Big Bear Poop

[Rob]

Did a little Bear hunting in Oct. (Picked up a smallish bear).

Found piles and piles of massive poop.  Two interesting things:

Photo 1 is a bit of poop next to my rifle to show scale against my 50MM objective! 

Photo 2 was some kind of bear nest (we called it poop hinge).  It looked like a large bear (sow probably) had pulled in a bunch of grass into a large pile (6/7 feet across?) and then sat in the middle making a kind of grass doughnut.  This was odd in and of itself, but what was even stranger was that there were no fewer than 28 piles of massive bear poop equally distributed in a circle around the grass nest - like markers on a clock.  Only one pile of cub poop in the bunch, the rest was from a very large adult bear.

I found one more similar spot in this area.  It was a hollowed out area in a bush, and all around the spot where it would have been laying down were more of those massive piles of bear poop - probably 10+ piles


Anyway, I know this crowd appreciates good poop photos so thought I would share!

[jrebel]

Wow....this is s a first for me!!  Never seen anything like this in the woods.  Anywhere to put a cam to see what is making that mess next year?? 

[Rob]

Probably could, but it is a complicated place to get to and quite a drive.  I have thought about it for sure!

here is the one in the bushes.

[Mtnwalker]

This belongs in the samsquanch thread!

[Gringo31]

I'm impressed. 

[Duckslayer89]

Did it have something burried under the grass maybe

[jrebel]

Did it have something burried under the grass maybe

I was thinking, maybe the opening to its den?? 

[bearpaw]

Looks like bear bedding areas, the bear probably had a good long term food source and was just bedding up in those spots during daytime and eating at the food source during the night. The food source could be someone's bait or perhaps some apple trees. What was in the poo might tell you what he was eating and provide clues where to watch for him at dawn or dusk?

[hunter399]

I have seen bear poop like that before.
I believe it was a 50 acre patch of elderberry.
I did run into the bear,I was doing tree work,and was not hunting at the time.
I agree with everyone, definitely a food source near by.
Most likely bear is not far away,be alert in areas like that.

[Rob]

I kicked the grass around a bit and nothing under it.

I agree they were bedding here - the food source is without a doubt Russian olives.

[boneaddict]

I’ve seen it a couple times.  It’s definitely an eye opened and impressive.   One was a grizz at high altitude in the cascade, feeding mostly on willow roots and picas and maybe white pine.   The amount of poop in a small area was staggering, and it had a bed with grass as well.

[callturner]

Looked like a hippie nest.

[LDennis24]

That sounds like the tell tale signs of Hillary Clinton having a picnic...

[MeepDog]

At first glance it looks like a kill site where it caught something of a reasonable size and sat around and ate it, then rooted up the grass to eat all the last little bits.

[Okanagan]

I've seen something similar, with even more poop in a smaller area, on Vancouver Island.  We saw a large black bear within 60 yards of the "bed". 

It was a flat spot 4 or 5 feet across on a hillside, under old growth firs and up against the base of one.  It was clearly a bed where the bear had lain for at least a week or two.  He had pooped just off the edge of the flat spot so many times that it practically made a ring around it, plus more poop a step or few away.  It did not seem to be a kill site, or not a recent one anyway, but rather a spot where he liked to spend much of his time.  It was a good hidden overlook less than 100 steep and deadfall covered yards above a main logging road.