R. K. Cook's video: Baby Raccoons Mother in Hollow Tree

HANK WILDING'S JOURNAL: Ole Hank filmed this doting mother raccoon and her kavorting kits in the capacious hollow of a sweet gum tree. The hollow is about 20-25 feet above ground level! My zoom was pretty much maxed out filming these closeups. The masked cuties were as curious about ole Hank as ole Hank was about them. For primarily nocturnal critters, they were surprisingly very active in the daytime. Mama Raccoon kept a watchful eye on me every time I showed up with my camera, looming spectrally in the background as her kits groomed and frolicked and tested their climbing gear. At one point, one of the kits gives mama a big, wet kiss. Awwww! Raccoon moms raised two separate litters in the hollow in 2019. In each case, there were two kits; litters generally have 1-7 kits, born after a gestation period of about 63 days. The mama and kits in this video are from a late summer litter. The family remained in the hollow long after the weaning period of 10-12 weeks. By the time they said sayonara, the sweet gum was a fiery red torch against the October sky. The hollow is empty now, but I hope to meet a new brood this spring — that is, if the barred owl couple that used to have dibs doesn’t beat the ring-tailed bandits to it. Incidentally, it’s raccoon season here in Georgia. From October 15 through February 29, nature depreciators can kill and/or trap the critters. There is a three raccoon per day limit, despite the fact raccoon fur ain't worth squat nowadays. We nature appreciators believe in living and letting live. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has published a Raccoon Fact Sheet. It’s a must-read for those humans eager to learn how to share the planet with these so-called nuisance animals. Admittedly, they are prone to disease and are terrible opportunists when it comes to stealing food ... which I reckon is why they wear masks. (Heh-heh.) A good rule of thumb: don’t leave food and garbage outside if’n you don’t want raccoons to come callin’! Here a link to the PDF: https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/default/files/wrd/pdf/fact-sheets/2007_raccoon.pdf Now, get out of that tree — I mean, chair — and go wilding!