What happens to deer that are mortally wounded but not recovered during the hunting season? We assume the carcasses are eaten by scavengers, but a search of the scientific literature resulted in publications only on scavenging beetles and microorganisms — nothing on avian and mammalian scavengers.

As a retiree, I’m able to spend a lot of time in the woods. On the last day of a recent deer season, I was walking my property when I found a doe that had recently died behind my log cabin. I do not know how the deer died, but I presume it had been shot by a hunter. Although I did not inspect the deer closely, I could tell it had been dead long enough that it was not salvageable.

As a retired ecology professor, I am well aware of the fact that nothing goes to waste in the wild. That is why I decided to use this discovery as another learning experience. I went back to my cabin and soon returned with my scouting camera.

I positioned the camera so it could “watch” the carcass 24/7. I was not disappointed with the results.

The carcass was photographed for 133 days; by then it had been reduced to skin and bones. More than 4,900 photos were taken, and eight mammal species and three bird species were photographed at least once.

Visits were recorded by calendar days and each day was divided into daytime and nighttime periods.

The first mammal to visit the carcass was not a scavenger; it was another deer — five days after the camera was set up.

The first scavenger to investigate the carcass was a red fox — 12 nights after set up. This was followed by an opossum during Night 15; a raccoon at Night 17; and a coyote at Night 23.

The number and percent of 133 calendar days that each of those four species visited the carcass are:

• Opossum: 58 days, 44 percent.
• Raccoons: 56 days, 42 percent.
• Red fox: 29 days, 22 percent.
• Coyote: 5 days, 4 percent.

Grey squirrels and cotton-tailed rabbits often foraged around the carcass, and feral cats stopped by briefly three times. Dogs made two visits.

Opossums, the most frequent visitors, were out only at night and avoided colder temperatures; the lowest temperature they were observed in was 18 degrees F. Raccoons were the second most frequent; most of their visits were at night (only 9 percent during the day). Raccoons and opossums returned for up to 23 and 19 consecutive nights, respectively.

Because the carcass was just 30 yards from the cabin and 50 yards from a stream, and opossums denned under the cabin and raccoons in woodchuck holes along the stream, both species found a convenient source of food. They usually followed the same trail to the carcass. While opossums were defensive toward other opossums and raccoons, they also shared the carcass at times. Opossums and raccoons sometimes crawled inside the rib cage to feed at the same time.

I thought the carcass might be a convenient source of food for red fox, and while they visited it on 29 nights total, they returned four-straight nights only once. Red fox approached very cautiously, often using a nearby log  as an approach path, and were always on the alert.

Of the 133 photos taken of red fox, they were approaching or moving around the carcass 20 percent of the time, and feeding 40 percent and alert about 40 percent of the time. While I use the word “they,” I do not know how many individuals came; only one fox was photographed at any time.

Coyotes visited the carcass on only five out of 133 days and on only two days in succession. A coyote spent seven minutes at the carcass one morning; all other visits were at night. They behaved much like red fox, approaching cautiously, feeding quickly and standing alertly.

Crows found the carcass on the 12th day and visited it on 45 calendar days; three crows were photographed at one time on one occasion. A red-tailed hawk found the carcass in 56 days and one or two visited it on 13 days. The hawk often raised its wings when tearing the flesh.

A turkey vulture first visited the carcass 87 days after the camera was set up, and visited the carcass on only four days of 133. It is interesting that predatory red-tailed hawks visited the carcass more than a turkey vulture, a well-known scavenger.

The lack of obvious aggression between species and among individuals of the same species was interesting. While opossums aggressively showed their teeth, no physical attacks were observed. Two or three raccoons were often on the carcass together, as were raccoons and opossums. Red fox and coyotes were almost always alone, though on one occasion a coyote and opossum were at the carcass at the same time. All four of these species visited the carcass on the same day only once, though not at the same time. Fox, raccoons and opossums all visited the carcass on 12 of the days, and raccoons and opossums on the same day 38 times. There were no visits by any of these four species on 39 days.

I found the interactions among individuals and species the most interesting aspect of this experiment, especially the opossum assuming the position of “king of the carcass.”

— Dr. Aaron Moen is one of North America’s most respected deer researchers. Now retired, he spent 31 years as a professor of wildlife ecology at Cornell University. His research focused mainly on white-tailed deer and moose physiology, nutrition and population dynamics.