OK, it's personal now

[llowry61]

Raccoons will mess up a cat and many dogs. I would not risk my pets in that manner.

When I was a kid my uncle and a friend of his would go coon hunting. Those little furballs are tough animals. I only went a time or two and saw them give several hunting dogs a run for their money once Jim knocked them out of the tree. He said you had to let them catch on or two a season. Brutal type of hunting and not really my cup of tea.

Had a friend who lived out in the country on 45 acres. We were hunting partners as kids, but his wife shut us down when they moved there saying she liked the wildlife and didn't want us murdering them.

Well by year 3 she said kill every damn thing you can.

Tom declared his own personal Jihad on groundhogs, coon possums etc. Took him about 6 months, but he got them at least under control. A little savage o/u with a 22 mag and 20 gauge sat locked and loaded next to the door. Once they figured out the door opening meant trouble he had to go to the window.

City folk have no idea what these little terrorists can do. They dug up or ate every plant, raided the horse barn, dug holes everywhere and on and on.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

The cute little rascals have got to eat. During nesting season I think their favorite foods are quail eggs and turkey eggs. Depredation trapping permits are free for the asking from our South Carolina DNR

I know I can't eliminate them but I do try to keep the population under control.

We are limited to foot hold (dog proof traps) or live traps. If you catch a neighbor's dog in a connibar (spelling?) it's too late to turn him loose.

After attending turkey and quail seminars with the DNR. Boh times they said to trap and kill the coons. They totally ate/ruined my Chufa patch last year. I an running legs hold traps right now. Have caught 4 coons so far.
I need a better bait. I've been using marshmellows and peanut butter.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I had a 30 yearlong war with coons at my farmhouse! I killed hundreds overall. I think my record was 6 in one night. I used a 12-gauge pump, and my front porch looked like a scene from a slasher movie! I got it hosed off before the kids got up. The youngest said the gun woke him, but the quiet from the missing coons was great! (I'm typing this from his dinning room now) He live on 3 acres on the edge of a small New Jersey town and the coons are tearing his garden to pieces (no shotgun solution for him).

I sold the farmhouse 10 years ago. I lost the war! The current owners have reported that the raccoons seem to be over running the place! Can you imagine that?

There will be coon problems as long as PETA fights against Coon Skin Coats! Bring on a pack of Blue Tic hounds and nighttime 22 RF sports!

Ivan

 

[walnutred]

The suet cage idea is working so far, Thanks.

 

[steelslaver]

Most of the people I know just relocate trouble causing varmints and around you don't meed a permit to do that, just a shovel,


You can use Conibear 220s or 330s to quietly gather them up

 

[ColbyBruce]

The suet cage idea is working so far, Thanks.

You are quite welcome. Fritos have been an effective bait for me a time or two. Fritos drizzled in bacon grease work even better.

 

[yaktamer]

Fritos drizzled in bacon grease work even better.

This post is missing a salivating Homer Simpson illustration.

 

[taz666]

They like chicken ... maybe some chicken nuggets?
Don't forget the dips ....barbecue and honey mustard ... mmm.

 

[walnutred]

Last night the trap was unmolested. I accidently left half of an apple on the deck, other half was part of the bait. Even that was not bothered so I'm pretty sure nothing came around. I ended up recycling 5 raccoons. I hope they stay away, I really don't like recycling them. The suet cage idea really helped.

 

[TOM BECKWITH]

Had an old lady Baptist friend that Baptized all squirrels and groundhogs she caught in her garden area. 3 years ago the score was 11 and 2 as I recall. Bless her heart.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

We've been dealing with a minor varmint infestation, mainly they've been causing mischief in Mrs. Walnut Reds flowers and garden. So I set out a live trap with apple and marshmallows and the first night I caught a large raccoon. Reset the trap that night and the next morning found the trap had been emptied of bait, flipped completely over and no varmint. Third night I rebaited the trap but staked it down with long metal rods. There was a medium sized raccoon waiting in the trap.

Last night I rebaited and staked the trap. Woke up to not only find the trap had been raided without setting it off but my trash can had been tipped over AND there was a large pile of raccoon droppings in front of BOTH my back doors!!!!

Tonight I've staked the trap to the ground and wired the bait into the cage. We'll see what the morning brings. My next step is an all night vigil with a motion sensor light.

The dog proof leg hold coon traps work great. Nail the attached chain to a tree and have at it.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I prefer not to take the life of the little bandits if I can teach them to avoid my home. I colored the first raccoon I caught in "Scarlet" RIT dye. Two days later I spray painted another raccoon; and it looked ready to attend a Grateful Dead concert. If I see them again they get relocated to a county park eight miles away.

You do have to stake the traps down and I secure my bait in a metal suet holder suspended by carabiners over the trigger plate. This way the critter has to enter the trap to try to get the bait.

My state DNR biologist says to kill "em" and not relocate cuz you could be spreading disease.

 

[KalamazooKid]

I've relocated some with decent results (6-8 miles away) but did that with one last summer and the very next day (middle of the day), these two showed up in front of my barn. Felt terrible and decided to try and catch them to take where I'd relocated their Ma. Never could catch them and they wandered off on their own.

 

[lihpster]

I had a similar problem. I talked with the DNR ranger and his advice was the three S's. Shoot em, shovel em, and shut up.

Dealing with these critters is a no win for them. If you relocate, you're potentially spreading disease and there's the cries of, "Great. Now it's gonna come to my house." If you euthanize them, "But that was Bambi's friend, or something like that. They're cute "little bandits" and they deserve to roam the earth in peace."
My father once got a call about a raccoon in a multi level car park downtown. His advice: leave it be. It'll hole up somewhere and leave in the night. Nope, they keep pushing the poor thing, trying to trap it and "get it back to the wilderness". Poor thing probably never been more than 3 miles from that spot it's whole life. Anyway, the news shows up to cover this breaking news flash of a story and my dad's bosses tell him to go do something about it. How it looks, you know. So he goes down there and tells everyone to clear out so that the coon can calm down some. He waits a few minutes and approaches it with his catch pole. They're on the 6th floor and this thing is SPOOKED. As he gets closer it moves into the stairwell, which is on the outside of the building and partially open to the air on one side. The coon winds up jumping on the 4" wide concrete railing. My dad goes to slip the noose on and the frightened little creature jumps. Coons are pretty tough, but this one didn't make it. He gets down there and it's suffering so he snaps it's neck to end that. All of this on camera. Then the questions, "Why did you push it? Why did you have to kill it? Wasn't there a more humane way to do it?"
Now my dad is fuming, because if they had listened to him in the first place, none of this would have happened. But he knows the brass is watching this one. So, he simply says no comment and leaves. When he got home that night, he was as angry as I'd ever seen him, when it wasn't me or my brothers he was angry at.

 

[Greyman50]

Ignorant influence of tv, movies pita ECT is the reason. People that know critters, know them. Those that dont, dont.

 

[BC38]

Last night the trap was unmolested. I accidently left half of an apple on the deck, other half was part of the bait. Even that was not bothered so I'm pretty sure nothing came around. I ended up recycling 5 raccoons. I hope they stay away, I really don't like recycling them. The suet cage idea really helped.

One benefit of "recycling" them as fertilizer is that you never have to worry about them coming back

FWIW, you can eat them. I remember my great grandpa BBQ-ing and serving one at a family reunion when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

Since I grew up eating wild game, including rabbits and squirrels, I tried a piece. Didn't like it much. Too greasy and gamey, but some of my older relatives who grew up during the Great Depression seemed to really like it.

To each his own...

 

[dave1918a2]

Sounds like the makings of a good Disney movie.

 

[kraynky]

After attending turkey and quail seminars with the DNR. Boh times they said to trap and kill the coons. They totally ate/ruined my Chufa patch last year. I an running legs hold traps right now. Have caught 4 coons so far.
I need a better bait. I've been using marshmellows and peanut butter.

Best bait I ever found for racoons and possum is a vanilla wafer. Crumble a few outside the trap and the big bounty inside the trap. They can't resist the sweet vanilla fragrance.

Then the 3 S's. I often carried my "have a heart" trap out back to the woods and opened it, then drawing and shooting with a revolver. If they escaped, they win.

After my outside cats died and the food temptation was gone, I quit fighting them and they left me alone as well. (9 to 1 was my record) One escaped with some really fancy ziz-zagging skills.....