TZ
Critters are a definite issue out in the country but there's alot you can do to prevent problems.
1. outside pets have to have free choice of water, but only feed them twice a day and only as much as they need to stay healthy/will eat right away.
Having a bowl of food and water out there is an open invitation.
2. Keep things reasonably cleaned up. Your yard doesn't have to look like a putting green by any means. Try to avoid piles of junk/brush and possible nesting places though. If you have more land than you want to maintain as a "yard" IE mowing regularly, make sure it gets mowed once or twice a year. There's usually someone in the neighborhood with a brush hog under these circumstances that will help you out if you prove to be a decent neighbor.
3. Keep the house/buildings in good repair and trees trimmed away from them. Old timber framed barns are a favorite for critters, its almost impossible to get one sealed up tight enough to keep them out but you can keep the inside cleaned up so they don't have a lot of places to nest or find food.
Make sure all the vents into your attic etc. have good screens over them and things like that for the house.
Its all pretty much common sense. Don't provide them with food or a nicer place to stay than the hollow trees they're used to and you won't have much trouble.
I raise a garden in the summer, and have found that the only way to keep racoons out of my sweetcorn is to set a trap for them regularly(also keeps them out of the haymow, we raise horses). We have alot of neighbors that just moved out here and don't practice any of the stuff above, so there are lots of critters in the area. I got 16 racoons and one possum last summer alone. Shot them all. At least here, its a misdemeanor (lesser degree, carries a fine) to release what are considered pest animals (coyote, racoon, skunk, possum, groundhog etc.) on ANY property but the property they were trapped on. Releasing them right where they were caught is pretty much recycling, so there aren't alot of other options. I think its a good law personally. It really would piss me off to catch someone dumping off a coon they trapped, in my backyard dumping THEIR problem off on ME. And theres always the issue of spreading disease to different areas by moving animals. Don't be suckered into paying some con artist $25 to come euthanize something you caught either. Taking care of it yourself isn't really pleasant (unless your really needing some revenge, like the time racoons knocked down and destroyed 8 rows of corn in my garden in ONE NIGHT) But if you do your part, you can make it humane. And chances are the sight of the animal dying won't bother you much after you've seen it a time or two and realize thats just how it goes and what to expect.
Critters are a definite issue out in the country but there's alot you can do to prevent problems.
1. outside pets have to have free choice of water, but only feed them twice a day and only as much as they need to stay healthy/will eat right away.
Having a bowl of food and water out there is an open invitation.
2. Keep things reasonably cleaned up. Your yard doesn't have to look like a putting green by any means. Try to avoid piles of junk/brush and possible nesting places though. If you have more land than you want to maintain as a "yard" IE mowing regularly, make sure it gets mowed once or twice a year. There's usually someone in the neighborhood with a brush hog under these circumstances that will help you out if you prove to be a decent neighbor.
3. Keep the house/buildings in good repair and trees trimmed away from them. Old timber framed barns are a favorite for critters, its almost impossible to get one sealed up tight enough to keep them out but you can keep the inside cleaned up so they don't have a lot of places to nest or find food.
Make sure all the vents into your attic etc. have good screens over them and things like that for the house.
Its all pretty much common sense. Don't provide them with food or a nicer place to stay than the hollow trees they're used to and you won't have much trouble.
I raise a garden in the summer, and have found that the only way to keep racoons out of my sweetcorn is to set a trap for them regularly(also keeps them out of the haymow, we raise horses). We have alot of neighbors that just moved out here and don't practice any of the stuff above, so there are lots of critters in the area. I got 16 racoons and one possum last summer alone. Shot them all. At least here, its a misdemeanor (lesser degree, carries a fine) to release what are considered pest animals (coyote, racoon, skunk, possum, groundhog etc.) on ANY property but the property they were trapped on. Releasing them right where they were caught is pretty much recycling, so there aren't alot of other options. I think its a good law personally. It really would piss me off to catch someone dumping off a coon they trapped, in my backyard dumping THEIR problem off on ME. And theres always the issue of spreading disease to different areas by moving animals. Don't be suckered into paying some con artist $25 to come euthanize something you caught either. Taking care of it yourself isn't really pleasant (unless your really needing some revenge, like the time racoons knocked down and destroyed 8 rows of corn in my garden in ONE NIGHT) But if you do your part, you can make it humane. And chances are the sight of the animal dying won't bother you much after you've seen it a time or two and realize thats just how it goes and what to expect.
Or heck, even one of those crossbow pistol things? You can get those for $15 plus shipping and they seem like they'd hurt pretty darn good.
