RE: THE TRUTH ABOUT DROPPINGS
I use the droppings that I find to time the animal that dropped them.
1. Warm to the back of your hand -less than an hour old.
2. Cold but still looks wet - Within 5 hours.
3. Cold and hard but still moist inside - 6 to 24 hours.
4.Cold and hard but still dark color - 1 to 3 days
5. Gray, crumbles to the touch - at least 4 days
As for the clumping, I have always believed that as the animals transition from grazing to browsing there is more moisture in theirfecal mattercavity and therefore clump together and after grazing for a period their browse in much dryer andclumping ends. As an example, during the spring and summer months, sheepherders graze large numbers of sheep in high mountain meadows (rich in lush green grass) of ourarea so I wanted to know more about their droppings (incidentally they look exactly like clumped deer pellets) so I met with a local sheepherder and expert on sheep. Their droppings willalways be clumped. Sheep simply DO NOT LIKE WATER and will RARELY drink it; they graze and move all day long and can cover five miles or more in a day and the only moisture they get is in their grazing. Their droppings are much drier and harder than deer or elk and dry quicker due to limited moisture. They quickly dryHARD and DARK in one to two days or less and generally remain clumped but very dry hard and dark and extremely hard to break apart.
So after my day of being with the sheepherder I am more convinced than ever that this occursfrom the change from grazing to browsing. Additionally, I have also observed similar changes in early Spring as they transition from browsing to grazing. I have also noted that Mountain Goat and Pronghorn are similar to sheep but not always clumped like domestic sheep.
Just my two cents worth.