The good old, handy-dandy poop shovel; is the one thing you never need until you do. Believe it or not, the horse poop isn’t going to clean itself up, and you should never drop chow in the woods, on a camping trip, without being adequately prepared.
A poop shovel is just that, a shovel made for scooping poop. Of course, there’s no specific kind of shovel designed specifically for our well-digested leavings, but there are shovels that are better at it than others. Since horses and dogs don’t dig holes to poop in, it would be a more exciting world if they did; we have to come along behind them and take care of it.
When it comes to ourselves, however, we need a spade that’s going to dig an adequate hole so we can have our own, decidedly non-porcelain throne out in the wilderness.
Table of Contents
A Use for Every Trowel
When a horse poops, you can hear it hit the ground from a football field away. In other words, it’s a lot. It’s also heavy, so the scoop you’re going to use for the horse is definitely not the same as the one you’ll use for a dog.
When it comes to humans and campgrounds, it’s vital to the environment and others to dig a hole and hide your leavings. Without placing the waste into a hole and leaving it where it lands draws all manner of bugs and flies, but someone else may come along and step in it or be downwind of it.
It’s a matter of being both hygienic and respectful of others. So the type of shovel that you need has to be one for digging with the ability to cut through roots, just in case your chosen location happens to be rife with trees.
A dog’s pooper scooper is a little more mainstream, and you can find something useful in the local dollar-type store. However, when it comes to your beloved pooch, you want the best of the best.
Best Poop Shovel for Horses
For the unenviable task of cleaning up a horse stall, you need something that’s going to be both durable and as easy to use as it can be. You also want something that won’t be wasteful, as you want to preserve the shavings or sand in the horse stall.
Most horse owners have manure forks rather than what you would term a “scoop.” The fork will pick up the large pellets while dropping the shavings or sand through the tines so that you’re only getting the “good stuff” and not wasting bedding materials.
The Little Giant Durafork is a semi-popular product that gets the poop up without taking half the bedding out with you. Plus, they’re colorful because apparently, that’s important when you’re scooping steaming piles of manure out of the horse’s paddock.
A new, more innovative project is hitting the shelves and getting good reviews. It’s called the Dungbeetle, and it’s made out of highly durable plastic as it is created via rotational molding, which intertwines the plastic polymer strands, resulting in a much more resilient poop scoop.
It doesn’t have tines like a standard manure fork, but it does have slotted spaces in the flat part of the scoop to leave behind the bedding.
Best Poop Shovel for Dogs
The best kind of pooper scooper for dogs is one that will get their creation picked up no matter where they decide to lay one. According to most, the Natures Miracle is what you need to do just that.
This shovel looks like an excavator as it has alternating bucket teeth. The teeth allow you to scoop what you need to in grass, sand, woods, or just about anywhere. Of course, it’s a miracle as there is a rubber handle and the scoop itself is non stick making for easy cleanup of the task.
So the next time your canine buddy decides to launch a butt shuttle, you’re primed and ready to go.
Best Poop Shovels for Camping and Us
We’re not going to be scooping and bagging our waste, so when it comes to humans, we’re looking for something with which we can dig a hole. Not only that, but we like versatility, and a shovel that does it all is right up the human alley.
The Deuce Ultralight Backpacking Potty Trowel belongs right next to your rescue rope and the MREs in your backpack. They are incredibly lightweight and portable, sell in packs, and you can choose from several colors. So what’s with colorful pooper scoopers? It must be a zen thing when in the moment or a way to decide which shovel to utilize for the same project.
Nothing is perfect, and of course, there will come a time when you need to hack your way through roots as well, and that’s when you’ll want something a little more robust than the Deuce.
Nevertheless, the Vargo Dig Dig Tool is one of the best portable tools you can imagine when it’s time to make fudge popsicles in a heavily wooded area.
The serrated edges come in handy for those aggravating roots, especially when you’re squeezing your glutes because releasing the Kraken is about 0.5 seconds away from becoming a smelly reality.
Regardless of how travel-tolerant your sphincter is, it would help if you had quick access to these trowels and shovels. They’re outstanding for quickly digging sanitary holes, but they’re also called survival tools for more than one reason.
Final Thoughts
Whether it’s man’s best friend, Mr. Ed, or yourself, it’s good to have the right tools at the right time. Whether human or animal, the body has a cycle that is a natural and necessary part of all of our lives. So, we need to be respectful to the environment and others and clean up after our pets and ourselves.
The best way to do that is to utilize the right shovel for the job.
