How to Recognize Black Bear Scat to Track Black Bears

Being able to spot bear scat can be very helpful if you are tracking bear. Their scat will not only tell you if they have been in the area, but can also give you an indication of how long ago. Bears eat a varied diet so the look of the scat will also vary based on the season.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Wear rubber gloves whenever you are working with scat. To avoid chances of getting diseases you never want to touch scat with your bare hands.

2. Look for the bear's food in his scat. Although bears eat a variety of things, most commonly they eat vegetation in spring, berries in summer and nuts and acorns in fall. You will be able to see pieces of undigested food in the scat.

3. Use a caliper to measure the diameter of the scat. Black bears scat will have a diameter somewhere between 1 1/4 to 2 3/4 inches. The smaller diameter scat typically belongs to a female and the larger to a male.

4. Examine the scat for freshness to determine how long ago the bear passed through the area. If the scat is dried out, has colonized with insects or the plants underneath the scat have yellowed and died the scat is probably at least a couple of days old.

5. Check around the area for more bear scat once you have located the first droppings. If you find a lot of scat in one area you might have located a bedding area. Look for other signs of bear activity in the area such as hair and shallow scrapings on the ground.

Tips & Warnings

• Very dark runny bear scat is an indication of a bear that is eating meat. A bear will often stay in one area for several days while eating a carcass. If you find bear scat that looks like it came from a meat eater you might want to leave the area or at least exercise extreme caution.