We got 'em. Saw three roughhousing next door, and then they came to visit our yard. Ran up our big maples and settled in for the day.
I don’t want them. They’re hell on ripe fruit, as @clarkinks points out: Your up against the clock a raccoon can run 15 mph. The minute he smells your pears hes headed your way so dont let the sun set on ripe pears hes nocturnal. Facts About Raccoons | Live Science
BUT: the whole time they were here (they’ve moved on now) we had no squirrels. Silver lining, I guess. I hope they don’t come back.
I’ve declared war on them here, too. My barn loft is full of raccoon feces.
I long ago despaired of ever planting and harvesting sweet corn… they’ll get it all the night before you intend to harvest!
They’ve been showing up here at the house with increasing frequency, at night, to flip over flats of seedlings, and dig up flowers out of planters.
Wife had a bag of apple-flavored horse treats on the front porch that they tore open and scattered. I left a bag of trash out on the back porch one evening, without making it to the herbie-curbie with it. 'Coons got into it and scattered it everywhere - and defecated on the porch to add insult to injury. That was the last straw.
Bought a couple of the dog-proof coon traps and set them, but have yet to make a catch. Once I do… they’ll be terminated. They’re not an endangered species; relocation is strongly frowned upon by wildlife biologists for a myriad of reasons, and in many states, it’s actually illegal to relocate nuisance wildlife.
Haven’t decided yet whether to cook and eat them… no one else in the family will partake. I have eaten barbecued 'coon on several occasions, and it’s quite tasty.
Mark, that would be true ‘misinformation’.
I spent over 20 years doing Rabies testing on domestic and wild animal submissions here in southern west-central KY. NEVER diagnosed a positive rabies case in a raccoon; never knew of a positive raccoon case in the entire state of KY during that period, though I think the Eastern Raccoon variant has made inroads into extreme eastern KY from VA & WV. Our principal sylvatic(wildlife) reservoirs here are bats and the skunks (North-Central skunk variant - same as you, in MT). Used to see (and it’s still occurring) regular outbreaks of canine distemper virus infection in the raccoons - and they’d exhibit some of the clinical signs often associated with rabies… out in the daytime, exhibiting loss of fear of humans, masticatory seizures (sometimes whipping saliva into froth - ‘foaming at the mouth!’), etc.
If I lived in the eastern coastal states, I’d be concerned about handling raccoons exhibiting abnormal behavior, skunks, and, to a lesser degree, foxes. But, that one-in-four thing… is baloney.
Back in the 1970s, 'coon hunters from the DelMarVa area went to south GA and trapped raccoons, bringing them back and releasing them to bolster their raccoon population… unfortunately, they brought some that were infected with the Eastern Raccoon Rabies virus variant, which was not present, at that time, north of GA. Introduced into a naive population, it quickly ran up and down the East Coast and inward toward the Appalachian mountains.
Here’s a map from JAVMA detailing the common wildlife Rabies virus strains in the US, and counties where positive diagnoses have been made.
I had a problem with varmints killing my chickens a few years ago so I set live traps. In 3 months, I caught 17 raccoons, 8 oppossums, and 10 chicken snakes. It was 2 years before I saw another raccoon near the chicken barn.
I don’t believe in ‘relocating’ nuisance animals so I translocated them with a .22 rifle.
When you grow fruit animals and insects will become a issue no matter what. As they say build it and they will come. Or they should say plant it and they will come. My hydrangeas and peaches were eaten to the point that they were not worth keeping last year with the exception of the stark donut peaches. I got a 1 gallon Girardi dwarf mulberry from Whitman farms. It fruited well first year but if one branch was not netted the deer would eat it to nothing because it was so small. Now I have a black Pakistan mulberry from Trees Of Antiquity. It’s size is much thicker and stronger so it has survived. Even my bigger trees have some bark damage but it is minimal damage. Small trees are just demolished by animals in my area though. One you start to have ripe fruit it is even worse. Wasps come in, maggots can be a thing depending on the fruit and of course the deer, squirrels and raccoons will love to eat it all before you. We have apricots that have been blooming and producing fruit for years. Sadly the animals often get to it before us.
Thanks for that reference. I’ve seen a raccoon wandering into my yard from the window here in MA twice in the last few weeks during the daytime. I suppose that’s something to avoid after seeing this.
You either have ripe fruits or raccoons but never both. Exterminate raccoons well before your fruit is ripe, otherwise you will end up with broken branches on an empty tree and raccoon feces under it. A live trap and a rifle is the way to go. Use marshmallows as the bait, raccoons can’t resist it (while dogs and cats typically show no interest).
Urban/suburban-acclimated raccoons may behave somewhat differently from their ‘wild’ cousins… having only lived ‘in town’ for one year in my entire life, I don’t know for sure.
But… if you see daytime-active or abnormally-behaving raccoons, the greatest likelihood is that they are exhibiting evidence of canine distemper virus infection, and not rabies.
That said… eschew the Disney mentality that wild animals are friendly and well-meaning… avoid contact with them whenever possible.
Canine distemper virus poses no threat to humans or to well-vaccinated pets.
I was having raccoon incursions into my water garden every night as they went after a goldfish meal. But since I started sprinkling granulated garlic and/or cayenne pepper around it daily about 3 weeks ago, there hasn’t been a single raccoon visit. I live in a suburban neighborhood, so trapping is not an option.
Raccoons don’t like strong smells. I’m not really keen on having my backyard smell like an Italian restaurant either, but it’s better than having my water garden torn up every night after I have worked so hard on it.
Just discovered coon damage in a few of my apple trees today. I hung some sections of 24" stove pipe on those getting damage, and I have the live trap out baited with marshmallows. Time to reduce the population.
