t trap last night, baited with a chicken gizzard, and this morning I caught a raccoon that was just too cute. He was looking at me with his cute little eyes proclaiming his innocence, not snarling or growling like a possum would have. This old Bird, however, knows that killers always return to the scene of the crime. He was actually playing dead or sleeping very soundly when Bear and I firstapproached. I put Bear up and he magically woke up, like he was afraid of Bear, but not me.
I should have known the way that chicken was manipulated and cleaned to the bon
e that it was a coon. It is the only animal with enough dexterity to eat a chicken like that. Recall that I had not thought that the predator was a raccoon because it did not eat the chicken's crop. Now that I think about it though, the crop was neatly separated and set next to the carcass, as if he were saving the best for last. I should have known, too, that coons like to wash up before and after dinner, and my little frog pond is only 30 feet away inside the garden fence. We had known that something had been eating the beans and peas. I 
actually thought it was a rabbit, even though the perimeter garden fence has rabbit wire at the bottom. A few weeks ago, the pea and bean feast seemed to stop. Next to my garden frog pond is a huge clump of spiderwort. It was beautiful, about thigh high and 3 feet square in size, maybe a bit larger. About a week ago, I noticed that the spiderwort had been smashed down. Skyguy asked me if Bear had laid on the plant-that's what it looked like, but I knew that he had not. (see third picture) It all makes sense now. Now, I know that Mr. Raccoon was tired of eating his veggies so while he was waiting on my corn to 
mature he thought he would have some chicken to fatten up. Actually, he probably dined on pond comets as an appetizer for the main meal to come as I had put a few large comets in that pond about a month ago to keep mosquitoes down. I seriously doubt they are still there. It is funny how it all seems so clear now, all the little mysteries of life-like where did my fish go? and Why did Bear lay on that plant?-are solved. :)The top picture, is of course, Rocky Raccoon (he was a male) caught red handed(now I know where that phrase comes from) at the scene of the crime, next to the chicken moat (second picture). The red X is where the attacks happened and the C is where I found the remains. I also saw a place under the
blueberries where it looked like he laid in waiting for the chickens to pass by, as well as some tracks in the barn next to the old coop where the roosters are that were obviously raccoon. If you look closely at the tracks, you can also see that a small snake crossed the path, snake track runs 2:00-8:00 near the double print. Pretty cool stuff. Anyway, Rocky is now killing chickens in Coon heaven-in a universe where people, dogs, coyotes and .22's don't exist; he did not suffer.
