Do Bears Poop in the Woods?
A couple of days ago the dogs and I noticed this poop on the trail below Circle Bluff. I would definitely say it was a bear poop other than the fact that it was a preposterously prodigious pile of poop for the size of bears we have in these hills.
I was sitting on the deck looking at the hills and thinking about this poop. I was trying to talk myself out of this actually being bear poop, so I asked Grok what it was:
"This is black bear scat (Ursus americanus).
The large, loose, irregular pile packed with undigested seeds is classic for a black bear that has been gorging on ripe berries. In late August in the Coast Range around Gales Creek, bears are in hyperphagia (the pre-hibernation feeding frenzy) and eat huge quantities of whatever berries are available—Himalayan blackberry, salal, huckleberries, and others. Their digestive system doesn’t…