NOTHING WASTED - TRAIL CAMERA TELLS ALL

I'm reflecting tonight on a story that our trail camera told us in the winter of 2013.  Although these
graphic pictures show death, they also show reality and the way of nature and my husband and I both think they are worth sharing.

One crisp day while on a short hike in our woods, we encountered a deer carcass not far from Tom's Creek.  A small dead doe was curled up in the snow, hair scattered all about, most likely the victim of a wolf attack.  Young deer, and of course unhealthy deer, are most vulnerable in wintertime.  Sometimes they starve to death in harsh winters, so to see one perish at the paws or jaws of a wolf is not necessarily upsetting, but simply nature's way.  At least this appeared to be the case in this situation.

Upon finding the young deer carcass, my hubby decided to set up a trail camera nearby to see who might come calling.   We were surprised to see what unfolded.  The trail cam photos below are in succession.  We were amazed at how many critters benefited from one young deer's tragedy.

Our first photo brought in a beautiful red fox.

Crows gathered around the carcass the following morning.  This was one of many photos triggered by the hungry black birds.

A raccoon came to call late in the evening on day two.

Our largest late night visitor may have been the culprit in the first place, a medium sized timber wolf.

Just typing the words "timber wolf" in a sentence and thinking it was right out in our woods still fascinates me.






Wolves today are the subject of so much controversy but they do exist among us today and their presence, which in my younger years was unheard of, simply amazes me.

Lastly, Mr. Bobcat, came to call later the same night as the timber wolf.  It didn't take very long for the entire carcass to disappear.










It was simply amazing how little went to waste and how many participated in the meal.  I'm sure there may have been smaller critters looking for a meal that we didn't capture, such as mice, voles, or weasels.  Nature has a way of cleaning up it's unsightliness.

One day this past fall, before the snow covered the ground, I noticed a few bones from what remained of the little doe in that same spot in our woods.  I took the skull, shiny and white from the sun, and placed it on a tree branch nearby.  I always do that and don't ask me why, because I don't know.  I guess it's just my way of showing respect and hoping the little deer's soul went back to the spirit world where it came from.