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  #1  
Old 01-12-2012, 09:03 PM
Jst1mr Jst1mr is offline
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Posted a flying squirrel picture a while back and got some hilarious stories in response. Surely these pics can
generate a story or two...



Now, like most folks who live in the country, I am no big 'coon fan (I've seen their dark side), but...



You've got to admit, these fellas are full of cute



Any good 'coon stories?

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Old 01-12-2012, 10:13 PM
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Excellent pics. Disgusting subject. They threaten our children and pets, leave their waste all around our homes, and destroy our efforts to cultivate welcome wildlife.

Neighbors shoot. I trap and relocate. I'm thinking a pellet or a 22lr is a more practical solution.
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Old 01-12-2012, 10:24 PM
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YOU... Yeah YOUUU

YOU TALKIN' TA ME???

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Old 01-13-2012, 12:19 AM
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Love your "coons" - don't have any here though just these guys who come by every night checking for horse chestnuts or downed apples or just a drink of water.

Attachment 63478Attachment 63479





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Old 01-13-2012, 04:06 AM
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Originally Posted by ditrina View Post
YOU... Yeah YOUUU

YOU TALKIN' TA ME???


I've seen these grey foxes right smack in one of the most exclusive residential neighborhoods of north Dallas, and saw a coyote cross a parking lot last week. There are bobcats here, too. Any wooded areas with streams or ponds can support them. I know they kill rabbits. Not sure where the rest of their food comes from. The coyote was headed for a Jack in the Box a few blocks down. No idea what he ordered. Maybe he's what knocks one of their trash cans over occasionally.

My son sent a photo of a mother fox and a kit taken in his driveway. That was on the outskirts of a sizeable city in central Texas. A big coydog jumped him in his back yard about a year ago. Went for his throat. He opened a Benchmade knife and ripped it down the chest into the stomach. The wound was probably fatal, but it escaped. He said that if he hadn't been able to open that knife one-handed, he'd have been in serious trouble. He wears a gun at night now when he goes out.

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Old 01-13-2012, 07:07 AM
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Poor photos, but they do tell a raccoon story. That's a neighbors Chef Boyardee Ravioli can from trash day that had to be cut to get it off. Strict orders from the Mrs. not to kill it.



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Old 01-13-2012, 07:22 AM
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We raised a Raccoon starting when it was very young, smaller than those pictured
and it never ceased to amaze me just how clever they can be.

Another thing that surprised me was that if you were holding it in your arms trying to
get it to go to sleep it would suck it's thumb, just like a baby.
After it fell asleep it would still have it's thumb in it's mouth and if you moved some
and woke it up a little it would suck it's thumb a few times and nod back off.....

I could tell quite a few stories about the summer "Coonie", as the kids called him, lived with us.
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Old 01-13-2012, 10:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ogilvyspecial View Post
We raised a Raccoon starting when it was very young, smaller than those pictured
and it never ceased to amaze me just how clever they can be.

Another thing that surprised me was that if you were holding it in your arms trying to
get it to go to sleep it would suck it's thumb, just like a baby.
After it fell asleep it would still have it's thumb in it's mouth and if you moved some
and woke it up a little it would suck it's thumb a few times and nod back off.....

I could tell quite a few stories about the summer "Coonie", as the kids called him, lived with us.
A buddy did the same thing, name and all. It was an awesome critter, got along great with his dog and cats. Sadly, as the fall came and it started to mature and vet services were unavailable, he had to get rid of it. He found a wild animal sanctuary to donate Coonie too, but she didn't last long. She wouldn't eat and got sick/starved to death in less than 2 weeks. I've though about getting one as a pet myself. There are licensed breeders for them so you can get 1 with papers and be totally legal to get vet work, rabies shots, etc...

As to the wild variety, I do agree they are a pest and if you have a problem coon in your yard, ya gotta do what you gotta do.
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Old 01-13-2012, 12:42 PM
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Originally Posted by s&wchad View Post
Strict orders from the Mrs. not to kill it.
But I wasn't trying to kill it! I was just trying to knock it off the roof!

My wife and her father spent four years restoring a 1965 Mustang coupe, finishing just in time for her 16th birthday. One afternoon, she went out to the car to go pick up her little brother from football practice, and the neighbor's pet raccoon was in the car. He wouldn't leave, and the neighbors weren't home to remove him. He went with her, but a few blocks from home, he tried to get out of the car. She had to roll up the windows (hot Oklahoma day, no A/C) to keep him in the car. Then he proceeded to urinate and defecate in the back seat. They made the round trip and the 'coon gladly vacated the car when the door opened. My wife has had a great dislike of raccoons since.

Then there's this guy:
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Old 01-13-2012, 02:19 PM
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I like my critters a little larger, I have donated to feed this elephant once a month, her name is Flora:



If you interested in an elephant rescue go to: The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee
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Old 01-13-2012, 04:39 PM
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saw the title of thread......
got a little scared for a second......
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Old 01-13-2012, 05:10 PM
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Kinda looks like a coon




After the next one I thought it might be a good time to get outa Dodge.

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Old 01-13-2012, 06:00 PM
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The scary thing about the critter roungunner posted pictures of is that they are probably smarter than a Coon.

Here's a "clever Coonie" story.

When I first brought Coonie home we kept him in one of those airline type pet cages that have the spring loaded door where you have to squeeze two parts of the latch at the same time to open it. That worked fine for about a month.

After that we moved him to an extra large dog cage, the type that has two independent latches that you simply flipped up & over to open the door.

The first time I took Coonie down in the basement and put him in his new digs I came back upstairs and sat down on the couch. In less than 5 min's Coonie came running across the floor and jumped up in my lap, looking all proud of himself.

Ok, I went and hunted up some coated electrical wire about the dia. of 550 cord, which had enough copper strands in it to take a good set and not want to spring open.

Back down in the basement we went and this time I wrapped one of the latches shut, but only wrapped the wire about 1 1/2 turns. This time it was about 10 min's later when Coonie came running across the floor and jumped up in my lap, looking even more cocky.

The third time was the charm.
I wrapped the wire about 7 or 8 turns, this time real tight and fixed his little red wagon, getting my pride back in the process.
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Old 01-15-2012, 07:06 AM
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Raccoons are nothing but traveling bags of diseases and parasites.

Around here, they use the storm drains as their private subway systems.

They carry a LOT of diseases that can be transmitted to your dog and/or cat.... and to humans, as well:


Common Infectious Diseases of Raccoons

Raccoons are susceptible to a large number of different infectious agents including bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Several of these infectious diseases are zoonotic. Veterinarians are faced with the diagnosis and treatment of wildlife including raccoons and need to be able to make the correct diagnosis as well as educate clients on the potential hazards associated with exposure to raccoons.

Leptospirosis is a common bacterial disease in raccoons caused by a number of different species of Leptospira. Trans‑mission is thought to occur via urine contamination of feed and water. Antemortem diagnosis is based upon serology and dark field examination of urine. Histopathologic examination and fluorescent antibody testing of liver and kidney are two postmortem procedures that can be done to help further aid the diagnosis of leptospirosis. Other natural bacterial infections reported in raccoons are listeriosis,yersiniosis,pasteurellosis, and tularemia.

Viral diseases of raccoons include rabies, canine distemper, raccoon parvoviralenteritis, infectious canine hepatitis, and pseudorabies. Rabies is a zoonotic disease that is endemic in raccoon populations in Pennsylvania and New England. In recent years, there has been a shift of rabies infected raccoons westward into Ohio (see Diagnostic Forum Vol. 8, No 2, 1997).

Canine distemper virus infection is probably the most common viral disease in raccoons. The clinical signs, and gross and histopathologic lesions in raccoons are similar to distemper in dogs. Neurologic signs due to distemper virus infection in raccoons are virtually indistinguishable from rabies induced neurologic disease. Diagnosis is based upon histopathologic lesions in brain, lung, spleen, and small intestine. Intranuclear and intracytoplasmicinclusion bodies can be visualized in many cells including epithelial cells in the respiratory epithelium, gastric mucosa, and transitional epithelium lining the renal pelvis and urinary bladder. The best tissues for fluorescent antibody testing and virus isolation of canine distemper virus are lung, brain, stomach, small intestine, kidney, and urinary bladder.

Parvoviral enteritis in raccoons is due to a unique raccoon parvovirus that is most antigenically similar to feline parvovirus. Clinical signs include bloody diarrhea, lethargy, inappetance, and loss of fear of humans. Raccoons do not develop clinical disease when exposed to canine parvovirus. Diagnosis is based upon histopathologic lesions of necrotizing enteritis and identification of the virus by fluorescent antibody testing. The most common method in which raccoons acquire pseudorabies virus infection is via the ingestion of virus‑infected pig carcasses.

An important parasitic disease of raccoons is toxoplasmosis, which is a protozoal disease caused by Toxoplasmagondii.Felids are the definitive host for T. gondii, and they excrete potentially infective oocysts in their feces. Toxoplasmosis in raccoons is commonly associated with immunosuppression from canine distemper virus infection. Necrotizing encephalitis and pneumonitis are frequent lesions associated with toxoplasmosis.

Another parasite of importance in raccoons is Baylisascarisprocyonis, which is an intestinal roundworm of raccoons. Baylisascaris is a known cause of cerebral nematodiasis and ocular and visceral larval migrans in domestic and non‑domestic animals, and humans. Transmission com‑monly occurs through the ingestion of infective eggs, which results in aberrant migration in hosts other than raccoons.

‑ by Jim Raymond, DVM

‑ edited by M. Randy White, DVM, PhD
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Old 01-15-2012, 07:48 AM
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Kind of makes you afraid to eat raccoons or take them for the fur...

A mystery writer named David Lindsey wrote a terrific story set in Houston, in which a sociopathic villain was murdering women via rabies virus. He was quite extensive in his research and in the detail about how the disease could be administered and its effects.

It was one of the most sobering and authentic novels of its kind that I've ever read. And it left a deep-seated dread in me of any animal that might harbor rabies. If you want to look for it, it's called, "A Cold Mind." A superb book!

A few years back, I worked for some time protecting a wealthy woman who had received death threats. She had a luxury home in one of the best parts of Dallas, with a stream behind the house and wooded areas surrounding the premises. I learned that throughout much of North Dallas, there is a system of water and woods, and the wildlife there is surprising for a large city. I saw gray foxes at night, big egrets, owls, oppossums, and...raccoons. I was always glad that when I saw them, the coons were wandering along the creek bottom, fishing as they went. Sometimes, there was a family group (?) and I stayed well away, knowing that I couldn't kill all with my M-66-3 .357 if they rushed me. I dreaded having to fire a gun there, anyway, which would probably have upset the rich, influential neighbors. Shooting a would-be assassin scared me less than getting into a mess with animals, including the big, nasty dogs that sometimes escaped from nearby yards and wandered in the dark. People get so emotional about shooting animals...

Oh, yes: we had bunny rabbits, to the delight of the owls and foxes. But those coons concerned me more than anything but the free-running dogs.

Doe anyone here hunt coons? Have you ever shot one and seen signs of the diseases in the post above, from the vet?

If you eat raccoon, can you describe the meat? How do you ensure that it isn't infected with one of those disorders?
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Old 01-15-2012, 04:09 PM
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Texas Star, it's been over 20 years since I've hunted Raccoons the common way, with Dogs & .22's.
That was the last time I've eaten Raccoon meat and it would be hard to describe what it tastes like. I always BB-Q'd it on the grill, generally boiling it before it got the sauce & went on the grill.

We live on an older farm and have quite a bit of heavy equipment around. In the last five years the roof of our house has had to be fixed twice and the wiring on the boom of a bucket truck has had to be repaired, all thanks to Raccoons.

I'm a night person and we have 14 wireless passive infra-red sensors around the property & buildings, so, with my night vision monocular I get to see what's going on out there at night, and it's usually a lot.

When a sensor trips and I go out to investigate, if it's a Raccoon I keep a close eye on it to see what it's up to. Some just pass through, others want to set-up shop and get inquisitive, read destructive. The latter are the ones that I usually have to "deal with."

Over the last five years I've "dealt with" 17 'Coons, 5 'Possums & 1 Skunk, and those are just the ones I can remember, there may have been a few more. I have yet to have any of them attack me, that would be too easy. It's usually a run & gun affair with me trying to get a safe backdrop so I don't shoot the house, vehicles etc. in the process.

Last year I had one out there that I nick-named the "Ghost Coon." He would set off the same sensor about 4:45 a.m. almost every night and what little I did get to watch him, I'm sure it was a male, he minded his own business & kept to himself. After I took the female out of the mix he left about 3 or 4 days later. She was setting up a den in the wrong place & it cost her.

P.S. I've yet to see any signs of disease in the Raccoons I've dealt with but I'm no Vet so who knows. I do know that when I handle them afterwards I do wear rubber exam gloves that I toss when I'm done, just in case. Something I never used to do in my 'Coon hunting & trapping days and back then my partner & I skinned, fleshed, stretched & dried quite a few 'Coon hides.

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Old 01-15-2012, 04:12 PM
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I killed a rabid coon at my sisters place years ago.

A few years back a coon popped open an eave vent on my house, moved into the attic and had babies.

I didn't know they were there until I heard the babies. I managed (after several tries) to catch the adult in a Havahart type trap. I'd called the county and they said if I didn't want to kill it, call them and they'd come get it and take care of it.

They said not to relocate it because once it goes in a house it likely will again. When I saw what it had done in my attic I didn't feel the least bit bad about popping the the thing with a 22.

It had started to get hot, and she had moved the babies out of the attic, down a chase, and onto the main floor of the house. I had to cut a hole in the wall to get them out.

My foolish neighbor was not happy that I had killed the coons. She keeps horses and told me that she's trapped several at people's houses and actually let them go at her horse barn! I told her to talk to her vet about this, but I doubt she did, as she still FEEDS the things on her deck!

I told her in no uncertain terms that she was merely baiting these things for me, and that any coon I see during the day around my place is getting shot, and that I like my dogs better than she likes those coons. I've shot one since then.

I'm in the county and I talked to my neighbor who's with the SD--he said pop away.
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Old 01-15-2012, 04:38 PM
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A quick internet search of "Mountain Lion in Connecticut" will yield a large number of stories and pix of a critter who surprised CT residents last year. After the mt lion was struck and killed on a CT highway, DNA tests confirmed it had traveled from South Dakota.
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Old 01-15-2012, 04:52 PM
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A quick internet search of "Mountain Lion in Connecticut" will yield a large number of stories and pix of a critter who surprised CT residents last year. After the mt lion was struck and killed on a CT highway, DNA tests confirmed it had traveled from South Dakota.

That intrigues me. At least one cougar has been found and killed that had DNA from Central America, I think Costa Rica. It was presumed to have been a released pet. Forget the state where it was found.

Several states are believed to have natural populations of cougars, although their wildlife people claim not. Their motive is to avoid having to add to the bureaucracy by creating staff to deal with them.

Cougar attacks are more common than was once the case, especially in California and in British Columbia. In the case of California, a ban on hunting created a surplus of them for the available range. So, they wander even into the outskirts of big towns.

BTW, leopards also range into cities, resulting in some pets going missing. (Not in the US so far as I know, although some people keep them and one gets loose occasionally. I talked to a security guard who has worked at a country location where some old lady keeps a big black cat that he thinks is a leopard/panther. Could be a melanistic jaguar. It wanders her land, and scared the devil out of him when he saw it.)

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Old 01-15-2012, 05:10 PM
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A quick internet search of "Mountain Lion in Connecticut" will yield a large number of stories and pix of a critter who surprised CT residents last year. After the mt lion was struck and killed on a CT highway, DNA tests confirmed it had traveled from South Dakota.
Very interesting. About 10 yr's ago there was a Black Bear that got hit by a car on I-75 just north of the I-69 inter-change, which is about 5 miles from here. I lived less than 1/2 mile from where that Bear was killed for 7 years and can attest that the area is not Bear Country, it's not even close.

Because of this I wondered where that Bear had come from.
Was it someone's "pet" that had escaped or been released ?
Or did it travel here on it's own??

The Flint River crosses I-75 about a mile north of where the Bear was killed and having paddled that River many times, three times from Flint down to the Saginaw River, once all the way down the Saginaw R. to the Saginaw Bay.

Because of this I know that there is one larger river that comes down from the north, where there are Bears, that joins the Saginaw R. in the same general area where the Flint flows in. One of my theories had the Bear coming south down the Titabawasee R., then south up the Flint. Just upstream from where the Flint crosses I-75 it starts getting built up as you enter the City of Flint so I thought maybe the Bear didn't like the enviroment it was heading into & started following the e-way, but didn't make it very far.

The Cougar traveling from South Dakota to CT makes my Bear trip theory seem, by comparison, like a walk out to get the mail
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Old 01-15-2012, 06:12 PM
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I think our government really believes in the Cougar traveling from South Dakota to CT. I think if it really happened it was guided by flying pigs.

The government said what!?
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Old 01-15-2012, 10:34 PM
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I don't like 'coons. We've had infestations of them here for yeas. We had an old lady 3 houses down, Mrs Furnish. She loved her critters, stray cats mostly. But the Raccoons ate the cat food without hesitation. When the old lady finally passed away, the critters were everywhere.

When we moved into the house before here, a late 1977, we had a big boar coon that felt our garbage cans were his private dining rooms. That next spring I heard a really loud crash and got a flashlight. Out the window I saw what I thought was a black bear cub. But it was just a really fat old coon. Yelling did no good, it was after food. So the following week just before trash day I told the neighbor not to be surprised if he heard a gunshot. Old Skinner approved of the solution.

So I rubber banded a big Maglight to the barrel of the 22, put a chair at the end of the hall and sat waiting. maybe midnight I heard the first garbage can crash down on the flats. Then another and another. Mr Coon was working his route up the hill toward me. After another one or two a funny thing happened. Out of nowhere I heard a gunshot! Someone else must have had enough and put an end to it. Next day my neighbor congratulated me on killing it. I told him it wasn't me, but he never believed it.

We don't travel far when we move. In 1977 we moved a full block. Then in 1995 we moved from the house on the hill down here to the flatlands. It was only 2 doors. And here's where we really inherited Mrs Furnish's problems. It was the Christmas season, and we'd gone to a party. Got home and as we walked onto the rear deck, the motion light came on. The house next door was also kind of illuminated by the lights. There aon the roof were a few coon's. When they saw us they ran to get away. No, not up or off the roof, they each performed an aerobatic act, grabbing the gutter and swinging up an into a gap they'd torn in that roof! Tey were living in that attic.

So a few nights later I was in my recliner (a common position for me). Suddenly out the kitchen window I saw the deck motion light go on. So I got up and walked out to see. there was another rampaging coon tearing the garbage apart and distributing it all over. So I opened the door and yelled. It charged! So I quickly closed the door and it ran into it! Ok. So I started to open the door (to use harsh language.) At the sound of the door, it charged again. To the basement! I selected the first 22 I could find, a M63, loaded it with some ammo (it was 22 caliber, and lead). So I went back and the thing was still throwing my trash all over. So I opened the door, it charged and caught the 22 along its centerling. Stopped it, but didn't kill it. But discouraged it enough it waddled off.

That started a long and unhappy sequence of in town shootings. I can tell you that a 22 solid will pass right through the body and then down into the deck boards. Then I picked up some of the Speer shot shells in 9mm. I used them in a 547. Those suckers will shoot, and recoil. I've heard they'll cycle the action in some semi-autos. All I wanted was the animals to go someplace else. So I got pretty good at opening the door with my left hand and reachiing out to shoot them with my right. We had a gap in the railing going down to the pool. The angle resulted in me shooting away from the pool and toward the hedge (and behind that was the rough area of the neighbors back yard. Oldest son came over one day to bring his bunch swimming. He looked at the downspout lining the steps and asked if I had woodpeckers working on the deck. Guess the little BBs made lots of holes. At least after a few years of that the critters respected me more. They didn't charge the sound of the door opening Probably because the next sound was a gunshot.

One neighbor did ask what I was shooting at in the night. I just smiled and said "things that annoy me."
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