Scat explains smile on coyote’s face

OUTDUMP – Holy crap! While shed hunters are combing the woods for huge discarded antlers this spring, Tina Wynecoop scored a scat that looked like a 13-inch-long rope with a half dozen knots.

Although there’s no Pooh and Crockett record books, Wynecoop paused during a hike at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge to marvel and measure what is certainly a trophy by scatologist standards.

The animal’s effort is comparable to Pavarotti belting out a glass-shattering high note until he turned blue and fainted. Bravo!

One trapper looked at Wynecoop’s documentation photo, marveled at the epic length and called it “a DOOzie.”

“The long, felted piece of scat was not shiny nor full of bone and teeth remnants,” she said. “But, the nearby scat did and was more typical. This piece is soft.”

Perhaps it’s a strip of hide from a deer carcass – ripped away and gulped down much like Pavarotti might slurp home-cooked linguini.

Master hunter Tommy Petrie of Pend Oreille County Sportsmen’s Club offered more clinical insight and comparison from his years of field experience:

“I’d say it is a fecal plug produced from a coyote,” he said.

“Looks like deer hair in the picture. I find a fair amount of these in the spring from bears around denning areas but they are usually always made up of grass, and glorious in size for sheer volume of stringy scat in one location – enough to fill a 2 gallon bucket.”

In this case, if you see a coyote with a little extra spring in its step, you’ll know the rest of the story.

Incidentally, it’s no surprise that Wynecoop, a North Spokane birder and nature lover, was captivated by the scat. In her words:

“My first anniversary present from Judge (her husband’s name), the logger, was a beaver skull. I thought that was a fine gift.

“On another anniversary I got a ‘bouquet’ of five different conifer species limbs, tied with pink flagging ribbon, and a note that said, ‘I log you, Tina.’”

“One of our treasures is a bald eagle pellet.

“Isn’t life exciting!”

Wild & Scenic films

benefit for Riverkeeper

OUTFLOW – The second annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival will be in Spokane April 28 as a benefit for the Spokane Riverkeeper and the advocacy group’s goal to keep the river scenic, swimmable and fishable.

The event featuring 13 films and refreshments will start at 7 p.m. at River City IPA.

Tickets: $15 at the door or $13 on the Eventbrite website, http://goo.gl/5ZnlX6.