Raccoon Problem

cool pics.

 

There exists some pretty good raccoon poison recipes. Just put out the poison at night and take it out bright and early so no other animals can get it. I don't understand how the can get out of your live trap? They are reliable traps.... An almost fool proof way of using a leg hold trap is to make a tunnel or funnel. Block off an end put your bait then the trap. On each side put down boards or logs and something on top so they have to crawl in. Sardines are a great bait btw.... Hope this helps. Those coons are sure being a bother.

 

We spotlight them and shoot them. Sugar cubes are good bait. And peanut butter. We take them to a specific neighborhood around here. They eat tgem

 

We had Raccoonie issues until we got a dog. Is this an option for you? Also, they seem to favor easy food. How are they getting in? After a year, they are pretty much your neighbors, if not your tenants. Lock up everything and take away their food supply...they will leave.

 

I have been using Niteguard to keep the raccoons out of my garbage and bird feeder. So far, so good.

 

Marshmellows for bait.

We'll ocassionally eat the younger ones. Usually we cut and boil the meat. Then give it to the chickens

We have not had an issue this year (so far), maybe the 'Raccoon Times and Piciuyane' reported that it is very bad to show up at Riverdale's place.

 

I'm sorry to say if the live trap doesn't work you need to get some heavy duty leg traps-otherwise you will have more then 2 raccoons around-don't like using them but that seems to be the only trap they can't or don't get out of.

 

I agree with kenimokPoultry with the leg traps

 

If you use a coyote trap they are not as strong as the smaller size for raccoons. Try the right trap...or the poison... works great but only if you can target JUST what you want to kill cause it kills everything that eats it! T

 

My neighbor caught 20 raccoons this summer using the live traps. (one weighed about 30 #) He used cat food for bait. Sometimes he'd hear the trap go off 15 min. after he'd set it. He'd then shoot and bury them. The racoons were very brazen... I'd be feeding my barn cats and they would come out from nowhere and take the dish...I'd throw firewood at them or whatever else I could find...They'd climb a tree and just wait for me to walk away and they'd come right down....We had a neighbor feeding them dog food on his porch...so he could watch them....They are not pets...they are dangerous. Our coop is predator proof, but I have to make sure I close the door early enough that the racoons don't get in to get the chickens...

 

Put a post on coondawgs.com and see if there are any coonhunters close to you. They would love to catch a live coon to train dogs with. That would be better than poisoning them.

 

I coexisted with raccoons for several years without problems, but last year I had "stranger" raccoons move into the territory. They wiped out all my 3 adult hens. (Fortunately my new pullets weren't out with them.) I went after them with a vengence, and only limited success. I finally realized that more were coming around, and I might as well face facts. (That things were irrevocably changed) This year I tripled the size of my run, got more birds, and only let them out to free range when I am at home. I'm back to coexisting, albeit uneasily with them. I hope you find a solution.

Kaax

 

im battling the racoons right now..ive trapped 6 allready.
checked my game camera i have set up and i have a bigger problem than i thought. there were atleast 6 more racoons that i could count ..i use the small racoon size trap. gives them less space to cause damage.

 

some horse tranquilizer in an egg works wonders. Then you can dispose of your sleeping furry friend.

 

I had the same problems also with raccoons and foxes . We also own a heard of pygmy goats so we got an Anatolian heard dog she keeps all the stray critters out of the yard haven't lost a chicken since. Good luck

 

Personally, I dislike using anything poisonous (other than lead ).

Firstly, it seems a waste of protien (as stated above, we parboil and feed the 'coons we trap to the chooks.

Secondly, I really don't want those toxins either in my land or in my water table.

And no, I am not some hippy happy longhaired treehugging anti-people person.

I am a steward of my land, and it is in my care.

 

Bob, at least in Michigan, it is illegal, to transport an animal from private to other than public land. It is also (IMnshO) deeply immoral to 'drop' a problem coon off to be someone else's problem.

Just sayin'

 

I hear ya regarding the poison. Poison is too non-discriminatory and can affect the water. Interesting solution regarding coon disposal but that is not my bag. As a hippy happy long haired tree hugging anti-people person, I would vote for less lethal means. We have an egg farm. We had a female coon live with us, raise two litters, co-exist with the chickens ( she only ate eggs) before, after three years, she took her last batch of kids out into the swamp. That was last year and we haven't seen her, or her babies, since. I also feel that we are stewards, not "owners" and to me, that means working with the land, and it's inhabitants, to a mutual lifestyle. The coons live here too. I prefer to let them live as long as the other critters who live here, including our chickens, geese, horses, dogs and us simple humans, are not attacked. And just so you don't think I'm a total peacenik, I shot a mink, who's skin currently decorates my feed barn's door, point blank in the face, who had killed nearly half of my girls in less than twenty minutes.

 

When I speak of disposing of your furry friend I wasn't thinking about dropping him off someplace, I was thinking more of dispatching him to raccoon heaven using whatever means is palatable to you and expedient. Just so we are clear I was using "dispose of" as a euphemism for kill, knock off, slaughter, whatever term you want to use. A rap on the head with an axe handle, or a small say .22 lead pill behind the ear ... its just that the tranquilizer knocks them down so you can attend to them.