What is this joker eating? Need advice

[HardlyHangin]

Size 10.5 boot -found a whopper on NF last Saturday.

This was near the only dropping white oaks I found (3200~ feet) in nearly 7 miles of hiking, there were two more the same size nearby, this one was the freshest. I estimated 1-3 days old, but found nothing hot steamy, and greyish (that's fresh, right?). There was old climbing sign, moved rocks, dug yellow jacket nests, busted logs, etc. I sat it until dark but saw nothing. I found lots of sign during the hike along the ridge top, but nothing "hot".

Did I do the right thing by sitting this, or is it not fresh enough? I thought because of the proximity to other scat it was regular enough to hunt, but it wasn't too fresh.

What is this thing eating? Other scat in the area had persimmon seeds, and others had some kind of smaller seed I couldn't identify - similar to a sunflower seed but maybe smaller.

The weather may not let me back up there this weekend but let's say hypothetically for the sake of the exercise I did get to go back. Would you:
a) go back to this exact spot and sit all day
b) assume this area will no longer be "hot" a week later, start scouting there and explore the immediate region, maybe checking lower elevations nearby for better acorns
c) assume the other white oaks in the area just hadn't started dropping yet, but will soon, and re-scout the same immediate area.
d) any better ideas?

It's a minimum 2-mile hike to get into this spot, after nearly a 2-hour drive from the house.

Thanks forhelp, hope yall are having good luck so far this year

 

[WOODIE13]

Got any wild grapes there? Autumn olive?

Usually when they eat fruits and berrys they put down a good pile.

I would hunt the area again myself.

 

[HardlyHangin]

Got any wild grapes there? Autumn olive?

Usually when they eat fruits and berrys they put down a good pile.

I would hunt the area again myself.

I didn't see any myself but I'm new to that area and could have missed them.

Thanks!

 

[jbogg]

Size 10.5 boot -found a whopper on NF last Saturday.

This was near the only dropping white oaks I found (3200~ feet) in nearly 7 miles of hiking, there were two more the same size nearby, this one was the freshest. I estimated 1-3 days old, but found nothing hot steamy, and greyish (that's fresh, right?). There was old climbing sign, moved rocks, dug yellow jacket nests, busted logs, etc. I sat it until dark but saw nothing. I found lots of sign during the hike along the ridge top, but nothing "hot".

Did I do the right thing by sitting this, or is it not fresh enough? I thought because of the proximity to other scat it was regular enough to hunt, but it wasn't too fresh.

What is this thing eating? Other scat in the area had persimmon seeds, and others had some kind of smaller seed I couldn't identify - similar to a sunflower seed but maybe smaller.

The weather may not let me back up there this weekend but let's say hypothetically for the sake of the exercise I did get to go back. Would you:
a) go back to this exact spot and sit all day
b) assume this area will no longer be "hot" a week later, start scouting there and explore the immediate region, maybe checking lower elevations nearby for better acorns
c) assume the other white oaks in the area just hadn't started dropping yet, but will soon, and re-scout the same immediate area.
d) any better ideas?

It's a minimum 2-mile hike to get into this spot, after nearly a 2-hour drive from the house.

Thanks forhelp, hope yall are having good luck so far this year
View attachment 1179306

Looks like you have definitely found a big bear to hunt, so I would probably return to that general area and do some more walking looking for some fresher sign. I could be completely off base, but I have always thought that during early bow season most of the acorn filled Bear scat will be from the Bears that are still light enough to climb for those early acorns before they start dropping on their own. The truly big bears of 400 pounds and above are almost entirely ground dwellers, and will continue feeding on the remaining black gum, autumn olives, hickory nuts… until those acorns start falling in earnest. Only then will you see that peanut buttery acorn scat show up from those truly big bears.

This time of year a lot can change in a week or two. As of this past Saturday the ground in my favorite areas is now covered in brown white oak acorns that have dropped on their own, and tons of scarlet red oak acorns as well. The hogs and bears are vacuuming them up. I plan on going up for a day or two before the rain moves in this weekend, still hoping to cross paths with one.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

That is a big bear. Or a squatch haha.

 

[splatek]

I know very little, so don’t take this as good advice. It looks like 1-3 day old scat. Hard to tell what he’s been eating unless you dissect the scat, unless it’s just been dropped. It oxidizes fairly quickly in dry air, imho.

 

[Swampdogg]

Always take a picture then step on it or smoosh with a stick to find out.
Look for the acorn “nest” in the trees or limbs around, if they are everywhere then it’s an active area if leaves are still green/grey, I would do a loop in the surrounding area and find the best spot where you can set up if you plan to sit it, but don’t over look a secondary point of interest where that bear could be hanging out .

 

[chrislibby88]

White oaks were dropping good on their own last week in the spot I hunted. Not sure what elevation you were at, but look a little higher if you haven’t already. And I wouldn’t worry too hard about the sign not being super fresh if there are acorns coming down then bears should be hitting it. I didn’t find a pile of super fresh scat in my spot, in fact all the scat I saw was about a week old or older and I saw bears, or heard bears busting out downwind every time we went in there, however there were fresh tracks, the ground was completely beat down from game traffic, and there were fresh acorns caps and busted hills everywhere mixed into the free falling acorns on the ground.

 

[DynamicDennis]

That picture does clear something up for me............