ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: FOR WILDLIFE, IT'S LIVE AND LET DIE

In nature, a gain for some comes as a drain on others.

Wildlife has its own method of checks and balances. When one group of critters benefits from something, it often spells misfortune for another.

Mankind figures into the equation because humans are another animal sharing the same resources. In fact, no critter has impact on the habitat and those in it to the extent of Homo sapien.

An example is what's been happening with raccoons.

The raccoon, a masked omnivore of the night, is enjoying a bulge in its population as a quirk of human society. As a regulated game species, coons have endured well through the years, but they have flourished in the past few seasons.

Coons formerly were taken in good numbers by both trappers and hunters. In trapping and hunting seasons lately, however, the harvests have dramatically declined.

Trappers have dwindled in numbers because of a sharp drop in fur prices. There's little money in raccoon pelts anymore, so most trappers who were active for the profit to be made have dropped out.

Meanwhile, raccoon hunters have gone through a sort of change of position in more recent years. Many hunters have become accustomed to actually taking a few if any raccoons.

Coon hunting has become more of a dog sport in which hounds are allowed to run and tree animals, but the raccoons more and more are left alive in the branches to be pursued another day. A growing number of coon hunters are figuring that leaving the quarry animals out there will only make their sport better in the future.

The result is there are lots of raccoons scuffling around out there nowadays.

A byproduct of that coon proliferation, however, is an increase in predation by the nocturnal bandits on other species.

Raccoons are notorious nest raiders. One species that is being affected by growing coon numbers is the wild turkey. The greatest negative against ongoing efforts to repopulate areas with turkeys probably now is the raccoon.

Turkeys have few natural enemies which are successful in preying on them once they mature, but coons can prove devastating when turkeys are nesting.

Once a nest is found by a pillaging raccoon, a hen turkey has no choice but to bail out. A raccoon can destroy a clutch of eggs or new poults. If the hen doesn't depart hastily enough, a coon will add her to the menu as well.

I had a chance to see raccoon predation up close earlier this summer. A couple of mallard duck hens wandered up from the adjacent waterhole and chose spots virtually at my front door to nest. One actually set up housekeeping in the planter on the front porch.

Between the two hens, 26 eggs were laid over a period of several days. The two birds were well along in the process of incubating them when a wandering raccoon one evening discovered one of the nests. He later found the second nest.

On short, over the course of a few nights the coon repeatedly routed the hens off the nests (unable to catch the birds, although he certainly tried) and ate ever single egg, several of which contained ducklings that were on the verge of hatching, He eliminated two potential broods of ducks, even despite some defensive sentry duty from me.

This sort of predation doesn't make the raccoon bad. That's just how they do business. Predators have to eat just like everybody else.

It is an example, however, that real nature isn't the Bambi and Thumper Show. Various wild species aren't all pals who live and frolic together. There is a balance and harmony of sorts, but that includes a great deal of sacrifice on the part of some.

In the wild, if something takes, something else has to give.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of The Paducah Sun.