Stinker

Meet Mephitis mephitis - the Striped Skunk - who has incidentally been showing-up on this trail camera regularly.  More often smelled than seen this is a nocturnal animal - hence all of the photos are in IR mode and after dark. 

The striped pelt serves to provide ample warning to a predator that this critter is not to be meddled-with.  If threatened it will raise its tail and spray up to a distance of more than a dozen feet an odiferous substance that can even cause temporary blindness.

Around these parts - home for this critter is typically a burrow under one of the numerous rock piles on the property.  Skunks do not hibernate but during the winter months will hole-up in their dens for up to a couple months.

A word of caution to my hunting buddies venturing to or from their deer stands in the dark.  Keep your sniffer working....