Racoon help

In college I accidentally drowned at the lake. It peaceful on my way to the bottom. I woke up in the hospital with a broken sternum from CPR. That part was painful as was the pneumonia from the lake water in my lungs.

 

Interesting. I've nearly drowned and it was terrifying and painful the whole time. Anecdotal for sure, but it's the only experience I have to go on. Very interesting that your experience was peaceful.

 

You trap or shoot the raccoons or just turn them into an army to do your evil bidding.

Like this guy: https://youtu.be/Ziu2rrNS7S0?si=BU6uXVaG9XhOaMhV

 

If a pest must be eliminated or meat procured you do it as humanely as possible. That isn't a claim that it is humane. Climb down off that high horse before you fall off and hurt yourself.

 

As it relates to dispatching the animal, we choose to simply relocate.

Yes, I am an avid shooter, I just choose not to kill stuff I don't eat*.

This is not a judgment on others, it is simply a personal decision.

If I lived out in the country, I would probably have a different mindset.


and for the record, I shoot well.

I am fluent in pistols, rifles & shotguns.

a day at the range is meditation for me.


with that said...these racoons are my singular focus for the time being.
The folks on the other side of Lake Conroe have otters! those little beasts will tear the sh1t out of your upholstery.



it's entertaining to see wild animals be cunning and resourceful.

with this last racoon - James Bond/Marcus - he ate the plate of little marshmallows mixed with catfish food....then.....somehow....managed to trigger the trap & not be in the cage!!!!

I am picturing him being suspended in mid air like Ethan Hunt/mission impossible stealing the NOC list. but, presently can't confirm this technique.

hence, I will be putting a dedicated Arlo camera on the trap.



*Hog hunting is my only exception. I will gladly join others on a night hunt of hogs.

 

Seems I recall reading that they need to be released more than 5 miles away or they find their way back.
One thing about baiting is that you attract them all and there’s likely more than one.
The lucky ones get trapped and released. The unfortunate ones get found by my dog first.

 

on top of the racoon's - which is kind of a natural problem, we have a new problem & I have found a reasonable solution.


Neighbor ( 1 yard over) moved in with one of those fancy guard dogs. brown with black face akita looking thing.

it barks at anything.

!!!ANYTHING!!!

Every time we head out back that SOB is barking at us

Every bass boat that is coming/going

Every bird.

ugh.

it's not funny or understandable.

the owners are absolutely to blame.


So, I ordered one of those dog barking ultrasonic gadgets. I got the 300ft one. with an added remote to blast at will.

so now - hopefully - WE will be able to "train" the damn dog to not bark.

hope it works.


I'm really a nice guy.

why can't everyone just be civilized?

 

It was a statement that had no bearing on the conversation. It was made as a brag attempt to signal your virtue and moral superiority. To stroke your own ego. Must be lonely being the only good person you know.

 

Sounds like a story for the annoying neighbors thread. I can't stand dogs that just bark at anything. For your sake I can only hope that both this barking dog and that pesky thief get their day soon. And you can have a nice whisky to celebrate it.

 

It’s too bad raccoons are such naughty little bastards, otherwise they seem like they’d make a great pet.

 

yes.

they are cute and all...but the wife learned about wildlife when she approached the trap.

that racoon got mean.

 

We have them on our property a few times a year. Catch them
On the ring camera but they never do much but sniff around the front door. I don't think they would make good pets though. Too messy for my liking.

 

Since we live on a salt marsh, the coons are covered in pluff mud. Makes it easy to see where they come out of the marsh and where they went. Once they come up stairs to the back deck, still depositing mud, that triggers setting the trap up.

 

A cold night and an open roof vent.

 

Well you’d get mean too if you were caged up and thought a human was going to kill and eat you.

Plus raccoons are naughty little shits.

 

I guesss this means we won’t cross paths at any social functions.

 

We were camping one year in WV. Beautiful spot. We always had the cooler under the pull out end of our pop up. One night I heard some ice rustling around in the cooler. I shit you not; looked out and saw that they dragged the cooler halfway out, one of the little truckers was standing up with both arms extended while the other was leaning over the edge of the cooler scooping out all of our stuff out of the cooler. We found the turkey bag halfway across the campground the next day and various pieces of fruit and cheese scattered all around. Haven’t made that mistake again

 

They are tricky for sure. Ringtails cats are their cousins and they will do anything to gather your food for themselves. I've seen it happen right before my eyes.

 

You essentially declared that anyone saying something that wasn't aligned with your personal belief had ego problems. How is that not a push of superiority on moral grounds?

 

Actually, a mod edited my profile. I wasn't even aware until this post. LOL. I ain't king of nothin'... well, except The Monsters.

 

And you evaded the question, that was a genuine inquiry.

 

So much for me suggesting a good dog to chase off the pests.

My neighbors pup kept escaping their fence and she would come over to our house. I’d take her back. She’d escape. Saw her almost hit by a car and asked if I could take her. They agreed. She has patrolled the yard since. If it moves she chases it away or kills it if it’s not faster than her.

BTW I can leave the gate open and she won’t come out unless I tell her to. Some people shouldn’t have pets.

 

O them bastards, I have some boyscouts camping stories When we go camping we used these lantern posts to hang the trash bags so raccoons won't get into them. Well one time at the band camp , no I mean one time we were in Gartner state park and as usual we hang our trash bag on the post and we go to sleep. The next days trash was everywhere and bags were busted. These raccoon bastards managed to jump from high up from a tree right on the bag and get to it that way. Unbelievable

 

This is an awesome story. I've always thought I generally have decent command of my pups but when they know where to find a food source it becomes hard for them. I'm glad to hear that your neighbors were aware enough to know they weren't being good pet owners. That's a good neighbor even if they were bad pet owners.

 

Yeah it was smart of them. Then during the rona, they got bored and got another dog. It was out all the time as well. It didn’t come by often but I haven’t seen it in close to a year so hopefully it’s a happy inside pup after running but I’m not so sure.

 

... or children

 

I would like to introduce - James Bond/Marcus. (not the fake owl, the pest behind it)

he walks the same path every early morning.

he will be caught Friday night.

or thereabouts.

 

LOL….Resorting to name calling is a sure sign of an unresolved emotional issue.

 

The raccoons that kill our chickens rip them apart, eat what they want and leave the rest of the carcass and feathers everywhere for me to clean up. They die a horrible death, screeching to high heaven until their heads are ripped off.

I have NO mercy for any animal that threatens any of our farm animals at any time, they are sentenced to death if I can catch them. Foxes, possums and skunks as well + rats. We live sort of out in the country so a .22 revolver can be used if necessary. Rats get the .22 magnum shot shells if they don't eat our bait first (another story on that).

We use a haveahart trap that works pretty well. First raccoon I caught recently looked pretty young so I took mercy on it and drove it up the mountain for several miles and turned it loose. Second one was older and more mature so I shot it in the trap. Didn't hit it accurately enough (buggers move too fast) and had to shoot it a few more times. Not pretty, suffered and got blood everywhere. I had to drown it. Third one was an adult and vicious. Went straight into the tank. No problem with that, they died much less horribly than our chickens did. The next one will get the same treatment...

Dan