Imagine that you go for a walk in the woods and you see a racoon up in a tree. You spotted him from a ways away and go to see what it is up in that tree. Let's say about 15-25 ft up the distance doesn't realy matter. The tree is about 8-10 inches in diameter or so maybe a little larger. It is say about 8-9 am with sun shining. The tree isn't big enough to have any holes etc in it.The raccoon just looks down at you and you just look up at him. Please explain what you would write in your report about what you observed. This is not a trick question. This is just a little test of your woods observation ability.

Who croaked and made you "pathfinding 101" teacher?

As far as i know no one has croaked. Do you have a problem with my post. All that i am doing is putting some stuff out there for newbiies or those wanting to get out there but don't know what or how to do or look for or even suspect something so as to direct theirselves to something rather than just sit in a lawn chair.

Now this makes perfect sense.

Or is there a racoon?

Maybe it's a spoon?

I would say that I saw a racoon about 15-25 feet up in a tree that was 8-10" in diameter.

Nah, I just saw everyone else giving you hell and thought I'd pile on.

I do like honesty.

Are you sure it is not the Racoon that would benifit more from such a course?

Give it a break if you are more experienced than this don't get your shorts in a wad. I still haven't seen a post yet that even came close to the simple answer.

Is this tree located in Louisiana? If so, then how old is the Racoon and what color is it?

Oh!!!!!
I get it!
There's no such thing as a racoon!
Raccoon, yeah, but not racoon!
Very clever!!

He he he he

I'm not sure that the racoon/raccoon similarity is the correct answer. As The post originator spelled it both ways in title and post itself.

Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!
It's a shape-shifter!!!
Clearly an interdimensional being made of titanium and spirits!
Kill it!
Kill it!!!

The Racoon is a metallic wino? Well then what's the tree made of?

THAT my dear Vol is the question...

Those damned Racoons........

Well, since you obviously consider yourself rather sage in your woodslore, why don't you go ahead and drop the other shoe and enlighten all of the "newbies"?

I actually don't see any point to your "test" but what the hell, I'm willing to be tutored.

I drew a picture of my sighting!

I'd be wondering why the hell a racoon/raccoon was up in a tree looking down at you on a sunshine filled morning. Aren't coons nocturnal?

I'd probably also mention that he had a mask on so he must have been up to no good.

AHA! Straight from another thread! The religeon of the denomination of the festive arborial pigeon people, er, I mean Racoon, er, ah, people...

RF: There is no spoon. According a movie I saw once. Unless that movie was reality and I was merely believing that I was watching that movie while, in fact, I was actually in a swirling tub of goo with electrodes attached to my brain....

.... which were telling me that there was a movie I saw in which I was told there was no spoon.



Seriously though... Racoons have been known to hunt humans where I come from. They move about using the trees and attack you when you least expect it after herding you and your girlfriend into the dense overgrown bush.

So it doesn't matter as long as the tree is strong enough to hold the Racoon. They always get you in the end.

Wait... what size tree was that again? Did I hear you say it was made from spoons? I mean... I don't want to go spreading dis-info about killer Coons who live in trees of spoons.... but I heard it was true. It was on the Internet.

- Dfoot

yep......unless it's rabid

Like a bunnyrabid?

Or unless it's human habituated.

My BFRO report:

ME:

"I was walking through the woods when I saw a sasquatch in a tree. I was fairly far off when I first saw him. I walked up the the tree he was in. He was about 15' to 25' up the tree. The tree was 8 - 10 feet in diameter. There weren't any holes in the tree that the sasquatch may have been living in. It was about 8 or 9 in the morning, and the sun was shining. The sasquatch looked down at me, and I just looked back up at him. He was an odd color; kinda like a raccoon. He was rather small for a sasquatch. He was the size of a raccoon."

BFRO:

"You say it had the coloration and size of a raccoon? Do you think it was a raccoon?"

ME:

"No way. He looked like a raccoon, was about the size of a raccoon, but he was definately a sasquatch. I have highly refined powers of observation. I've been a forum participant on the Bigfoot Forums, and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night."

BFRO:

"Oh, well. In that case, we'll get on this right away."

I'll vouch for Huntster!
He's a great guy, and anyone that doubts his story doubts him!!!

As from Day One..Hunster is my Alaskan Hero!
Hey my North woods Brother. Does this mean that you are able to organize Expeditions now? Or do you just get a Coonskin hat?

Or was it really a coon?

Versatile,
May I suggest a new avatar?



Seriously, you guys were on him like Anna Nicole on a donut.

Anna Nichole on a donut! OMG!!!

I see something relatively large in a relatively small tree.

I approach said tree and come to a stop about fifteen feet from the leading edge of the trunk. Estimated dbh of the tree is eight to ten inches. (Measurement estimates subsequently confirmed.)

What appears to be a raccoon is in the tree.

Using the Pythagorean Theorem and subtracting the above ground height of my eyes from the estimated height of the tree, I calculate that my line of sight distance from the alleged raccoon is about eighteen feet, well within the documented margin of error for reliable raccoon identification under the prevailing environmental conditions (wind calm, light scattered cirrus clouds).

The raccoon looks back at me.

I start to evaluate what I know about raccoons. Recalling that experts and experience both confirm the nocturnal habits of raccoons, I begin to question the validity of my sighting.

The first thing to confirm is the hour. It looks like daytime, but a combination of full moon and a nearby (astronomically speaking) supernova could (theoretically) create the appearance of daylight. However, I can’t deny that I see the sun, and my watch tells me it’s 8:00 a.m.

I ask myself, “Am I dreaming?” Answer: Probably not, but dwelling too long on such philosophical questions usually gives me a headache, so I move on to more practical self assessments.

“Am I really drunk?” Answer: No, I don’t drink.

Eliminating myself as the source of conflicted data, I focus again on the raccoon. It is still staring at me.

Maybe it’s the raccoon that’s drunk. I’ve heard of birds getting drunk eating fermented berries, but, more likely in the case of the raccoon, it probably got into some booze found in a trash can, if it’s drunk in the first place. I reject the drunken raccoon hypothesis on the basis of a failure to see a house anywhere nearby and the implausibility of a raccoon being able to climb a tree while under the influence.

Could it be lost? Perhaps, but I doubt that wild raccoons get lost.

Maybe it is not wild! It could be someone’s pet, raised from infancy and unfamiliar with the ways of its wild kin, far from home and seeking refuge in the limbs of this tree. However, it doesn’t have a collar, and as I approach nearer to look for such evidence of domestication, it suddenly hisses at me, scaring me half out of my wits and convincing me that this line of reasoning is unlikely to come to satisfactory fruition.

Fruition. Fruit. Perhaps it was eating fruit in the tree and simply lost track of time. Unfortunately, I see no fruit, so either it ate all the fruit and is now sick with a stomach ache, possibly explaining why it is still hanging around in the daylight, or else the fruit theory is incorrect. Besides that, the tree strongly resembles a cottonwood, and I seem to recall that few if any trees bear fruit in March.

Maybe it is sick though, perhaps with rabies. Rabid animals don’t act normal, do they? Unfortunately (or fortunately), this one seems pretty normal except for when/where it’s at.

The critter should be in a hole somewhere, but it’s not. Why? Thinking about it is enough to make me crazy.

Crazy?

Could that be it? Maybe I AM the source of the dilemma. There is no raccoon defying all laws of nature and logic before my very eyes. Maybe it’s really a squirrel, if it exists at all. Yeah, that’s it, a giant masked squirrel. You have to be crazy to imagine something like that, and there it is, so I must be crazy.

Of course, I’m just kidding myself. It’s a raccoon doing who knows what or why.

Satisfied that I’ve deduced the most logical solution to the dilemma, I catch a passing cab for a ride back to my hotel. I’m anxious to catch the waves at Waikiki.



I told RB I'd meet him there at ten.

Mental note to myself: Do NOT post a thread involving "tests" for other BFFr's. Ego could not handle all of the "clever" responses....

The majority of the members here can probably be divided into two groups: Those who spend a lot of time in the woods, and those who spend little or no time in the woods. The former feel they are experienced enough to be beyond tests such as these, while the latter really could care less since the likelihood that they'll ever have such an experience is practically nil.

Therefore, it suits us all to just go for the funny. Laughter is the glue that binds us all together. It is the bed in which both field and armchair researchers may lay in order to make beautiful, sweet sweet love to one another.

Well, what else do you need to say!?!

According to a wise man I once heard (okay, it was Rush Limbaugh), the best way to demonstrate the absurdity of something is through absurdity.



Doncha hate having to explain yourself?

Eww... stop touchin me

Woo-baby! Sign me up for some of that!!

*SIGH* I've never been able to do that...

Come on, you know you want it. Gimme some sugar, baby.

The coon has rabies- active in the daytime, shows no fear, probably drool on you if you stand directly under him too long.

-Sarge

(D'OH!- Chronic beat me to it.)

Is this considered "bonding"?? (cue "Dualing Banjos" music)

Did you say "bondage"? Yes, I think so. At least, I am sure I can feel pain..

I dunno. I've seen lots of raccoons in the daytime, and i'm pretty sure they weren't rabid.

Same here. I've seen several in the wild, in broad-daylight. On a few occasions, I was only a few feet away, and one of those instances it was a mother and babies.

What are racoon babies? Cubs? Pups? Cuter-than sh!t?

I feel as though the OP was posing us a philosophical question. WHY is the raccoon there? IS there, in fact, a raccoon. We've delved into these issues a bit, but I don't think we've really gotten to the existential core of the matter.

WHY is the RACCOON in the TREE?

Is it the "tree of life"? A perenial symbol of the mother-goddess/ phallic god-father -- a creative conflation indeed. Both father and mother, the tree symbolizes the ALL IN ALL.

And yet, there is that RACCOON, sitting there in the tree, peaceful, watching. The RACCOON is a famed TRICKSTER symbol, he steals, he is mischieveous, he cannot be trusted..

SHOOT the bastard!

The racoon is Loki?

Did Bigfoot put the raccoon in the tree?

http://www.loomcom.com/raccoons/gallery/jpegs/swampcoon.jpg