What kind of tracks are these?

[stuckmotor]

In my area, I have same problem. Dozens of small 2 to 3 inch holes scratched out to depth of 4 inches. DRIVES me crazy cuz it's the landscaped turf behind my hobby barn and machine shop. Worked so hard to plant and maintain that lawn. Well game cam showed two suspects. Suspect #1 was a skunk and then 5 hours later suspect #2 showed up...and is a raccoon. Looks like they both are carefully listening and then digging, and finding cicada grubs in the soil. I guess those grubs make some noise. Angry about the turf damage, but happy their getting fed.

Since we now have armadillos on the place I was certain they were the culprits. My first suspects were wild hogs which, are in the county but not known to be on the farm. We have plenty of skunks and raccoons so I guess it could have been them but, I found a few cloven hoofprints in the scratched area the other day. They looked more like hog than deer tracks leading me back to suspecting they're finally on the property.

 

[stuckmotor]

In my area, I have same problem. Dozens of small 2 to 3 inch holes scratched out to depth of 4 inches. DRIVES me crazy cuz it's the landscaped turf behind my hobby barn and machine shop. Worked so hard to plant and maintain that lawn. Well game cam showed two suspects. Suspect #1 was a skunk and then 5 hours later suspect #2 showed up...and is a raccoon. Looks like they both are carefully listening and then digging, and finding cicada grubs in the soil. I guess those grubs make some noise. Angry about the turf damage, but happy their getting fed.

A couple of years ago, I found dozens of those little holes under a black walnut tree. The fallen nuts had disappeared by then and I thought the two occurrences might be linked. A trail cam might be a good investment for me, too.

 

[rademamj1]

Since we now have armadillos on the place I was certain they were the culprits. My first suspects were wild hogs which, are in the county but not known to be on the farm. We have plenty of skunks and raccoons so I guess it could have been them but, I found a few cloven hoofprints in the scratched area the other day. They looked more like hog than deer tracks leading me back to suspecting they're finally on the property.

Same thing for me. I first thought it was feral hogs doing the diggin. Because once in a while I would see definite tracks of their hooves, and Texas has such a serious problem with hogs, the state has now instituted a Hog bounty program. But imagine my surprise, when it was a critter I never suspected doing the diggin. It was skunks and Racoons. Apparently, I just don't have the skill of Daniel Boone identifying animal tracks and their markings.

Armadillos are everywhere on my ranch, but their single holes and mounds are definitely on a larger scale. One clearly abandoned armadillo mound measured 10 feet across and 2 feet high, with multiple entry holes connecting inside the mound. Almost like they have condos inside. All the dirt from their tunnels went outside and raised the ground a good 2 feet high. I drove over it with my tractor and box blade, and my tractor front wheels broke through the top of the mound and collapsed it. Nothing occupied the mound, so I just leveled it all off.

 

[stuckmotor]

Same thing for me. I first thought it was feral hogs doing the diggin. Because once in a while I would see definite tracks of their hooves, and Texas has such a serious problem with hogs, the state has now instituted a Hog bounty program. But imagine my surprise, when it was a critter I never suspected doing the diggin. It was skunks and Racoons. Apparently, I just don't have the skill of Daniel Boone identifying animal tracks and their markings.

Armadillos are everywhere on my ranch, but their single holes and mounds are definitely on a larger scale. One clearly abandoned armadillo mound measured 10 feet across and 2 feet high, with multiple entry holes connecting inside the mound. Almost like they have condos inside. All the dirt from their tunnels went outside and raised the ground a good 2 feet high. I drove over it with my tractor and box blade, and my tractor front wheels broke through the top of the mound and collapsed it. Nothing occupied the mound, so I just leveled it all off.

Thanks for that info. I haven't noticed a mound but didn't even know armadillos made them. Dead ones are probably out numbering possums in our roads now.

 

[drssg]

OK, I feel a little guilty. @stuckmotor referenced this thread on his recent "Looking for closure..." thread. I had a partial update on this back in May, but TBN wouldn't let me upload a video, and I wasn't familiar with uploading to other video options. I kind of half forgot about it and half blew it off.

It's nothing too great, but here's a video clip that I managed to get on my gamecam.

So I do think the tracks are an animal dragging something. In this case it's a skunk dragging a partially grown skunk. I still don't think that's a complete answer, since I first noticed the tracks in January, and I don't think there would be partially grown skunks at that time of year. Also, these more recent tracks are similar, but not exactly the same as the ones in January.

Another oddity, the same night that I got that video, there were a ton of similar tracks in multiple entrances to the barn.

I don't know why on earth it would need so much skunk dragging activity in one night, and there wasn't much reason to the drag patterns that I could make out.

I did notice a newly dug hole going into the barn wall, and I set my box trap next to it. I had two half grown skunks in the trap the following morning. I dispatched them and then never caught any more, so the rest seemed to have gone elsewhere.

I haven't seen similar tracks since. So I think that is sort of closure, with a certain amount of mystery remaining.

 

[MossRoad]

Maybe it was moving multiple babies one at a time, then going back for more, as there seems to be tracks without the drag marks as well.

 

[Egon]

Maybe it was moving multiple babies one at a time, then going back for more, as there seems to be tracks without the drag marks as well.

I’ll agree.

 

[stuckmotor]

OK, I feel a little guilty. @stuckmotor referenced this thread on his recent "Looking for closure..." thread. I had a partial update on this back in May, but TBN wouldn't let me upload a video, and I wasn't familiar with uploading to other video options. I kind of half forgot about it and half blew it off.

It's nothing too great, but here's a video clip that I managed to get on my gamecam.

So I do think the tracks are an animal dragging something. In this case it's a skunk dragging a partially grown skunk. I still don't think that's a complete answer, since I first noticed the tracks in January, and I don't think there would be partially grown skunks at that time of year. Also, these more recent tracks are similar, but not exactly the same as the ones in January.

Another oddity, the same night that I got that video, there were a ton of similar tracks in multiple entrances to the barn.
View attachment 717660
View attachment 717661
I don't know why on earth it would need so much skunk dragging activity in one night, and there wasn't much reason to the drag patterns that I could make out.

I did notice a newly dug hole going into the barn wall, and I set my box trap next to it. I had two half grown skunks in the trap the following morning. I dispatched them and then never caught any more, so the rest seemed to have gone elsewhere.

I haven't seen similar tracks since. So I think that is sort of closure, with a certain amount of mystery remaining.

Drssg,
No need to feel guilty. Without doing a study on the habits of skunks, I guess that's as much closure as we're going to get.
Thanks for an interesting mystery.
Stuck

 

[drssg]

Maybe it was moving multiple babies one at a time, then going back for more, as there seems to be tracks without the drag marks as well.

I do think that's part of it. I don't know how many skunks are in a litter, but it seemed like there were too many tracks to have each drag mark be a different baby. Also, the tracks didn't converge on the location of the newly dug hole.

Perhaps skunks just aren't that good at planning an efficient moving day. Another thought, the young skunks were big enough that I would expect them to be done nursing, and I could see them beginning to start foraging on their own. Perhaps this was more of a family dispersion night, rather than moving all the young to a new location.

 

[MossRoad]

Are you implying she was kicking them out?