Raccoons

Another pretty day here in Tally town. I have been around raccoons over 30 years. I love them.

Some of the strangers I would watch out for and others I am so close to I can doctor them when they get injured. They get into fights with each other and with things that want to eat them.

They are fierce fighters.

They are also very friendly and when they know you very well they can be loving. The old ones dance when I go out to feed them. In the beginning I use to think they didn't live more then 3 years. I never had one around more then that. As time went by I had them around longer and longer. Now I have one that will 8 years old this coming May.

During winter they only come out at dark thirty. In the summer when it starts getting hot, they come out before noon. It gets too hot to sleep during the day.

All pictures I have of them are taken in the summer time. A well feed coon will have 3 or 4 babies each year. The babies will stay with their mother almost a year. Some mothers allow their daughters to stay longer, but she will definitely run off her sons during the end of winter.

If the winter is a mild one they run them off at the middle of winter. Some mothers run off their daughters too , other do not. So last month the only coons that I feed were females. By the middle of march the strange males started showing up. It is mating time. It is a very violent time. But if a son comes back all females will fight them to run them off . That is there way of keeping from inbreeding.........

I have wanted to talk about the coons for awhile now and since it is breeding time it is a good time.

Have a good week end!!!

Love you all, Bambi, Happy, coons & Fern