Why do they have to be so cute?

[thistlebloom]

NOT a fan of them. Trap him if you don't have the heart to dispatch him. Then drive into the next county.....scratch that, 2 counties over, find a drainage ditch near a wooded lot. Then let him out and make sure you don't go back the same way you came. It also doesn't hurt to make a few extra turns to help throw the coon of your trail when you come back. They really are that smart.

With all due respect to you Jared, and I do respect you, I have a real problem with relocating vermin. If they are a problem where they are at, they are going to be a problem where you drop them off. Why inflict your problem on people elsewhere? If a person can't put an end to them where they are at, find somebody who can, or learn to live with the problem.

 

[canesisters]

Agreed Thistle. In many places, it's also against the law.
I had one proweling around my house - up on the porches, etc. I put out a 'haven'tahart' trap and got it the first night. THEN I found out that in my area: I couldn't shoot or in any other way mistreat a caged animal, couldn't use a rifle to 'hunt' within a certain distance from my house, couldn't send it with animal control (they said they'd just open the trap and let it go where it sat). This bruiser was at least 20lbs, MAD, and apparently - according to the county - now my responsibility for the rest of it's life!



Unfortunately the nasty, snarling, bigger than one of my dogs beastie "had an accident of some sort" before I got home from work and a helpful neighbor disposed of the body for me.

 

[Jared77]

Personally I would have put a bit of screaming hot lead right at a couple thousand feet per second between its eyes without a second thought. (Sorry if that sounds a bit crude I'm tired, at the station aka work and for some reason online rather than going to bed.......)

Raccoon and coyote are the only 2 critters I take that stance on. I understand they are one of God's creatures and they have their place, but they are extremely adaptable and opportunistic and I think in certain situations they need a little pressure pushing back on them to keep them in check.

But unfortunately many folks don't agree with that opinion and judging by the OP's comments I got that impression. I was trying to make the most of a bad situation. I don't agree with relocating them however I'd hate to see someone go through the effort, release their chickens back into the yard (assuming the problem was addressed and now safe) and then lose their birds because it was back in less than 48hrs and killed everything in the yard.

Sorry I wasn't clear on that. Don't worry Thistle we're good!

 

[thistlebloom]

Personally I would have put a bit of screaming hot lead right at a couple thousand feet per second between its eyes without a second thought. (Sorry if that sounds a bit crude I'm tired, at the station aka work and for some reason online rather than going to bed.......)

Raccoon and coyote are the only 2 critters I take that stance on. I understand they are one of God's creatures and they have their place, but they are extremely adaptable and opportunistic and I think in certain situations they need a little pressure pushing back on them to keep them in check.

But unfortunately many folks don't agree with that opinion and judging by the OP's comments I got that impression. I was trying to make the most of a bad situation. I don't agree with relocating them however I'd hate to see someone go through the effort, release their chickens back into the yard (assuming the problem was addressed and now safe) and then lose their birds because it was back in less than 48hrs and killed everything in the yard.

Sorry I wasn't clear on that. Don't worry Thistle we're good!

Jared, your solution doesn't sound crude to me at all, but that's me. Add the rapid rate of reproduction to "adaptable and opportunistic"
and you have a recipe for real problems. Personally I consider it good management. Sometimes SSS is the best way to deal with this.

 

[MontyJ]

Several years ago, DW and I were in the swimming pool enjoying the evening. It was just turning dark. She called me over to the side of the pool and pointed at the deck. There was a coon right there. But, not just one, there were four of them! I could just imagine one of the kids opening the storm door and facing one of those, or one of them coming right into the house. The next day I started racoon wars. I killed 11 in 3 days. They re-populate quickly and every few years I have to "thin" the herd.

 

[897tgigvib]

The Raccoons around here are big. Real big. They will stand up to a full grown man. In order to get it to back off you have to get very loud and aggressive, and charge after it, no hesitation, and keep hollering and clapping your hands loud.

Several of the campers trap them regularly. They do damage similar to what Bears do, only not as big of a mess. I can tell coon damage from bear damage.

New campers are usually the ones who need to learn not to leave trash cans with stuff in them.

=====

Last night I heard footsteps under my cabin. At first I thought Raccoon, but the speed of the footfalls was not right. It was one of my almost pet teenager squirrels. I have a couple of them, sibling grey squirrels, whose territory surrounds my cabin. Teenager squirrels are so fun! Show offs, and they make a chirp sound like they have something to say.

Almost pet. I like that concept. Independent, wild, but hanging around doing no harm or damage, approaching to a certain distance, then scooting a million miles up a tree just to come back down 10 feet above me, completely upside down, watching me, chirping, tail twitching. Almost everyday some new thing going on.

=====

But Raccoons, them I want no part of. Supposedly there are the other kind called Ringtail around here. If so they must be far and few between and avoid humans.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I lived in Suburbia just outside New Orleans I found water dripping from the den ceiling during a thunderstorm. Plus the gutter was overflowing and splashing right outside the back door with some splashing up and coming under the door. I rigged up a bucket in the attic to catch the water leaking in and unblocked that gutter during a thunderstorm. Not a comfortable thing to do at all.

Squirrels had chewed the metal flashing off a roof vent. That flashing had rolled down into the gutter opening a hole in the roof plus blocking the gutter. I wasnt very fond of the bushy-tailed rats to start with. Anytime I tried to plant anything theyd dig it up, thinking another squirrel had buried a pecan. It was pretty normal to look into my back yard and see 5 squirrels playing at the same time.

I started a live-trapping program and removed over 50 squirrels from my back yard within a month. The population density was so great Id take one out and another would move right in. I finally got the number down to where it was reasonable.

I even got my retired neighbor into trapping them. He claimed to have trapped over 150 out of his back yard in a year. But he was just taking them to a nearby golf course and releasing them. I didnt think he was helping the overall problem that much but he was having fun and playing a lot of golf.

I did relocate them. I knew a guy through our wives working together that had a friend on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The Causeway Bridge is 25 miles long across the lake so I figured that was far enough. That guy did a lot of squirrel hunting in season. He didnt mind relocated squirrels at all.

The problem was not that there were squirrels there in suburbia. The problem was there were too many.

 

[Nyboy]

I have no problem with people protecting their property or animals. If one of my pets was being attacked I would do anything I had to to stop it. What I willn't do is go after a animal who is doing no harm. I read somewhere nature hates a void, take out raccoon today another moves in to take his place next week.If this raccoon threatens my dogs or hens the only thing I can legally do is call a trapper who will charge a few hundred. I am hoping the coyotes will solve this problem for me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Now for my raccoon story. A raccoon had denned in the attic of that same retired neighbors house and had kits. She had destroyed the vent under the soffit to get in. They contacted a professional trapper to come get rid of them. Yep, it was expensive. You're right about that.

The first trapper that showed up was so drunk he couldnt get out of his car. They contacted a different trapper. That worked out better. He had to get then out of the attic before he could seal the access.

This was excitement. It was during the summer so the kids were home from school. My wife worked in the school so she was home too. So they went out into the back yard to watch the fun. I knew raccoons are dangerous but I was at work. Thats my disclaimer. My wife was a city girl.

The oldest boy, probably around 10 or 11, decided the best place to watch the fun was on top of our swing set. It was one of those triangular things with metal legs and a couple of swings and a slide. He spent more time on top of that thing that in a swing.

A raccoon came out of the attic and started running along the top of the privacy fence, making for the back. There were plenty of trees back there. That privacy fence was within 10 feet of that swing.

He had heard and seen the raccoons in actions. Vicious animals, hissing and growling, and very willing to fight if they felt trapped. With their claws and teeth, they can put up a pretty good fight.

When he saw that raccoon running along the top of that privacy fence sort of right toward him, he felt it was time to abandon that area. With a bit of a sense of urgency he tried to get down off the top of that swing set but his back pocket got caught on one of those bolts sticking up through the top bar. He was swinging from that swing set when that raccoon raced right by him.

They did get the raccoons out of that attic but a neighbor was feeding the raccoons. I left for work before daylight. Id regularly see raccoons entering the storm sewers in the morning. Theyd use the storm sewers as highways to get from their dens to the food sources. As long as someone is feeding them, theyll be there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nyboy, Im not meaning any of this as criticism of you or your decisions. It's just stories of my experience. We all have our own unique situations and experiences. How you deal with things is your business, not mine.

And Im not going to criticize Jared. Im probably more ruthless than he is in dealing with certain things.