’t around your unseen neighbors.

Also, remember this number from the musical episode of scrubs.