Earlier I was out to water the chickens and I noticed these weird marks right by the edge of the house.
Weird Marks
In fact, the hose is the soaker hose that I use to water the foundation of the house and it’s about 6″ from the edge of the house. I have no idea what those scratch/claw marks are but they weren’t there yesterday. The dirt is hard as a rock and I can’t imagine that it would have been a dog but what the heck would it be that close to the house?
Weird Marks
I looked for something close by to put near the marks for perspective and I saw the toothbrush that I use to clean the chickens’ watering cans so . . there’s a toothbrush for comparison so you can see how big it is.
What do you think left those marks there? Vince put a camera up so if it comes back tonight, we’ll see what it is. Do we really want to know??
Rebecca in SoCal says
Ignorance is not bliss. You want to know what to watch out for!
There aren’t any bears in Texas, are there? I think you’ve mentioned mountain lions (or should that be “mountain” lions?). Honestly, before I saw the size, for some reason, I thought badger.
Judy Laquidara says
I have no idea what’s out there and I’m not ruling out anything! 🙂
Marie Gilkey says
I was thinking maybe a raccoon.
Erin says
Up here in NH we get skunks digging for grubs that do that close to the house but their claw marks aren’t that big! Whoa! Scary!
Joanne says
I’d say raccoon– we always had them up by the house (even under the porch sometimes) and they leave long scratch marks with their claws.
Judy Laquidara says
It’s the width that had me wondering. It’s almost as wide as my hand.
Kate says
It’s BIG FOOT !!! He headed South to escape the winter…… can’t wait to see what the camera shows.
Sherrill says
Armadillo?
Joyce says
I was thinking Big Foot too…LOL I hope the camera catches something. I wouldn’t want to go outside by myself at night after seeing that!
Carolyn says
Lions and tigers and bears. Oh My! ….yes, it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz
Dar says
My first thought was Bigfoot too! I hope you get him on camera!
Dorothy Matheson says
We do have cougars in Texas and bob cats in Texas.
But a smaller animal can make more than one scratch in the dirt.
Big problem with feral hogs in Texas and the tear up the ground for grubs but that is not the mess they leave.
Robin F. says
Send your County Extension office a pic of the tracks and see if they can help with the mystery.
Nelle Coursey says
My brother who lives North of Owens was chasing his cows home one day and saw something out of the corner of his eye, running in the other direction. He turned just in time to see it jump the fence and it was a mountain lion. There have been several sightings of them around here and they have a radius of about 300 miles! He said it was a big one and it must have been as scared of him as he was when he saw it! He just kept chasing to cows home!! LOL
Becky says
Maybe a big dog? Coyote? How the camera catches the night-time stalker!
Judy Laquidara says
So far nothing on the camera.