September-October, 2021
You know what scat means … git! go! shoo! get out of here! be gone! take off! scat!
But I don’t want any of you to be gone, ok? I don’t mean that you should leave, ok? 🙂
The word “scat” means something else too, other than “be gone”. It’s another word for “poop” or “doo-doo” or “droppings” or “excrement” or “dung” … or, if you are very scientific, “solid matter discharged from a mammal’s alimentary canal”. In other words, it’s what we all do even though we don’t like to talk about it or name it.
Among humans who are often in the wild animal world, the word “scat” is commonly used and understood to mean the “poop” of an animal.
And so, let me tell you the story of my day today.
My friends who were camping in their Escape trailer (close to where I was camped in my Escape trailer) were off on their own adventure this morning, or maybe they were just lazing about, I can’t remember, but I decided to head back up onto the trail that we’d been on yesterday, but this time by myself. There were signs saying there were bear out and about, and the park ranger had said the same to me, but I figured the bear wouldn’t come THIS close to the campground, to humans, and so I had no fear. And off I went up that same roadway we’d been up yesterday.
How pretty!
And then I took off on a side trail that went further up into the wild and uninhabited hills.
I’d been gone only 15 minutes or so, but I started thinking about the ranger and the signs that talked about bear in the area. And I started to get nervous. And I started looking to the right …..
And to the left …..
And I started whistling and talking out loud. “Hey bear, how you doing?” I saw and heard nothing, but still I was a bit nervous.
At the top of that trail, I came upon that old shed again … and the lone tree beyond it with the yellow truck parked under that tree. That made me feel comfortable.
Off to the left of the old shed was another trail that led to two more very old and decrepit buildings (photo below). There were fence posts in the area, but no fencing, so I decided to walk over there and see what those two old structures were about.
Oh, but wait, what’s this black pile of stuff on the path in front of me? I don’t want to step in that. I’ll just step around it. Yep, that’s what I’ll do …..
Bear scat!
Yikes! THAT made me nervous! Particularly since this (big!) pile of scat had NOT been here yesterday when my friends and I had been out here. But I stood my ground there and checked the surroundings … no bears and no strange noises. Then I carefully checked the pile of scat. I didn’t touch it, but it seemed cold … not warm as if it might have been “put” there recently. So I relaxed a bit.
Nevertheless, I decided to head back towards camp. So down the trail I went back towards the campground. There was a very tempting road (photo below) off to the left, into the hills, but with that bear scat behind me, I decided not to chance this other road. I’d been told that only black bear inhabit this area and they are happy to get away from humans when possible … and they are out and about usually only during early morning hours and late evening hours. I was here around 11:30am … and I had my spray bottle of wolf urine (bear spray) with me … but still, why take chances. So I by-passed this lovely road.
Even though I was wary, I still enjoyed seeing the details of the surrounding land and plants.
And, I kept talking out loud …. “hey bear, how you doing?” … “what’s for lunch, bear?” … “I’m over here bear looking at this plant” … “bear, bear, who’s a bear, not me!” I felt kind of silly, but being silly was a whole lot better option than coming face to face with a bear.
Lovely grasses here. But did I just see movement in the shrubs up there?! Ok, nope, no movement.
I was getting closer to the campground, when I looked to the left and found this … below.
It sure looked like footprints to me. The ranger told me that black bears sleep during the day, often near the waterways that feed the lake because it’s cooler there … they will walk into the shrubs and woods and find a place to curl up and have a daytime siesta.
Obviously, I did NOT explore that area. I just keep on walking down the main trail/road, whistling and talking. But still finding interesting things to take photos of too. 🙂
I was almost back at the campground, just one more corner in the trail to negotiate, one more curve of the road to get around, and I’d be there. I wondered if bears here might like this ripe red fruit (cherries?) and I thought they probably would. There were a number of branches from these trees that had been torn down, split off, not tidily as if a human had done that, but roughly as if a bear might tear a limb off in order to get to that sweet fruit.
And then I came up to the last corner of the road …..
No, not more! I froze in my tracks. This pile of scat had NOT been here 45 minutes ago when I first left the campground. It was larger than the pile of scat that was up by the old decrepit barns. Needless to say, I did not investigate this pile of scat. I scooted right around it and trotted down the roadway and around the last turn in the road and then over to my campsite and directly towards big, safe Towhee the Trailer. I climbed into my trailer and locked the door!
Later in the week, I showed both photos of these two piles of scat to the local ranger. She said they were both bear, but different ages of bear and different diets. When I told her the time of day of the second pile (late morning), she raised her eyebrows and said “that’s unusual, wonder why it was out that time of day” … she voiced no concern for me! But I’d bet that ranger had seen first-hand more than her share of black bear in this neck of the woods.
Next time I think about heading out into bear country by myself, I might just think again. On the other hand, black bear really do run from humans if possible. And I do have what is reported to be the best bear spray (wolf urine in a spray bottle). And … there are lots of black bears in the forests of Washington state so if I want to go hiking, I will likely be in country inhabited by black bear. So maybe I’ll do what I’ve always done and talk with the local rangers before I go hiking, carry the right gear, and keep whistling and talking out loud. “Hey bear, hi bear, who bear, ho!”
Did we ever tell you about the time we saw a bear walking in the river mid-afternoon in downtown Winthrop?
No! But that would have been cool! 🙂 For the bear, and for you.
So glad you made it out safely!!!❤
Me too! Whew. 🙂
Oh boy!
Even my heart was in my throat reading about your hike!
You are the queen of adventures.
I will never forget our stay in Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park when a buffalo came between us and our vehicle. We had innocently wandered down to the creek as a fellow camper had told us about a beaver making a dam. Buffalo are massive! And apparently can actually run quite quickly…. sorry, did not get any “scat” photos.
Ah shucks, no buffalo/bison scat. Ok, next time you get cornered by one of those massive creatures, I want scat photos! 🙂
Yes’m.
Mark will be on it… hopefully not literally.
Ok. The obvious question here is how do they get wolf urine?
Love your blog, and you.
Ah ha! Yes, the question of the day … how do they get wolf urine to put in jugs to sell to people? I suspect very carefully! 🙂 Ok, actually the humans go out in the wild and crawl around with small plastic cups and they ask the wild wolves if they would please leave a sample. No? You don’t believe that? Well, ok, how about what I read online about getting the urine from wolves in captivity. The quart jug I bought says it has not been diluted, so that’s a lot of pee. Consider how many other people might be buying this stuff, since there is more than one “brand” as it were. I’m not sure I like them anesthitizing that many wolves to get their urine. But maybe they have to anesthitize them anyway? Possibly to save my life, I’m ok with temporarily anesthitizing a wolf to get a little pee.
Bear poop! I’ve never seen a bear, much less have I seen bear poop. You may have been scared, but you were so cool out there, I would have run like crazy at the first poop pile.
Ha! Bill, I sure thought about running, really did! But they say that’s the worst thing you can do. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t run because I was frozen with fear. 🙂
Love the ongoing bear “chat”. Ho bear! 😉
Ho bear, hi bear, whatcha doing bear? It still goes through my head, and I keep it handy for the next time. 🙂
Wish I knew the names of all those plants. I love your close-up photos of them, you are very good at that. The plant in the 12th photo down is fascinating.
Isn’t that plant fantastic, Ruby? I don’t know what any of them are either, but I loved that one too. It looks horribly sharp and dangerous from afar, but when I touched those yellow “barbs” they were soft and malleable.
Wow, what an adventure!
Our story isn’t nearly as interesting.
We were hiking a trail along a river on the Olympic Peninsula last month when we came to a sign that said there was a dead animal on the bridge (Bruin’s dinner?) and to watch out for bear. Anne and I turned to my sister, (who used to live in the wilds of Alaska and had plenty of firsthand experience with bears) and she didn’t hesitate. We turned back rather than continue on up the trail to the bridge and cross the river to complete our loop. Even black bears can be unpredictable.
Like you, we figured that caution was the better part of wisdom.
Glad you made it safely back. Bet your adrenaline levels were rather high.
Did you dream of bears afterward?
Whoa! That’s pretty interesting! Or maybe a wolf or coyote’s dinner that a bear might enjoy also? Someone’s dinner for sure and probably nothing a human should go anywhere near. I wonder if the local “rangers” left the dead animal there to let the other animals eat it … to let the scenario work out naturally without human intervention. I like that.
I didn’t dream of bears at all this day or afterwards. I thought I might, but no.
Yes, those are cherries. Specifically chokecherries and bears love them. After they eat them, the cherries turn white in the scat, as is shown in both piles of scat you found. And yes, black bears will tear off whole limbs of chokecherry trees to get at the cherries. Good of you to head back to camp! And YES to wolf urine, it’s the best.
Thank you, Sesapa! I couldn’t find a good photo online that showed them, but after you said what they were, then I found lots of photos of “chokecherries” online that are exactly these cherries. Thank you. Interesting about the white left-over “cherries” in the scat being white. Yes, they were in both piles. When I’m heading out in the woods anywhere alone, I carry a fully charged cell phone, and a pack full of the emergency stuff one should carry, and a very full spray bottle of wolf urine is hanging off my pack in immediate reach.
Well, heck, you scared the poop out of me!! ok, hope that’s ok to say. 🙂 Reading this report it really did scare me. Of course I knew you were ok because you were writing this blog later, but it scared me. And then later it was kind of fun to be scared. Wolf urine, huh, why is that so good?
Oh yes, that’s ok to say Nevada, you made me laugh. 🙂
Wolf urine is so good because all manner of very large (and small) animals are terrified of wolves. Wolves kill small animals and they kill very large animals. At my home, a neighbor woman daily walked her dog past my house and let the dog come into the inner lawn of my house so the dog could pee on my lawn and turn it yellow. When I received my jug of wolf urine in the mail, I sprayed some along the edge of the sidewalk … and then I went inside and waited and watched. The woman came along shortly with her little dog on a leash. That dog took one sniff of the wolf urine and jumped clear out into the street and Kiiii-YiiiiiiiiiiED. The dog never even walked past my house again, and certainly never peed on my lawn again. 🙂
Black bears = Michigan = black bears. Oh yes. They are more afraid of us than we are of them. But still, best to err on the side of caution. Glad you did that. Simply excellent photos!
Thanks, Marge. Michigan’s on my list to visit. In fact, I have three readers here (that I know of, maybe more that I don’t) … readers here who are from/in Michigan.
All bears can be dangerous, but black bears are usually more afraid of humans than we are of them. You should be concerned if a mom has younguns (especially new borns) or if a black bear is hurt in any way. What you absolutely DO NOT WANT TO DO if you come across an agressive black bear is to climb a tree. Black bears climb trees really fast, faster than you can, so that won’t work out well for you. Stand your ground, lift your arms, spread your legs, make yourself look as big as you can, don’t open your mouth and show your teeth (that’s an agressive thing that will just egg on the bear). Don’t turn sideways or the bear will see how small you are. Maybe back away from the bear but never turn sideways or turn your back. And yes use wolf urine spray (did I tell you about that last year? I think I did.) Spray the wolf urine towards the bear, and then you move backwards away from the bear while facing the bear (don’t fall). If push comes to shove, spray yourself, pour it all over yourself, drown yourself in wolf urine. The bear will not touch you. You will need a shower later! I’ve been living and working in bear country most all my life and have had numerous meetings with bears but never a dangerous encounter, the bear always ran away immediately. But I’ve heard lots of stories from buddies about more dangerous encounters even with black bear … wolf urine is the ticket.
Oh, I don’t know how they get the wolf urine … ha! very carefully!!! 🙂
Excellent advice, Tim, about what to do if you meet a bear. I’ve read that same advice online … but the advice is even better coming from someone like you who has experience. And YES, you were the one who told me about wolf urine, maybe a couple of years ago, and I ordered it immediately. I hope to never use it, but I sure do carry it with me and it’s out and very handy.
Ha!! pee in the cup please. 🙂
Um…..so they SAY black bear avoid humans…yep…until they don’t. We have bear in the northwoods and in the UP too. That’s mostly what I worry about when I’m wandering but I don’t have bear spray. Guess I should get some.
I guess there are black bear pretty much all over Canada and USA except maybe in the hot lowlands of the southern USA (and the cities), but I know black bear are in the mountains of the southern USA. Wolf urine! You can buy it online. As long as you keep it inside a spray bottle, you don’t even smell it. Honest! You can ask my friends. 🙂
Yes, that’s what the rangers say … black bear run from humans, until they don’t.