Raccoon

Thanks for the tips. Ive always wondered, being so plump n all if they’d cook up good. I draw the line at racoons though. Thanks

I made a deal with my raccoons at least ten years ago. I told them I’d put out food if they left my garbage and trees alone.

My garbage stays in the cans and my fruit is safe from them anyway. Birds hit my blueberries this year though.

Cheap dog food put out in pans works for me. I like watching them anyway.

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Have a raccoon story that seems impossible, but I can’t think of any other explanation.

My back yard is on a slope and terraced, and I have two small goldfish ponds (65 gal and 180 gal) on different levels of the yard, about 20 feet apart. The lower pond is fed with rainwater via a buried drainage pipe from a roof downspout, and it has a pond pump that circulates that water up to the upper pond via a semi rigid pipe about the thickness of a garden hose, and that overflows back into the lower pond.

Well, I came home from a weekend camping trip yesterday to find that raccoons (presumably) had pulled all 20 feet of semi-rigid pipe out of the drainage pipe, causing the 180 gal pond to empty itself onto the lawn. There was also no sign of the many large goldfish that had been in that pond, so I’m guessing after their splash park fun they had a goldfish feast.

I have no idea how to run the hose back through the pipes, either, because it has to make a 90-degree turn at a T-connector about halfway. I ran it originally before burying everything and putting a stone patio over it. Maybe the upper pond will have to be converted into a tree planting hole…

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I’m going to give raccoons the credit for this one. I built a cage for compost out of half a cattle panel, wrapped in chicken wire to keep critters out. I couldn’t get the wires sunk all the way in, the ground was so hard and I was ready to start filling.

Woke up to this crop circle.

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While the cause is unidentified, maybe your neighbors saw flashing lights and a hovering object. Does the area smell like sulfur?
I just had to go there…:slightly_smiling_face:

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Why the *&&$#@&?!#$@? would raccoons do this to a banana plant??? It doesn’t look like they were eating the leaves, but maybe I guess. They sure threw a bunch of shredded leaves from that and the other plants around the pond into the water. Maybe making some goldfish and banana leaf soup and couldn’t figure how to heat it up?

They didn’t touch the other bananas in the yard. Here’s another of the same type (Helen’s hybrid seedlings), which is basically what the other one looked like yesterday:

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I’ve got fox but not that many cats, although a once trapped a farrow cat using pet food. The only time I trap animals other than coons and possums with marshmallows is during drought when hungry skunks may go for them. That is why I prefer traps with an easy to lift back door to cheaper versions with only one way into the trap- the spring door in front.

It is easy to release skunks if they are in the right trap- not so easy if one manages to enter a squirellinator.

Not much to add but I have to post so I’ll notice the updates. TNHunter I can so relate to everything you say. I cant claim to be the trapper but helped my dad when young. A typical day would be a dozen pelts.
Scraping the fat off, hanging on stretchers and sitting in the very cold fur house every morning by a wood stove drinking coffee. About 10 years old…

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After the raccoons have pulled out and unplugged the pond pump a few times in the last few months, I finally decided today I’d try to raccoon-proof it:

A couple cinder blocks will go on the metal shelving to weigh it down.

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We used to shoot at squirrels feeding at the bird feeder with a kids BB gun. Velocity was so slow you could see the BB in flight. If a squirrel was hit he would jump and leave or sometimes just look around and continue feeding… One day a BB hit an ear and the squirrel fell over dead.

Strange. Why do you supposed the raccoons are messing with the pump?

No clue, but they seem to enjoy playing in the pond, so I’m guessing they enjoy when the pump sprays all over? They managed to still pull it halfway out like that, so I’ve added fencing around it now.

Dogproof traps are an awesome tool for catching raccoons. Marshmallows work well, but I wouldn’t use them when it’s warm. The marshmallows will melt and get sticky. You can use just about anything though, cereal, corn, cat food, etc.

An airgun is a great tool for disposal in the city. I’ve used an RWS Diana Model 34 .22 caliber extensively to dispatch coons and squirrels. A couple weeks ago, I took out a squirrel at 70 yards (I won’t talk about missing it first at 30 yards). A spring-operated airgun is generally cheaper, slightly louder, and likely lower velocity than a PCP airgun but is more than sufficient for close quarter dispatching. The noise isn’t loud on these guns. Most people that are close probably wouldn’t know what the noise was unless they shot one before or saw you shooting.

Not allowed here in city limits! Illegal to fire any air gun, spring-powered gun, or even slingshot, other than in an indoor range. The law is slightly vague, but has been interpreted as meaning you can’t use them if you could shoot it into public property, even if you actually only hit a target on your property. I don’t think anyone within city limits has a large enough piece of property that they would be unable to shoot an air gun beyond their property line from the center of the lot, so it’s basically a total ban on outdoor discharge of airguns.

Do they allow butter knives or do those need to be registered? I guess you can drown, club or snare them potentially. Otherwise, you can live with the pest problem.

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Drowning is illegal statewide, outside city limits a bullet to the head is legal as “humane.” Inside the city, there’s quite a bustling business of licensed “humane” animal removal and euthanasia.

Trap, then dispatch within the trap in a safe location. Hollow points recommended; CO2 pistols may work if carefully placed at close range. I suggest eye protection at a minimum. Would peanut butter on the muzzle be helpful?

@marknmt

Just saw this post and it brought a smile to my face. A determined racoon can be a force to be reckoned with. They are family oriented and that means their adult children frequently take their time leaving home.

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I may need a different trap to deal with a super raccoon. Two nights the step on trigger plate was lifted up, instead of being stepped on and pushed down, preventing it from activating and closing the door. Last night more problems. The bait was gone. There is 3 inches of dirt in the trap. The trigger bar that closes the door was severally bent last night and now partially outside the trap. although the door is closed the trap is empty. The raccoon must have put his paw through the door and pulled the door release while pushing to door open. A solid plate is needed on the door.

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This enormous and long-running thread is just proof of one of the most obvious social problems facing us today: The chronic Coonhound shortage that year in and year out confounds America.

If there are Black and Tans or at least a Redbone in the neighborhood the problem goes away.

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