It looks like there are nuts and seeds in the scat. I allow a friend to hunt deer on my property and last week he shot and gutted a buck. That may account for the reddish color as this animal must have eaten some of the guts.
As you can see by my shoe in the photo (the only thing for size measurement I had on hand), the amount of scat is relatively small. The bear scat piles I have seen when hiking have been definitely larger.
A small bear? Some other animal?
I sent out this photo to a few friends -- who have friends. I got back an answer.
A person who works in the Fish and Wildlife Resources department of a local lumber company said:
...looks like coyote scat after eating nuts and grains. If it was bigger I would think it could be a bear. This time of year the scats are fairly “squishy” with berries, nuts and remaining green vegetation.
A coyote! Yes, that is who the scat may be from. While bears can travel this river corridor, I often hear coyotes near the river and the nearby ridge. The guy I let hunt deer on the ranch told me he saw a small - maybe baby - coyote one day when he was sitting in his deer stand.
It is a good thing it may be from a coyote and not a bear as Tammy and I plan to have a bonfire some night this month to burn another tree stump if the weather cooperates.
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