My Raccoon Troubles (Dead Raccoon Pic Attached)

[gregthehand]

I live out in Brookshire and while it's not way out in the country it's still a pretty rural town. I live in a small neighborhood where everyone lives on half acre or larger lots and it's surrounded by fields. Anyway here lately I've seen as many as eight raccoons in the yard so I decided to start getting rid of them. My first intention was to trap them but that has proved troublesome. The first one I caught I took down to the Brazos River but it almost turned into a disaster. First the raccoon was clawing at me through the cage trying to scratch me up. Then I used a stick to lift the gate but the little sucker turned around and bit my welding glove! He didn't hit skin but he very well could have.

The second one I got I was carrying to my truck and he clawed my glove hard through the cage! It has a plate around the handle but he reached right around that. Once again thanks to the thick glove he didn't hit skin but it made me lose my grip. I dropped the cage and it landed on its side with the gate falling open. The raccoon was looking at me and trying to attack through the cage so it didn't see the cage open and I had time to get my welding glove off. I had my Kel-Tec .380 in my pocket and he took off towards the woods. I was able to get a good sight picture when he was about twenty five feet away and fired one shot, one handed towards the fleeing raccoon. I caught him almost right in the middle of the back and he stopped immediately. To be honest I wasn't sure if I shot him or if it just got near him and scared it. He off took and ran towards the front of my house, climbed under my Suburban and died under the front axle. You can see the entry wound on the back of the raccoon and there was no exit. Just for reference sake I use a Speer Gold Dot 90 grain .380 round.

so what do you guys do? Do y'all relocate or just pop them? I have a heart and don't like shooting caged animals but it's getting down right dangerous to transport these things! I know they carry a lot of diseases and while they look cute and cuddly but once I get within five feet of the dang cage they go nuts.

Suggestions are welcome.

[flb_78]

Are you seeing these coons during the daylight hours?

Coons are nocturnal. If they're out during the day, there's something wrong with them and they should probably be put down.

I was camping once and had a problem of the local coons trying to break into the cooler. The next night I set out a plate of marshmallows soaked in a plate of beer. The coons didn't mess with the cooler and the marshmallows were gone.

[The Annoyed Man]

I "confronted" one through my back door, which is glass, about a year ago or so. He put his back up at me and dared me to come out and get a butt whoopin'. I live in the thick of suburbia, so I resisted the temptation to take a .22 to him. He left, but not before parking a large dropping on a decorative rock in my garden to let me know who owned the joint, and I don't think he washed his hands afterward. I distinctly heard rap music as he was leaving.

[chasfm11]

We are trapping skunks here. We use the Hav-a heart style traps. If you will do a little research, you can find guys that have done this before and have made cardboard covers for the traps. Once the animal is caught, you lower the cover down over the trap. It should have a place for you to get to the handle with the cover in place. I had seen a You Tube video where I guy did this with a live skunk and the same type of trap that I have. He simply slide the cover over the trap from above. I'm not sure that I'd want to be the one to release a raccoon. They may well tear the cardboard apart on the trap cover, too. My guess is that it is the sight of a human that is setting them off and they may remain more docile if they cannot see.

When we set traps. we take some of the temporary garden fence posts and drive two of them on the long dimension of the trap. That we drive another on the short side, opposite the trap entry. I then put a piece of cardboard about 2.5 high between the trap and the fence posts, bending it in a firm crease to go around the corner. What you end up with is an "L" shaped cardboard "shield" that allows you to get right up and over the trap without being seen. We've caught 8 skunks as of this morning and none of them have sprayed as we approached. I always approach the trap myself just after first light and then call Animal Services to come and deal with the animal. They approach again at least twice. We are literally less than 3 feet from the animal on approach.

I doubt that you could get it yourself but they use a Sodium compound they call "blue juice" and pull it into a syringe attached to the end of a pole. They insert that through the cage and into the animal's peritoneal area. They go to sleep pretty quick and then they get a second and permanent dose. Our Town will not allow the relocation of skunks because they have had a very bad track record in this area as rabies carriers. Many of the animals that we've trapped were in really bad shape (mange,etc.). With no natural predators in this area (it would take a large owl), they've gotten way out of control and are probably suffering from the overpopulation. By the way, raccoons are the second most prevalent carrier of rabies, according to one of our animal control officers.

Before any PETA oriented folks jump in, you might want to understand this: The chances of a successful relocation of any wild animal are less than 25%. They must find food and water sources quickly in their new area and also avoid predators that they've never seen before.

We've caught cats, possums, etc. in our traps and I always release them. The beauty of this style trap is that you have that option.

[WildBill]

Are you seeing these coons during the daylight hours?
Coons are nocturnal. If they're out during the day, there's something wrong with them and they should probably be put down.

Not necessarily true. Back when I worked on a large site in a rural area, we used to see them during daylight hours looking for food. They would come by the picnic tables where people were eating their lunch. Of course, some dummy would feed them and then you could never get rid of them after that. If they got overly agressive, security would come out and dispatch them with a .22 rifle.

By the way, raccoons are the second most prevalent carrier of rabies, according to one of our animal control officers.

So, if you do kill one don't be tempted to make a Davy Crockett hat.

[flb_78]

Kind of off topic, but a good way to release a live coon is by leaning the trap against a tree so the only escape for the coon is straight up the tree. I just saw this on "Dirty Jobs" last night.

[esxmarkc]

You can see the entry wound on the back of the raccoon and there was no exit. Just for reference sake I use a Speer Gold Dot 90 grain .380 round.

Taking notes here:
Rule 33 - If going up against BG with .380 wear live raccoon coat.

[jimlongley]

We were tenting in Indiana Dunes State Park and they warned us about the raccoons. They were wrong, they should have gone far beyond warning us.

Those suckers knew how to open unlocked coolers, car doors, and tent zippers. In the middle of the night my pet parrot, in a cage under a zipped cover, on a table in the vestibule of the tent, which had been securely zipped, started screaming, which pretty much woke the whole campsite up.

I looked out from the "bedroom", and I swear one 'coon was standing on the other's shoulders to get to the top of the table, and had unzipped and was lifting the cover off the cage. I threw a couple of things at them and they just kind of ignored me, finally departing when I busted a lfashlight on one of them.

[JNMAR]

I catch them near and around the lodge on the property I manage quite often. It's not unusual to see coons in the daylight hours at all. I do the catch and release thing as I'm all about giving them a fighting chance in life, it's also where I get my moving target practice with my AR with a 30 round magazine. Only the very lucky survive.

[gregthehand]

I had always heard that if I saw them during the day to dispatch them quick. I guess that may be wrong. I like the idea about the cardboard and may try that out.

[flb_78]

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/blog/rac ... abies.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He says that it's not uncommon to see active coons during the day foraging for food, but if they're stumbling, foaming, or acting non-coon like, then most likely it's rabies.

He also says that it's very possible that it's a female coon foraging for extra food for her kits/pups/youngin's so dispatch of a seemingly normal coon would be detrimental to the babies.

[ELB]

We were tenting in Indiana Dunes State Park and they warned us about the raccoons. They were wrong, they should have gone far beyond warning us...

Until I read that I had completely forgotten about a camping trip my Sunday school class took about, oh, 40 years ago to the same state park, and yes the raccoons were exceedingly clever. The opened everything that could be opened, and even peeled the bananas before eating them.

Many moons later when I lived in Topanga Canyon north of Santa Monica, the racoons opened my neighbor's sliding window and raided her kitchen. What a mess. They opened all the cupboards and the refrigerator, opened all the milk, water containers, coffee, sugar, flour, etc etc. Her entire kitchen was covered in food goo.

[TLE2]

Same here.

We watched with fascination one night camping while a large raccoon reached deep into our basket, and pulled out Oreo after Oreo, while a smaller raccoon was forced to watch from the sidelines.

We also had "squirrels" eat through an Igloo cooler to get to the goodies inside.

[RiverRat]

You might consider a T Ball bat.

A couple of years ago, three 'coons jumped my dog, Dawg and were in the process of giving him the bad part. I picked up a T Ball bat left in the yard by the kids and went to his defense. I broke one's back, ending his day, dispatched the second in search of better hunting, Dawg took out the third.

A T Ball bat works well at close range, with a proper state of mind . Of course, I was dressed for the occasion and really lucky. I was in deck shoes, bathing suit and t-shirt. I did blind them with one of those million candle power boat spots. Dawg had some pretty bad scratches, but healed up fine.

[gregthehand]

That would mean getting up close and personal and I'd rather keep my distance. I think a .22 will be the weapon of choice. I'm not wanting to deal with exit wounds leaking blood everywhere. I have to haul them off and get rid of them after it's all done with.