Hunting Washington Forum

Other Hunting => Coyote, Small Game, Varmints => Topic started by: ivarhusa on December 12, 2010, 03:29:27 PM

Title: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: ivarhusa on December 12, 2010, 03:29:27 PM: Made a few stands in the shrub steppe this morning, and ample evidence of the omniverousness of canis latrans was observed. On one short stretch of farm road I saw three distinctly different types of coyote scat. First was the usual black product from (I presume) eating meat. Second was a pale, rusty red dropping with (I believe) apple peel in it. Third was a new form that I had not seen before. The scat was packed with tiny seeds, each about the size of a sesame seed. I was guessing a thousand seeds or more in one 'pile'. I've scratched my head on this, to figure out what he/she could have been eating and come up with the guess of grapes. I don't know how many grapes you'd have to eat to get 1000 seeds, but I would have guessed that the stool wouldn't have been so "well formed" (from my personal experience, that is). What do you think? Any other seed-rich crops out there?

All this was observed at sites at least a mile from irrigated land, and I am not sure how much farther to grapes or apples. Perhaps another mile or two. (I can't say.) These dogs do get around!
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: beagledog on December 12, 2010, 05:04:40 PM: Cant say I have ever seen that kind
Are there any wild rose bushes around the seed pods off of that would be my guess
Either that or it went to cosco and got a tray of poppyseed muffens those coyotes are resourcefull :dunno:
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: ICEMAN on December 12, 2010, 05:53:41 PM: *censored* happens.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: Machias on December 12, 2010, 06:10:53 PM: It almost sounds like the one with seeds could be coon?
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: boneaddict on December 12, 2010, 06:15:21 PM: Rose hips.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: rasbo on December 12, 2010, 06:36:31 PM: no black berries there,these dogs around here are full of them
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: WAcoyotehunter on December 12, 2010, 07:21:26 PM: Quote from: boneaddict on December 12, 2010, 06:15:21 PM
Rose hips.
My guess too
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: ivarhusa on December 12, 2010, 07:29:58 PM: Interesting guesses, guys. There really isn't any wild blackberry out this way. Too dry. But that would put lots of seeds into a small package. I have seen lots of wild rose right along the rivers, but the nearest river shore is about 8 miles away, and across a highway.

I fancied that I saw what could have been grape skins in the poop. Thin, translucent bits. But I am really reaching with that observation. I could be full of *censored* myself...

I saw multiple instances of this seedy-type dropping, so it wasn't a "one -off" event.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: boneaddict on December 12, 2010, 07:34:52 PM: snowberries. They have a grape like skin, but you'd have to be in the mountains probably
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: Jerry malbeck on December 12, 2010, 07:36:12 PM: Juniper berries
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: fair-chase on December 12, 2010, 07:38:23 PM: Quote from: Jerry malbeck on December 12, 2010, 07:36:12 PM
Juniper berries

:yeah:
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: Jerry malbeck on December 12, 2010, 07:57:28 PM: Ivar, not uncommon to find scat containing contents from areas for up to 10 miles in any direction, found carrot scat once in a area that had no carrots up there that i know of , that one really had me scratching my head.
One winter i was guiding a hunt up by moses lake and I called in and my hunter killed a coyote full of apple sauce , not a orchard around for miles , kind makes you wonder sometimes . My hunter asked me ( what is that) I said apple sauce , got a spoon???? :chuckle: :chuckle:
By the way juniper berries are a appetite suppressant.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: gaddy on December 12, 2010, 07:59:34 PM: black berries are possible, my lab & i were eating them on a regular basis on our daily hikes along the columbia. even several hundred yards from the river. as long as they have a good water source, orchard ect.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: shoot-em-dead on December 12, 2010, 10:19:55 PM: Seeds could be from all of the above or- Coyote at a bird. Birds eat seeds.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: JackOfAllTrades on December 12, 2010, 10:36:54 PM: Quote
grape skins in the poop. Thin, translucent bits. But I am really reaching with that observation. I could be full of *censored* myself...

Yotes rummage through garbage all the time. But, I like the possibility that the scat is showing you what the critter that got eaten by the yote ate.

-Steve
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: ivarhusa on December 13, 2010, 09:11:21 AM: I lean toward explanations that involve commercially cultivated crops. I believe, now, that grape seeds would be too large. That each scat was so homogeneously FULL of these seeds tells me that the full meal was from one source. This suggested plenitude, not a mix of "seeds and mice" for example, that might have been casually foraged.

I took a look at a garden variety (literally) juniper bush's seeds, and I can't imaging a critter being able to harvest so many such berries in one sitting (*censored*ting?). There are only two seeds per berry, and the berries are pretty small and distributed around the bush somewhat sparely. Again, this is in our garden, and not looking at wild plants, so I could be wrong here.
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: BIGINNER on December 13, 2010, 09:29:39 AM: Quote from: Machias on December 12, 2010, 06:10:53 PM
It almost sounds like the one with seeds could be coon?

i was gonna say the same thing,
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: brew on December 18, 2010, 02:43:31 PM: bought a place about a year ago that has apple, pear and cherries growing in the backyard along with some grapes (not sure of the kind) have seen/shot yotes in the backyard "buffeting" on them all...don't think it matters what they eat as long as it fills their belly...crop depredation !
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: Backstrap on December 19, 2010, 08:27:03 PM: I had a coyote pile in my back yard that was mostly seed. Most likely the seeds were from a bird feeder, because there were a couple sunflower seeds in it. Coyotes will eat anything...
Title: Re: I've seen some $hit, I'll tell ya.
Post by: high country on December 19, 2010, 08:32:19 PM: seen a coyote eat a watemelon on the vine....funny thing to watch. I had to settle down in order to kill him