Scavengers
I don’t hunt myself, but Sandy does, and most years she shoots a deer just out behind the house (these are the same deer that come through our yard all summer and eat our garden plants and fruit trees). This year, she shot a big 8-point buck on November 16, 2025. And after she field-dressed it, we had this big pile of internal organs on the ground that are exactly the sort of thing that the local scavengers like. So, we put the trail-cam up pointing to the offal pile, and waited to see what would show up.
That first night, nothing came by. But, just before noon, a good-sized group of crows showed up for lunch. Unfortunately, at that time of day the sun was shining right at the camera so the light was kind of harsh and washed out. but there they are.
Although, about an hour later, they got chased off by this eagle.
This shows why Ben Franklin wasn’t so keen on having the bald eagle as our national bird. They are actually much more likely to follow crows around and steal carrion from them, than actually hunt down something themselves.
Anyway, after the eagle got his fill and left again, the crows came back for a while. The quality of the light was a bit better by then.
And once the crows were satisfied, they also left, leaving what remained for this bluejay:
So, during daylight hours, the scavengers were exclusively birds. This changed after nightfall, when we switched over to the mammals. Starting with the coyotes.
There were actually several of them, but we only got a good picture of one. They did a real number on what was left of the offal pile. While the birds just kind of picked at it, the coyotes ate a bunch of it and dragged off the rest. Overall, coyotes are way more effective at disposing of animal remains than, say, crows are.
Once the coyotes were gone, a fox breezed through picking up scraps that they missed
Followed by a raccoon, who didn’t look like he found much.
And then, finally, a rabbit came by. This seems a bit weird, you’d think that rabbits would avoid a carrion pile that is drawing predators. Then again, maybe predators who have stuffed themselves on deer entrails are disinclined to put in the effort to go after a rabbit, so maybe he’s safer here than I think.
I’ve also heard that rabbits are a lot more omnivorous than we give them credit for, so maybe he was after some meat as well.
If anything had been left, there might have been some insects showing up eventually, but between it being kind of cold and the coyotes removing pretty much everything edible, there weren’t any to be seen afterwards.