How to tell the age of elk droppings
 

I'm just wondering how to tell the age. Right now I just guestimate. few hours to few days?

if they're hot and taste fresh, they're fresh!


I step on them...

green and moist, very fresh, probably a few hours or less...

rock hard, old.

soft, 1-3 days?

If I'm not sure by looking at it, I'll pick up a pellet or two and feel for moisture on the outside. The outside dries quickly. Sometimes I'll step on them too to see how soft they are.

If ya find some in mid air between the ground and the elks butt they're fresh, after they hit the ground who cares??? what difference does it make if ya find a pile of poop unless ya can tell where the animal went.............

If the center is soft and chewy they are less than two days old.

Really if they aren't steaming does it matter. Elk can cover 10 miles in an hour easy. Say the turds in question are 3 hours old....you can do the math.

I think it matters. Elk can and sometimes will cover long distances but it does help to identify pattererns and if elk are in the imediate area. It's just one more piece to add to the puzzle when determining a plan to get into some elk. Each has their own beliefs but I can tell you one thing, I don't spend a lot of time in areas where there is no fresh dropping.

And U can waste a lot of time in a area with lots of fresh droppings, but the elk aren't theree because they moved into the area that U just left that had no droppings... I have s watched elk come in from little brown specks through 16X binos, to right on top of me in just a very short time, I want to be where they are going not where they have been!!! I have gotten more elk when they are coming at me than when I'm chasin them!!!!

Get your hands dirty and pick it up...sqeeze it, and smell it. If it's soft and smells strong you are pretty fresh also it should look wet. If it's old it will be hard and crumble in your hands it will also not smell a lot. I don't know how to help you with the time thing but that's how I measure the freshness of scat.

If it melts in your mouth and not in your hand.....


Well, nevermind, I was thinking of my favorite candy....:)

If you think that looking for fresh sign, is a waiste of time, your wrong. Scouting for elk can be as productive as scouting for whitetail, geese, ducks, turkey or almost any other kind game. Fresh elk sign is the next best thing to seeing elk. If you scout an area with no fresh sign and you choose that place to hunt, your a big dummy. To think anything different is assinine.

assinine or not it's werked fer 14 elk so far!!!!!
U can see elk sign all over the friggin place all it means is they been there...not where they at or where they goin...like I say I like to be where they going.......anyone can be where they was!!!!

*******************You must be the best hunter that has ever lived. I can tell by the picture of the huge bull in your avatar. JEEEESH!

If you think scouting for fresh sign is a waiste of time....your just flat wrong but who gives a rats ass how you hunt.

U need to grow up, smell the f********* coffee and realize the world don't revolve around U ...and yeah yer right I ain't never shot no big bull every elk I have gotten has been a spike or a cow!!!!!
But I've gott'm all fair and square, all out of the same area and pretty much out of the same patch of sage brush......why ???? because I know where they gonna go when the IDIOTS like U go out and start chase'n them.... that huge bull U make fun of was very tasty and was shot 75yds from my suburban..... U can try and insult me all U want but.....I rally don't give a flyin F**k what U think!!! Let's see the pic's of all the huge elk U have gotten............ obviously U R a much better hunter than I am so I guess U've gotten 20 or 30 elk and all in the record book too!!!
If you like I can give U the area to the closest section line...it's no big secret and it's all public land so yer welcome to hunt it!!!
grow up get a set of balls and be a man quit being a little boy!!!! your petty insults just reinforce my opinion of U :hail:

.....and to top it all off, you hunt from your truck!! LMAO!! No wonder you don't scout, your a road hunter. That just made me spit beer all over my keyboard!!!! LMFAO!!!

The only way I respect road hunters if they are handicapped. If you are, then my bad. But you would still be wrong about scouting.

...and one more thing, I'm teaching my 12 year old grand daughter to hunt. So you can throw the little boy thing out the window. Since you road hunt, you can throw it out the window while your hunting!!LMFAO!!!!

Watch your language please.

JW

Once again your insults and ridicule tell your maturity level...... did I say I was in my truck at the time? I have never said I don't scout, U being the self rightious moron that U R just assumed that!! It's called hunting the same area year after year and knowing where the elk are going to be....... I know where the elk are going to be, they are there pretty much every year and yes there is a road right handy, and don't tel me that U would walk in to some place U could drive to!!!! even I must admit that last year was a fluke by getting an animal with in sight of camp...but of course the great hunter that U R would not shoot it because that would make U a road hunter.....give it a rest your ignorance is showing I bet U belive U have to hike in 25 miles from the nearest rd to find elk at 20,000 ft!!!! around here they come in to folks yds and make pests of they self ...we shoot them for meat not they horns, like I said grow up!!!!!!! a real hunter would never make fun of anyone elses methods or harvest

Finnbears Friend.... "Hey Finnbear, you see that elk?"

Finnbear....."ya, I see 'em!"

Finnbears Friend..."You gonna shoot 'em?"

Finnbear....."Ya, I'm gonna shoot 'em, as soon as I roll the window down and put the Suburban in park!!"

Just hacking on you finnbear.:biggrin:

This thread about crap is really starting to smell now.