critter under the porch and bees

   Snow came overnight. This morning, when I looked out, I saw animal tracks. These tracks go from under my front "porch,"  or rather a concrete but hollow step just under my door, out and around my car and then back to the step. The loop closed with the second set of footprints directly over the first. This is the second time in a month that I have seen the tracks.
   During the summer, I noticed bumble bees had taken up residence under the same step. Normally I don't mind bees; live and let live and all that. If you don't bother them, they usually don't bother you. In the case of bumble bees, however, I am extra cautious. Several years ago, a hive of extremely aggressive bees nested in my parents' yard. I'm talking predators. Mom, a great observer of animal behavior, said they had a couple sentinel like bees that swooped around their territory continuously while the other bees did their foraging. Dad was showing me their home area and disturbed them. Those bees chased us 150 feet into the house. Psycho avengers. Afterward, I realized it was an amazing adrenaline rush. I managed to not get stung. Dad, well, I don't know.
   I was so fascinated by their aggression that I called the UVM extension service, the UVM entomology department (they had been very helpful to me in identifying a pine sawyer and showed me frozen Asian longhorn beetles) and Vermont's entomology department. I got the most help from the Vermont state person. Apparently that year there were reports of aggressive bees. He said that they should die off over the winter. There was really nothing else to do, short of extermination. So Mom and Dad avoided them as much as possible. The only problem was the bees lived next to the clothesline. But Mom has a way with animals. Then again, if she got stung, I don't know that she would tell me. Good Vermont stoicism in action.
   Hence, I the bug lover, am cautious around bumble bee nests. You don't see the nest, but you see them going in and out of the ground. My advice: if you see them, DON'T STOMP. And please don't whack the waste bucket you put over the nest.
   Regarding my summer bumble bees, I wonder if my porch critter made a meal of the bees, or if they are unrelated.
   The tracks themselves are of a pacing nature, not hopping. I know squirrel and rabbit tracks: these are neither. These aren't the single file footprints in footprints of a cat. The track itself is about 1.5 - 2 inches across, slightly rectangular. The steps are less than six inches apart. They look like paws. I don't think they are raccoon looking; perhaps a skunk? The hind foot is similar to the front foot track; it doesn't rest the "heel" the way a rabbit does.
   This is a nice mystery for the morning. Now I need to decide how desperate I am to figure out what it is. If I do figure it out, though, then the mystery is over. Then I'll have to go find another mystery.
   For those of you waiting for my thoughts on Nadab and Abihu, I've been thinking of what I really want to say about the whole matter.
Blessings,
exodus15