Badger
Badgers are the tough guys of the prairie. Though they mostly eat small critters like snakes, prairie dogs, and gophers, they have also been known to steal the food of other animals. Sometimes, badgers will scare off a pack of coyotes from their kill and take over the area for themselves.
Badgers are not a common site in West Texas although they are everywhere. They are in the weasel family and are secretive and careful about their movements. They stand out when you see them, being black and white and moving like a small bear.
A couple weeks ago, we killed a huge wild boar. The next week we drove by the half-eaten carcass to find that a mature badger had taken over the site and dug a burrow underneath it. This badger staked his claim on the massive pig and was slowly eating away at it every night. There must have been some terrific predator fights during those cold, starving winter nights. It seemed like the badger won. He wasn’t really scared of a pack of humans either.
