Crumbly Acres: coyotes and deer beds

December is always a 🎲 crap shoot for weather. I am fascinated by the critters, and how they cope.  It's such a dance, the seasons. Butch raccoon has been in slumber. They don't truly hibernate, and I expected to see them. Also Labbit! 

I got some exercise and fresh air, walking down to the frog pond trailcam. I was very excited, as I spotted coyote tracks all over the place. (I almost never see the coyotes during the day time!) I've 4 trailcams, with two down in the forest. You can see how the paws sink down in the snow to the ground, which isn't frozen. 

Non-mental note: the tracks were down the hill, through the cedar corridor, past the frogpond trailcam, back up the hill, and along the driveway, to and from the highway. The clever things avoided 2 of 4 trailcams! I readjusted a trail cam, because I think I am smarter than they are. 😖

Here are the doe and the coyote, at different times in the same location.

It's fun roaming the forest and seeing who has been there in the snow.  This is a high traffic corridor, sort of higher ground between the wetland and our frog pond. 

The deer seem curious about trailcams, unlike bears, etc., who can wreck them!

  

I've a lot of images of deer beds. I took a photo of the deer beds in the cedar corridor, coyote tracks crossing them. There were three beds.

 

Miracle of miracles, I have a video of the deer making their beds! This is the first time I've captured it on the trailcams. As I wrote, it is a high traffic area, and maybe a silly place to sleep. The coyotes can't take down a healthy deer, however. Not with those hooves. 

 

 

 Here is the second time a few days later!

   

 We've had rain all night, and the snow cover is dwindling. It might not be a white Christmas! There is a flash freeze tonight. I'll have to change my header!