Growing up rural and poor I shot countless rabbits every winter and a lot of squirrels and we ate them. Squirrel was pretty good, rabbit just OK. My mom always overcooked meat so there was never a problem. Ate so many rabbits I intend to get through the rest of my life without eating another. I would eat squirrel if I shot one in the woods that was living a proper natural life. All were head shots with a 22. And even worse, we would also catch bullheads in small creeks and ponds and eat those. Typically those tasted like the creek smelled. I plan to never eat another of those either.
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I’d suggest getting a Safeguard trap and bait it with some berries. This is
what I use, and I’ve trapped foxes in it.
I have a .22 break barrel as well.The Marauder comes in handy when I am in a tight spot.
I am also thinking trying sub-sonic rounds in my Ruger 10-22 to see if I can drop them without others running off.
The pellet riffles are so silent that you can drop a pest and the others around him don’t get spooked.
Mike
Hey Robert,
It is a Bushnell trophy cam. Don’t know much about it b/c I asked for it for Christmas and the kids came up with this after doing the reviews. One son said it was a step up from what he had that he liked (haha, and he wound up borrowing it) OK well TMI.
So I used the tube trap baited w/peanut butter and actually caught one.
They were very curious about it and at this point I believe one had already been caught but there was still more peanut butter to be had. (Sorry about the angle - I was looking at the netting and not so much the trap.)
This video showed that the problem is far worse than I thought. There are 4 racoons on the netting - more easily seen towards the end of the 1 minute video.
So this is my least favorite part of gardening - constructing Fort Knox and ambushing the enemy. Just not part of the female nature, I guess.
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Anne,
Thanks for information on camera. Oh, and nice video. My critter trapping is guesswork and late without knowing what and how many I’m up against, especially at night. Robert
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When you start dealing with multiples thats when to think about a temporary electrical fence.
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YUP… ELECTRIC FENCE.
Not that expensive . See the link below.
I have found Kencove to be top notch.
Mike
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_products.php
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Yeah,that’s a family. We live trapped one of those a couple years ago and haven’t seen too many since.They stay real close in their areas.Raccoon Nation is an informative documentary about them.Brady
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Skunk!
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Skonq de Peu!
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Pepé Le Pew
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I bought the 4’ high Kencove woven fence for a new vegetable garden in the country. If I recall correctly, it has 3 1/2 inch spacing. I have carpeting under and beyond it several feet all around it to keep animals from burrowing under. It has kept out the big critters so far, but I watched a rabbit dash through it like it wasn’t there. I found the fence needed many more posts than were provided. Otherwise it seems like a decent product. My main concern was all the groundhogs in that area, plus deer and rabbits. The rabbits haven’t done a lot of damage so far, so the fence may be keeping some of them out. We will see how it does when the sweet corn gets ripe. The nearby field of field corn had heavy damage to the outer couple rows last year, I noticed, so I invested in heavy armor.
What kind of charger does it use?
I bought an EKD1-KF1000XD energizer on the recommendation of the Kencove company. It runs on 110V plug-in or 12V battery. We use a deep-cycle battery from our motor home with it. It has a 3-year warranty, including lightning damage and is rated for mid to large animals. It is one joule and sells for $105.95. Includes AC-adapter and battery leads.
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I guess raccoons are mid-size animals
Looks like a scratch and sniff to me! 
I’ve never had birds attack plums before this year…what a pain. Need to put up my game camera to figure out which bird (i’ve seen cardinals, finches, robins all on the tree)… Driving me nuts because they peck a whole line of fruit…ugh
I have - they seemed particularly fond of Shiro
I blamed robins but I didn’t scientifically study the depredations
I had a nice tree full of Burbank plums for the first time this yr. I didn’t get to taste a single fruit. I suspect the House Finches.