What you will need to be able to do is tell coyote scat (poop) and tracks (paw prints) from those of other animals and determine the freshness (age) of that sign. What you will be looking for is fresh sign (scat and tracks). Once you find a place that meets that description, it’s time to scout it out. Scouting using coyote scat and coyote paw prints.Įvery coyote hunter knows, “You have to be where the coyotes are, to call them in.” Scouting means finding a suitable habitat, then discovering undeniable proof they currently inhabit that land.Ĭoyotes can live anywhere, but they prefer open fields and meadows overflowing with rabbits, insects, and fruits. Where: National Park Service offices, 401 W.Supercharge your coyote hunting abilities by learning how to identify and age coyote scat and coyote paw prints. When you’re dissecting, you’re hearing sentences you would never hear anybody say in real life like, ‘Hey, can you come check my scat please?’ or ‘Dude, come look at my scat.’ It’s so fun.” If you go Matthew also found a knee that Larson said belonged to a jackrabbit. “It’s a vertebra, “ she told him - part of an animal's spine. He called out to Larson for help in identifying it. “Oh, my gosh,” he exclaimed as he discovered a bone in the sample he was given. “He won’t do any sports that get in the way of any of these science events.” “He loves science,” Doreen Lewis explained. Nine-year-old Matthew Lewis, of Encino, arrived late because he was coming from an invasive crayfish removal event at Tapia Park in Agoura Hills, his mom said. Meanwhile, Diaz found an incisor, jaw bones and a partial foot from an animal.

Using tweezers, Simcik separated out various seeds and trees pieces from the scat she was given. Both hope to someday work for the National Park Service.īefore handing them scat samples - all of which were collected from the local area - Brown gave them gloves and explained that the waste material had been baked and run through washing machines and dryers to ensure there were no parasites.

7 scat party were Paige Simcik, of Simi Valley, and Diana Diaz, of Santa Rosa Valley. The work has revealed that coyotes eat just about anything, from shoes to fast-food wrappers.Īmong those attending the Oct. “Part of the role of the wildlife biologist is to help the public deal with some of the wildlife that is coming into the neighborhoods, and one way we can do that is to provide information to people like why are they in your neighborhood so they can reduce some of those issues.”

“We can then try to reduce some of the conflict that goes on with coyotes,” Brown said. So once a month, the Park Service puts on a scat party, where volunteers can be amateur biologists for a day and dissect the feces that coyotes leave behind. View Gallery: Gallery: Scat party reveals coyotes' secrets

Coyote scat