Over 70 people tried their hand at deciphering what animal made the track in the photo I took on our arrowhead hunting day. And the majority of guessers got it right-the animal track was made by a raccoon.
I’ll share a real life story about a raccoon with you-it seems too silly to be true-but it is true.
Way back in the day when Granny and Pap moved us into their house, Granny who was used to living in a more populated area felt like she was living in true wilderness. She took her food scraps out to the edge of the yard and threw them out. It didn’t take the wildlife long to discover Granny’s free offerings of food every evening. One day she seen an animal that she didn’t recognize out at her scrap pile. She hurriedly called Mamaw (Pap’s mother) and told her there was an animal out back of the house and she was worried that it might try to get into the house. Mamaw asked Granny what the animal looked like and Granny said “I swear it’s wearing a mask.”
Since so many people entered the giveaway-I decided to extend it to three people instead of one. I used the handy dandy number generator to pick the winners and they were:
#78-Elizabeth who said: “The masked bandit himself (herself?)….the coon!”
#38-Joyce Mullikin who said: “I think it’s a raccoon.”
#1-Kim Stalcup who said: “Looks like raccoon tracks!! :)”
What’s the prize? A cd of the Blind Pig Gang!
A big THANK YOU to everyone who played along here on the Blind Pig and on facebook. Be on the look out for more giveaways in the coming weeks.
Tipper
I’ve seen foxes, deer, bobcats, groundhogs roaming wild here in Buncombe County. Some of them near populated areas. Bears? Those big boys roam my neighborhood regularly. Hurts to know they are hungry enough to raid garbage cans. Once I watched a possum climb my neighbors chain-link fence. I cannot recall ever seeing a raccoon, though. How did I give raccoon as the answer? Bless the years I spent as a Cub Scout Den Mother.
When I was a teenager, J T, an older cousin was an avid coon hunter. He had coon dogs and all that. One night he came home with a baby coon and talked his wife Ruth into letting him keep it. They named him Charlie. Ruth didn’t allow dogs or cats in the house but Charlie got to stay. Charlie had the run of the house. Charlie would climb around on the furniture and even on the family. He would check their pockets for treats and such just like something you would see on TV, only neither they nor we even had one yet. Charlie seemed to be happy and well adjusted. He grew into a normal sized adult coon.
Then things started to go wrong. Charlie bit one of the kids. Jimmy, I think. OK, maybe Jimmy was pestering him as little kids will do. He refused to eat from their hands anymore and would back up in a corner and hiss at them even if they were offering him food. Even J T, his savior and mentor, was attacked and bitten.
They managed to cage him and tried to care for him hoping his demeanor would change but it never did. He became increasing more vicious and sullen. His once beautiful bushy tail had become an ugly yellow color and most of the hair fell out of it. His whole appearance became that of a drown rat more than the beautiful raccoon he once was.
In that area, at that time there was no thought of a veterinarian. In fact I doubt most people even knew what one was. If you had a cow with the bloat or suspected a hog had cholera, the county agent might come out. Otherwise you were on your own. So J T did the only thing he knew to do. One night after the children were in bed, he took the cage and its occupant deep into the woods, opened the door, and turned and walked away. The next day he went back and retrieved the empty cage.
Was Charlie able to survive on his own after being raised as human baby? Did Charlie find a Charlene and produce many litters of fine young kits? Or did the disease that caused the yellowing of his tail overtake him? We will never know…
Tipper the last part of the story has been embellished a bit. There really was a Charlie the Coon and he tail did turn yellow and his hair start falling our. And he did bite Jimmy. But as to his demise, when I asked J T what had happened to Charlie, he said “The little
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ bit me and I turned the dogs loose on him.
About 15 yrs.ago, my mother went to investigate the noise in her attic. She discovered a mother raccoon and her babies. She called “critter control”. Fortunately, no lives were lost.
Tipper,
Congradulations to the winners of
the Blind Pig Music CD’s. They’ll
enjoy all that Bluegrass Gospel.
Sometimes living in the mountains
can present problems. One time we
had a cat that was the boss of the
night. (He thought) I threw out
some tater peelings off the bank
at the edge of the yard. Big
mistake! That night a skunk came
to dine and ole Quincy tried to
run him off. It was 3 weeks before
the cat got to come on the porch
again…Ken
I think I need to learn more about animal tracks. As a matter of fact, the masked bandit arrives during the night in my yard, thinking about raiding the birdfeeder once again. She is very large, well maybe it’s a he, is so large that it didn’t fit inside the trap we had, but managed to have a good feast. I have learned something today. Thanks!
Another true story…Darryl and Debbie were newlyweds when he took a third shift job leaving her home alone. One night or early morning she heard ‘someone breaking in’ her screened in back porch. Once this ‘burglar’ got in, all heck broke loose as he turned over trash cans and flower pots. When the police arrived, the ‘masked robber’ had a full belly and was leaving the same way he came in.
Tipper,
Congratulations to the winners!
I’m just glad the prize wasn’t a free raccoon as we have all we need here, so I was sort of afraid to enter your guessing post! If I had won and it was a raccoon prize, I would have to have you send it up and over the mountains further North…LOL
Right at this particular moment the computer is buzzing along fine. I am afraid to say that since I might put a hex on it again! It is not dawn here yet, but it is supposed to be a pretty Fall day! Hope you and your family have a good day. Today is football time in Tennessee so the TV will be heating up the living room as well as the voices of the watchers…yes, me included.
Have a good weekend. Hope it is not too muggy and hot your way!
The Scuppernongs will be ripe here in about two weeks, our source tells us. I hate to say he has been staying up nights shooting at the masked bandits and putting down some! He has rows and rows of mucadines and scuppernongs and the raccoons raid them in droves. He said, he is sure they are not all from his area!
Thanks Tipper,
I tried throwing stale bread, etc.,out in our backyard. One night my son caught a skunk, a raccoon, & a possum on his camera in the same picture. Meanwhile, deer were in our driveway. Now I save bread for the fish in the pond. If they show up in the backyard, I’m moving!