Collecting Poo...

Steven Rinella and his scat collection.

I love everything about hunting; the fresh air, the outdoors, being with my friends, and even getting dirty.  The one thing I have never taken an interest in is collecting the scat of the animals i hunt, or any animals.  I guess some people just love hunting a little more than I do.  Steven Rinella, host of The Meat Eater, recently put up a post on his blog about his scat collection.  After reading his post I was actually shocked with how interested I was in his poo, not his literally of course.  Steven described some of the different kinds of scat he has collected over the years: coyote scat with a fawn's hoof, black bear droppings with the claw of a black bear cub in it.  Not only can examining scat be informative, it's also one of the best ways to stalk an animal.  Stalking mainly involves a hunter following the tracks of an animal, if lucky the hunter will also come across the scat of the animal.  If the hunter is lucky the scat will be fresh and he/she will know that the animal is in the area.  Or the scat might contain certain food that's been digested.  This digested food can give the hunter an educated guess on areas the animal has been and maybe even will be again.

Being able to tell the difference between animals scat isn't only vital when stalking prey.  It's also vital in a survival situation; unfortunately I've experienced this.  While backpacking in Emigrant Wilderness, an area north west of Yosemite National Park and south east of Dodge Ridge ski resort, my friends and I got turned around on a trail and had to scale down granite bluffs before sundown.  While being lost in the middle of no where we came across a high amount of black bear scat, most of it was fresh.  This let us know that a bear was near by and that we needed to get the hell out of there, even more troubling was the amount which led us to think it was  possibly a mamma bear and her cubs, not a fun situation.  So my suggestion to everyone, the next time you go out in a wilderness area don't be afraid to examine some poo, it might just help one day.