Can anyone tell me what type of predator will bring it's kill back to the same area? <as in a 20 foot diameter>
Found older cow bone today, deer skeleton that still had some flesh debris, and a grey and white "whatz'it", only a pile of fur with some skin still attached, no bone. This area is not accessable by road, walk in only so I don't consider it's a dumping or poacher situation. I found a grey and white dead dog a couple of months ago but something would have had to of dragged it a 1/4 mile through the woods if that's what the remains of the grey and white fur was from, and why to the same area? Also what appeared to be a bedding area, large area cleared with a large amount of leaves around the diameter. No animal prints, too much dead foilage but plenty of scuffs. Wanted to go back out and set out the game cams but am going to have to wait til next weekend.
Large cat?
Bear? :new_weirdsmiley:

Bears will cache food.

We do have black bear here, never seen one, hope I never do :new_weirdsmiley: And I have no fricking idea
if this area gets cold enough for them to hibernate.

i think cayotes and wolfs do too? but im not sure. Always keep the possibilty of Bigfoot!

I'm assuming you are in Arkansas. Black bear are common, but cow bones, dogs, and deer? I know they are omnivorous, but wow!

Yeah I would expect to see more garbage in a bear cache than carcasses but I guess it would depend on what food is available.


I guess so but it would have to be at the very bottom of the list of viable possibilities.




Edit to add, bears are generally not very aggressive and I've never had any trouble with one but it's still best to be cautious.

Are any of the bones broken like something wanted what was inside them ?
How about tooth marks ?
And while we are at it how about some pic's :-)

There was some talk about cougars being seen in Arkansas. Some guy got one on his trailcam.
I would set some cams out around the area just to see.

Not much of a chance of garbage to be picked through by a bear around here. I'm kind of isolated, 4 homesites within a one mile radious, so meat scavenging would me more of a easy meal for an opportunist bear.


Somethin, yes in Arkansas.

Plenty of coyotees, but never heard of the critters bringing food back to the same area unless a den is in the area with pups. As far as a b/f, the possibility is intriguing but until I catch something on a cam I'm open to the bear theory. Have an awful fear of them. :new_weirdsmiley:






Yes, we saw one back in the first week of Oct in Yocana, about 25 miles from here.

well hell man u never know wats in ur backyard while ur sleepin!

As far as the cow is concerned was it an entire skeleton or just some bones? I think an entire cow carcass being drug there would be out of reach for a cat, and not sure a bear would want to expend that much energy. Check to bones for teeth marks and see if anything there. If not, you might want to look around and see if maybe there's a water source close by, possibly signifying something is wrong with the water and they died from drinking it. It's probably too early in the year for any kind of vegetation that may cause a kill like that. In this day and age they may have gotten into some garbage tossed out by someone with a meth lab out there too. So look for the teeth marks on bones first of all, then try to narrow down other possiblities. I think we can safely rule out they all decided to go to that exact location to die of old age.

Blasted dial up :new_grrr: Trying again to post pic.

Ok, lol, got the pic to post. I am assuming the larger bones are cow and am also assuming they came from the same animal due to the condition/age appearance. The hip/pelvis(?) bone was found yesterday on an adjoining property. Moregon, the thighbone was the only cow bone there where the deer skeleton and pile of grey/white fur was found.
The deer skeleton only consisted of the head, neck, spinal column and ribcage, could'nt locate the legs. The ribcage did indeed appear to be gnawed on.

There is a creek nearby that feeds through this tract of land.

There were absolutely no bones to be found in the large pile of grey/white fur.

Micahn, we were'nt out squatchin, we were out metal detecting and didn't bring the camera. My husband made me take a solemn oath "LOL" that I would not go back out there by myself until he gets back next weekend, he had to get ready to leave right after that outing, didn't have time to go back home to get and set up the cams. But will take pics of the area and residue when he gets back.

WOW take a camera with you next time u go in there. take a lots of pics ...Very interesting!

yea thats really weird and cool!

Lou..interesting.
Bears will cache carcases..but not very commonly.
FWIW..at the location that we've been working up here, the property owner found a large cache of bones and carcasses, mostly cattle, in a very isolated section of the riverbottom. He reported them to be all jumbled together, and pretty obviously put there by something, as they were in various stages of decomposition.
The similarity to what you describe is interesting, to say the least.
BTW...Is this an area where cattle have access?

I wholeheartedly agree with your husband!

What intrigues me most is the hair part. If it's not from the deer, why would a bear carry it along when you found a dog in a different place(assuming there be some bones left of said dog)? Did you get any samples of the hair?

Very interesting!

NW, this is a 40 acre parcel of woods that adjoins a cattle farm. Unfenced other than the side where the farm is, 2 sides border the Ouachita National Forest. Cattle do get loose here, happened about a month ago, never saw them but they left they're calling cards, lol, and a bunch of tracks up and down the road and through the woods.

Oregon, no I didn't get a hair sample from the fur pile but I will next weekend. I also want to go back to where the dead dog was and see if the hair matches. From what was left of the dead dog it appeared to be a sheep dog, grey and white.

I have a time out from playing in the woods, I also have "bear" on the brain.

Humm that is interesting. I do not remember off hand of this sort of thing being found before and related to Bigfoot. But I can not remember as well other trype of animals doing this sort of thing. If the bones are all located in the same place I just can not see a cat or bear draging back to the same place every time. That is unless a Den or something is right there. That just might be it a panthers den in that spot or close by it. Bears as far as I know do not drag food to dens but big cats will to feed there young.

From what I know of bears, they will eat at the site of the kill untill they are finished and then leave. Usually a bear will not kill a adult deer,elk,cow unless it is sick or wounded, they do however prey heavily on the calf elk and deer fawns in the spring. As far as a cat I understood that they made a kill they would eat their fill, bury the remains and return once or twice and then leave.
The leg bone looks like a old cow bone, jaw bone looks like a deer,not sure how old but it is still connected, and the shoulder blade is probably from the same deer.
The only predator's that I know of that carry things back are dogs(coyotes,foxes,wolves) and usually it is the meat that is regurgitated to the pups.
My best guess would be a coyote or a feral dog.

Do the Black Bears in Arkansas predate dogs? Am asking out of ignorance.

I would guess yes that black bears existed in Arkansas far longer than any domesticated dogs that were brought into the area.

Are you asking if they "pre-date" dogs..as in, were they there first?
Or...are you asking if they would kill a dog.
The answer to both, would be yes...

Emphasis inserted by me

Thank you for the replies, guys.

I ask because I recall having a conversation with an acquaitance who stated she had black bears coming around her property and the dog's(singular) barking usually ran it/them off. Also recall hearing of bears being hunted with dogs.

It gave me the general impression black bears avoid dogs when possible. But, bears are supreme opportunists, so it isn't really surprising they take a dog if they get the chance.

Here is my impression. You say you have found only pieces of the larger animals right? So I'm thinking there is a coyote living nearby, and while out foraging he finds a cow, bites off a bit and runs back to his home area and eats it. The dog, could have wandered too close to family of coyotes, could have been killed by coyotes. Could be a dead coyote. Coyotes will tear a deer apart and run off with a leg, or a rib or two to eat it in a safe place. There are so many coyotes, that this probability is also probably most likely based on population alone.

Don't dismiss feral dogs, they are often overlooked when it comes to livestock and pet depradations.

Paint,
I just came in from an active Bigfoot area, where we discovered several piles of bones, cows, deer and other smaller animals piled up in a creekbottom. There was even an armadillo found there recently that had been placed on it's back and ripped in two. The bones were fairly cleared of meat, no chaw marks like you would find on bones being chewed on by coyotes, wolves or dogs.

Were the bones knawed on, like a dog would?

And what about entrance paths, were there any paths coming down to where the bone piles were? If so, how wide were they?

Hmmm... Possible a bear...they like stinky dead stuff,a bear usally buries their food until ripe.The cow could of been old dead a from a farm,they sometimes they just drag them out to the edge of their property instead of buring them. The dog could of been a road kill, but your neighbors in the area would noticed if their sheep dog went missing. Bear do perfer young fawns to eat then adults, they just lay there when Mom is away. Cougar would have a deep den to conceal ther young, but don't line there dens with grass or leafs, niether do canine species. You may be on to sometime...

Drew, yes we have massive amounts of coyotees here, have had one come into the yard during daylight after the chickens. Brazen b@#$%^&, he didn't stay long :biggrin: Also have slews of hunting walker hounds that run deer and whatever, at will.

On the way into town I'm going to go ahead and place one of the cams just inside the woods on the trail leading to the area (within running distance to my truck, still have bear on the brain, lol) :new_weirdsmiley: I'd rather have a cam set out in the general area than wait a whole week until I can go back to the location.

DW, the cow thigh bone does have some marks up towards where the hip joint would be, the deer carcass was picked clean but the rib cage area "had been" gnawed on.

re: entrance paths
yes, that's the first thing my husband noticed before we found the bones. There were 2 very obvious trails being used and recently. The thick leaf clutter was strewn and overturned, as in the most moist ground level leaves that would be at the bottom, were now on top.
Hard to explain but where the bones were it looked as though something had recently rumbled there, way newer than any of the residue, the ground cover was a mess, that's why I was thinking bear. My husband tracks and it was very easy even for me to follow the trail, very obvious. But no blasted clear tracks to give a clue if it was bear or whatever.

Paint, you be careful out there.

I've never seen anything around here like you're describing. I did find the carcass of a horse with a deer carcass close by a few years ago, but I never thought about an animal cache. I hope you get something on the game cam.

im still stickin to coyotes.

I really should have paid more attention in My Zoo class lol, I have to agree with the coyote or feral dog hypothesis, cougars are known to cache food, but I dont think in a way like that. Bears I dont remember if they do or dont, but I am leaning towards dont. hmmmm can I get Continuing Education Credits for all the research I have started doing to bone up on this? lol

make sure u post any pics if u get any! plz

Do cougars normally stash food in one cache? I've heard of them attempting to hide kills, but bringing them all back to one location to feed?

If the area has thick undergrowth, and you say there were obvious trails, I too would guess coyotes. As already mentioned by many, they will carry smaller fragments back to a common place to feed. Plus they are more prone to leaving behind, and using predictable trails, whenever it's to their advantage.

Look no further then the family dog, and backyards, if you need examples of dogs using common walkways.

Black bears do cache food, but you don't have to take my word for it just find a pile of carcasses and/or garbage in bear country and hang around long enough to find out. Just bring along a chubby pal who runs slower than you do.

(Not you Paint, I know you believe me :wink: )

the bear theory is interesting because Game and fish have released several Canadian black bears into Southern Arkansas within the last year or two. Before then, I don't recall ever seeing a black bear myself and had heard they were mostly extinct around here. Since the reintroduction though, we may see things we've not seen before in the way of predation and caches. It bears keeping a watch on. (pun intended).

Painty you be careful out there. A feeding ground is not a place you want to be since the animal(s) that use it might be a might territorial about it. If not that, a human might make a tasty meal in their opinion, especially a lone one... Do be careful! Take the pups with ya. The run would do them good and chances are they'll flush out any wildlife in the area of the cache that might be territorial about it. If it is coyotes, then wolves would be good to have in the area to get rid of your coyote problem. Just a thought there.

ps.. if ya think you might need another wolf to complete your "pack" I just happen to have a cute little puppy (hint hint) Course wolves come with their own inherent problems and the ranchers might think they're more a hindrance than the yotes or bears. (probably not true, but ranchers have never had kind thoughts where wolves are concerned)

I'm far from being an expert, but i did see something similar once.

A few years ago a friend called me. Her neighbor had lost over a dozen sheep in the previous few weeks and knew I had both a bear and cougar tag. The short story is that there were tore up sheep all over the place. Mostly in the open areas, not near any brush. One fresh adult sheep had been dragged out of the brush where it was apparently killed, pulled over a standard height fence including 2 strands of barbed wire and eaten in the meadow. Bear tracks all over the place. I assume the bear did the killing, though I can't prove that. It could have just been feeding on the leftovers. I am sure that nothing but a bear would have the strength to lift an adult sheep over that fence. Why it went to all the trouble of moving the sheep I couldn't guess unless it was afraid of losing it (the tracks were from a smallish bear).

I didn't get the bear. The farmer moved his remaining sheep away from the area and the bear stopped showing up as soon as the last carcass was finished (it was bones in a day or 2).

Cougars will kill and eat a dog given the opportunity (i.e. caught it alone). They will also drag food to a safer area, especially if they are afraid of losing it to other predators. Bears will steal food from cats whenever possible. I would think a strong pack of 'yotes might steal from a cat also.

I don’t know enough about ‘yotes to say if they would do what you describe or not. Both bears and cats would be strong suspects if they are present in your area.

I can’t wait to see if the game cam can solve this mystery for us.

17x7

Is there a bear season in the area? We hunt bears with bait, could be a old bait pile from a hunter hunting bears or even coyotes. We hunt coyotes off of the ranchers "bone yards" where they dump their dead livstock.