I finally got to my shack through waist deep snow and was left a reward on my deck. A Horned Owl thinks it owns the place and uses a brace on my roof over the deck as a perch to eat and defecate. The surprise is a skull, which I think is bobcat and scat was left there also. The skull looked like it passed thru a digestive system of something due to some residue left on the skull when I washed it off. It was about 98% cleaned with no brain matter and just a very little dried muscle. There were bobcat tracks coming from under my deck that were a week old or so. Do you think a large bobcat killed a smaller bobcat and ate the skull whole and passed it on my deck. I know there have been owl pellets left that were about the same size as the skull but they are regurgitated and this skull wasn't. The scat actually looked like it had some fur from a snowshoe hare in it, and there was not any other bones.




Gary J

house cat
coon poo

Show size and dental formulae for positive skull ident.
A whole skull wont be swallowd whole and pass thru an entire digestive system of any mammal I know of.

what boco said

The skull is about 3 inches wide by 5inches long and 2 inches tall. The large pile of scat is from the owl and the scat with fur is about 1 inch diameter and broken which would total about 6 inches in length. This property is remote in northern Mn. There is only one 40 acre parcel that is privately owned in each section, so other than some leased hunting shacks my nearest land owning neighbor is one mile away. The closest full time resident is about three miles south and west.

Otter skull

It would take something huge to swallow that skull whole. My GUESS is a canine, wild or domestic found it and carried it up there.

There are lots of wolves around but I would think if a wolf killed it that the skull would be crushed. I toss beaver carcasses every once in awhile for critters and have everything from eagles to bobcats, fisher, but I didn't toss any this past winter. The wolves only come in the yard about every 8 years, but I have them on camera, on a trail, about 100 yds away more than twice a month. I think it's a bobcat skull because an otter skull seems generally more rounded in the front and proportionally wider and flatter than a cat skull. It's the fact that the skull is as clean as if it had been simmered and cleaned for a european mount before whitening and had what looked like fecal matter on the skull by the eye opening. Seems that generally the owl droppings get very hard quickly and when I clean the deck I almost have to chip it off. It's a stumper for sure. tks for all your input.
Gary J

Not a cat skull as the canine teeth aren't pointed enough and the front teeth look too big.

Looks like a mustelid, weasel maybe? Looks kinda wide to be a mink.

Looks like a fisher skull to me. Size is right as well.

I say fisher too

I realize it's hard to guess with just a pic. Anyway I was thinking an otter but crossed it out because I was thinking a bobcat cannibalized a younger cat. Here is a comparison to a otter I prepared years ago. So now my guess is the owl found this skeleton skull, and carried it to his perch and then just dropped it. This might have taken place before we got any snow. Now the bobcat came along a couple weeks ago and investigated and took a dump. I had not been to the shack since opening weekend of deer hunting, because cataract surgery right during Fisher, Marten, and Bobcat season in Mn so who knows how long it and the scat were there. I know the owl has thought my shack is theirs because I've put up with it for years. Gary J

Otter skull.

That owl "scat" is most likely owl pellets which they cough up like a cat coughs up a fur ball.
Owls shoot white urea out of their tailpipe just like many big birds do. Like sause shooting through a sick cat, as they say.

My thought was otter but seeing the two side by side I think not.
After checking I would say Fisher. It has a crest like a Fisher. The bone formation through the top of the skull from the nasal opening to the back is more consistant with pictures of Fisher skulls.
That is one skull I have never cleaned. Wish I had but they seem rather scarce