raccoon – The Outdoors Guy

It sure is nice to see the Great Outdoors in a cycle of rebirth, and there is no better time to witness this transformation than during early summer.

Spring is often referred to as the time of rebirth and rejuvenation in the animal world, but this isn’t entirely true. The actual fruits of labour tend to come to fruition during late June – the early summer period.

The Wild Turkey, for example, is one of those creatures with a birthing period which falls around this time of year. Sure, the breading is carried during the spring, but following a 28-days gestation period the poults are born (all within 24 hours) and join the hen on a great new adventure.

This year, I was very fortunate to capture some images of new-born poults on my property no more than a couple of days following birth.

In this trail-cam image the newborn poults are barely recognizable scattered around the ground below her feet. If you zoom-in, you get a better appreciation of their size and appearance.

I find the newborn poults look like small woodcocks, actually, with a dull light brown-grey mottled appearance.

Wild turkeys are not the only animals having babies at this time of year. Although I am not a huge fan of raccoons, I did capture these night-time trailcam images of mom coon and her two young ones.

The below images of a doe and fawn in my back field were taken about 4 years ago, and remain some of the nicest wildlife pics I have taken personally. Unless you’re a full-time wildlife photog who spends days on end in the field, capturing images of a nursing fawn is a rarity indeed.

Although I have not captured any images this spring/summer of does’ and newborn fawns, I have seen a couple. One on my way to Cornwall a couple of weeks back, and the other morning I spotted a doe feeding on a nearby property, and as I watched her through the binoculars; her posture and mannerisms seem to indicate she may have a fawn hidden nearby( I will be watching her more closely over the next few days)

Without going into another long drawn sermon on the merits of trail cameras, I honestly don’t think I could live without them! Keep an eye on the Outdoors Guy Blog as the summer progresses; I will be testing out some new Bushnell Trail cameras. One revolutionary new model has all the features of the top surveillance cams, but retails for just over $100 from what I understand.

Thanks for stopping-by and have fun in the Great Outdoors this summer!

Oh yeah, and please feel free to send-in your early summer wildlife photos!

Outdoorsguy

Here’s one of Rick’s pics of a nice Tom turkey strutting his stuff for a nearby hen:

Here’s another one of Rick’s recent pics of some nice ‘twin bucks’. (This image is an exlusive for the Outdoors Guy Blog)

Here’s the photo(& story) of Bobcat Rick saw in NB back in 2008:

Jeff this is the only Bobcat I have been lucky enough to get on film. The picture was taken on July 27 2008 in New Brunswick. I have never seen a Lynx.

Here’s an incredible Lynx image( & caption) sent in by GPG….man, some guys have all the luck!! (Is it me or does that photo look like a classic painting??)

“Here’s a picture of the Lynx which was watching us from shore. We were on our way back from the evening hunt so it was taken at dusk. ”

Here’s another Bobcat pic sent in by Rick. This one was taken in Kemptville-area December, 2009. If I hadn’t known it was a Bobcat, I’d have said it was a Lynx…goes to show how similar they are.

Everyone knows how much I enjoy playing with trail cameras. Its not only a past-time, it’s a real passion of mine.

Passionate about trail-cams? Is that even possible?

The use of wildlife surveillance is not only addictive, but is as close to hunting as it gets. The thrill of the catch is there, and knowledge and understanding your quarry is also required for proper trail cam set-ups, just like hunting. And as with hunting, you must have at least some comprehension of wildlife patterns and movements to be a successful trail-camer.

Even after taking (& studying) tens of thousands of trail-cam images over the past 7 years or so, I do occasionally surprise myself by capturing a rarity or some neat occurrence in the outdoors.

For example, I have taken several trailcam images of flying-squirrels which is a real rarity captured on surveillance camera.(At least for me it is) Above all else, I find hunting with trail cameras to be great education and a fabulous tool for learning more about wildlife behaviour and interaction.

This past weekend, I captured a series of photos which, I believe, has helped shed some light on a subject I have often wondered about.

Coyotes versus Raccoon

Do coyotes actively pursue raccoons, and if so, are they successful at it?

Coyote predation on the raccoon is something I had secretly hoped was going-on behind the scenes, it would be the one silver lining in an otherwise dark room with our burgeoning coyote population. If these yotes could help manage the coon population they would, at least, be serving as a biological control for another critter in an apparent population boom.(Much in the same way the red fox helps control squirrel numbers in some areas.)

Well, finally I have some hard evidence on the subject and the results may surprise you!

Here in this first photo, a raccoon is seen on the skidoo trail.

The raccoon walks off the skidoo trail and into some brush on the left.

13-second later a coyote appears on the skidoo trail staring in the direction of the raccoon.

Mr coyote is wondering where the raccoon disappeared to

The coyote sniffs the coon tracks while standing there.

16-seconds later, the raccoon suddenly returns into to view; (see glowing eyes)staring straight at the coyote at a distance of perhaps 20 feet.

A stand-off ensues – neither the coyote nor the raccoon move a muscle.

Coyote and raccoon continue the staring contest

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18-seconds later coyote can be seen with its head turned; this time looking down the skidoo trail and away from the raccoon. The coon has now disappeared from view.

Coyote continues looking down skidoo trail and away from the raccoon. There is no real concern or interest in pursuing the coon at this point.

Coyote eventually looks back in the direction of where the raccoon had been, but it is gone.

Now the coyote too disappears from view. It trotted down the skidoo trail without taking a single step towards the raccoon.

Evidentally the coon was not too scared of the coyote either, as if it perceived there to be no real threat. In the early images you can clearly see the coon had disappeared from view and then came back to check-out the coyote.

So, do eastern coyotes hunt raccoons?

According to this photo series, coyotes have no interest what-so-ever in raccoons as prey. (At least this particular coyote didn’t)

Outdoorsguy

Footnote:
To show how brave these raccoons can be, check-out these photos provided by ‘matt’. You have to look closely at what is poking out of the bear’s bait bucket:

That’s one brave little coon!!!

Tag: raccoon

Early Summer a time of rebirth in the Great Outdoors

Coyote versus raccoon results may surprise you