Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations What critter would do this?

We have a digger creating shoreline havoc. There are about 10 or 12 of these narrow channels dug into the shoreline. They only occur at a long stretch of where the shore is flat and only slightly higher than the water level. The offendor is digging only to a certain point, then stopping. It's into alot of clay, but the soil is saturated so it probably eases the excavation somewhat.
Almost all of these channels start from the water and move inland. The excavated soils are piled up right at the water's edge as it apparently pushes it between it's hind legs...kinda like a dog digging a hole. There is one instance where it started on the shore and started digging a trench toward the water...then stopped just short of breaking thru the shoreline and into the pond.
I checked each one and there is no tunnel, cave, or burrow at the end of the trench. It just stops. They vary in length from 3' to 6'. Some of them branch off into a "Y" as the critter decided to give up on the trench it was digging and go back to the start and veer off in a different direction.
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This a CSI close up of a paw print. It almost looks like a big dog print. Heck, it might be one of the neighbor's dogs for all I know.

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My only thought is maybe the crayfish we seeded a couple of years ago had burrowed up into the bank, the excavating critter sniffed it out and started working on lunch.
???

Any prints ? Any sign of beaver (some type burrow)? Large for a coon. Some times otter dig also. Could be rats also (musk that is).

Bski, could the excavations from the shore have been collapsed burrows?

Paw prints look more like an otter than beaver, skunk, or raccoon. Actually, I think they look more like dog or coyote than any of the above.

I'm thinking a dog or whatever is digging for a burrowing animal, also. No sign that anything was uncovered?
I've seen somewhat similar diggings. Mostly holes though. Sometimes short trenches. They seem to always be near the water line.

Got wild hogs? Looks like small hog wallows to me.

No hawgs that I know of.
The print is about 2-1/2" to 3" in diameter. It's the size of a large dog. It's got the array of round'ish pads around a larger central rear pad and claws at the ends of the exterior pads...again, like a dog.
Man, it's alot of digging. Some of the damage is not a trench as much as moving laterally along the shore at the waterline for 3 or 4 feet.
If/when we get the back hoe out for the garage project, I'll probably have him dip into the pond (in front of each hole) and scoop out a hefty wet pile of soil and drop/pack it into each hole.

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The neighbor has a Husky that runs loose. I've seen him do some ground digging in the woods, but nothing more than maybe the size of a bushel basket maximum, and only a couple of times. These ditches are well into the next level of volume digging.

They may be more than you have seen the husky dig, but they are well within the realm of what a big dog can excavate (we still have holes hat size here 17 years after our first Lab dug them as a youngster).

Those latest print pics look more canine than anything else IMHO, too.

I agree with Theo. Looks like a dog. Definetly a K-9. FYI otters leave a print with 5 toes.

I am going with either the husky or another dog digging up your shoreline for the heck of it or chasing another animal...

Bski

I am thinking of buying some infrared game cameras to set up around the ponds. Have you considered doing something like this? I don't think they are cost prohibitive.

PS: I have two confirmed sightings of Wood Ducks on my big pond. I can't relate how excited I was to see them - and I don't even have my boxes up yet. Easily my greatest surprise of pond owning in 09. Suh-Weet!

You my friend have a bear problem......Looks to be a cinnamon , teddy or maybe a gummi. Good luck!

I'd put money on them bein' collapsed muskrat dens. The prints are dog. Dog prints have the 2 center nail prints straight, coyote are angled/curved inward.

Muskrats will tunnel horizontal to the water right at the edge at times to make feeding "huts". In swamps they'll take advantage of clumps of grass that are slumped over and leave a barren, but protected spot at the base as feeding huts. They like to eat somewhere out of the water where they are protected from aerial predators (owls). If the water is shallow, do you notice any trenches (about 8" wide) under water leading up to the collapsed areas? If so, that's a sure sign that they were made by 'rats. Beaver will leave cut and peeled sticks in the pond, and their runs are about twice the size of a 'rat run. A conibear 110 which is used to trap 'rats is roughly 6" square, while a conibear 330 which is used for beaver is roughly 12" square.

When canines dig, they throw the dirt behind them for a distance. From the pics, it looks like the area collapsed, then was dug into, probably from the dog.

Esshup, I agree 100%...

Now that makes sense. It also sucks, but might explain why the dog went nuts and the ease it had cutting thru the soil. The area where these are is a 3:1 or 4:1 slope down to about 9 feet deep, so it will be difficult to see entry ruts under the waterline. Next trip, I'll examine more closely.
I can't say that I have ever seen a MR, but I'm not there enough to be anywhere near certain one way or t'other.

If you ever get the free time, right at dark sit quietly watching the edge where these photos were taken... You should see them swimming around. They are mostly nocturnal, it is amazing how many can be around but are never seen.

Collapsed muskrat dens wouldn't account for the mud pushed up at the end of the trenches.

Maye a coyote is investingating muskrat or crawfish holes, trying to dig them out. But I don't guess there are many coyotes in Ill.

bobad:

Lots of coyotes in Illinois.

Bing

oh yeah...LOTS

time for some 'mustrat love' chatter chatter chatter

Well there is one less in Southern Illinois this morning. He ran into my front bumper. But yeah, looks like dog to me. My dogs did trenches that look just like that when they are chasing moles. I usually see a fresh trench and discover a dead mole nearby. Looks like you have a dog after some other burrowing animal.

There is a bright side to this.
Assuming that this is, indeed, a MR den that was excavated by the next higher link in the predator chain, at least I now know where the breaches are....and....they are ready to be refilled and seeded.
...small consolation