In the Woods Where It Belonged

Two days ago, I was going to the granary to check the trap that I set. I opened the door and was about to go in when I saw a raccoon! It was still very dark outside and darker yet inside the granary. I was excited! I ran to the house and told Jonah and Samuel. Then we went back down to the granary to see the expert thief.

Raccoons can live 2-3 years in the wild, and I thought that this sneaky mammal was about 1 year old. He had gotten into the feed from the back of the granary. The black masked and bushy tailed raccoon was staring at us with his cautious eyes. Raccoons are nocturnal and have very good sight, especially in the dark. They helped this bandit to see our granary. He wanted to eat our sweet feed, but he could also eat fish, birds’ eggs, fruits, nuts, plants, seeds, frogs, and crawdads.

We decided to chase this one back to the woods where it belonged. Getting the camera and a stick, I ran down to the granary with my brothers. I wanted to take pictures of the raccoon. We did not see him anywhere. I went to the back of the granary and there he was, climbing up with his forepaws like human hands. I tried to shoo him away, he would not budge. We finally persuaded him to come down.

When it came down from the granary wall, the raccoon attacked Willow, our dog, because he was scared. We tried to stop them, but the raccoon kept trying to get her. We finally were able to move the raccoon away from Willow.

He kept running into the same spot to hide and get away from us. Raccoons are very smart animals. Samuel got a live trap and set it in the spot where he kept on going to. Snap went the trap! The clever raccoon was caught.

We brought the little mischief maker up to show everyone. He was not very happy to be in the cage. After everyone got to see him, we took him back to the woods where he belonged. It was entertaining and exciting to observe the raccoon in the granary, to capture him in our trap, and to witness him run away from us into the woods.

~Isaac