Raccoon at the water hole

This section has been dormant too long so I thought I'd try and jump start it as summer approaches.
I set up my watering hole this spring and got my first non mouse visitor in front of the camera. It's been a very wet and cool spring in Washington state and my only lure is water, so things usually start out pretty slow until July or August. I've had a spring bear visit with the intent only to push my camera out of position and eat one of my SB-28s, but it has failed to take a drink and pose for a shot. This raccoon was nice enough to provide a good pose while the arrowleaf balsomroot is still blooming.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c711653f_b.jpg

Here's the vandal and his damage, caught only on my monitoring trail cam.

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Beautiful Pic of the Racoon!... I think about all my camera and flash housings have claw/teeth marks left by bears. So far none as bad as that.

Great image of the racoon! I thought the squirrels we have here in the UK were bad for at nibbling at your equipment , but bears are on another level. Ouch! ☹

Great job, but unlucky about the set destruction.
And yea, it is a bit sad this section has been dormant. I am never sure about where to make my posts, here or on camtrapper.com. Did not want to repeat for those involved on both sites. Wonder if it would be beneficial for all if there was a something like merger between the two. Might concentrate posts better and increase activity.

I never new they were destructive ... good shot though