At Daughter Scout's first soccer practice this year, we showed up at the field to find it completely covered in goose droppings. This was only marginally disgusting while the kids were running through it during practice. However, the balls were also rolling through the goose poop. Then the girls had to pick up their balls and practice hitting the balls with their heads. It was extremely gross if you let yourself think about it.
There are some fields and woods around the soccer fields that are clearly populated by a variety of other critters. We saw more than just goose droppings while we were wandering around. This reminded Daddy Scout of a puzzle cache idea he had while we were traveling through the National Parks last summer. He had seen a poster of "wild animal scat" and thought identifying which animal produced which scat would be a funny puzzle to make someday. With all the droppings we found here at soccer practice, we decided this was the perfect place for Daddy Scout's puzzle!
In order to obtain the final cache coordinates, you need to identify which animal produced the scat in the picture below. Learning this may be very useful to you someday! Perhaps you are walking through the woods and you see some fresh scat. Wouldn't it be beneficial to know if it was made by a cute little squirrel or a nasty old skunk? Don't you think you'd like to know if you were sneaking up on a scared little bunny as opposed to an angry old bear? Let's see what we can learn!
0 = squirrel
1 = oppossum
2 = coyote
3 = muskrat
4 = skunk
5 = raccoon
6 = fox
7 = rabbit
8 = deer
9 = bear
Cache difficulty rating is based on the knowledge necessary to solve the puzzle plus an extra point for the sheer "ick" factor involved with the research. The hide itself isn't exactly easy either.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
CONGRATULATIONS to PCL_EL_HEFE on the FTF! He really knows his sh**!"