Racoon problem.

[Nulik]

I was informed by a neighbor this evening that I have some racoons camped out in my backyard that have attacked a few pets in the area. I called animal control but they don't do anything about racoons and I've got a very young child in the house I don't want getting near them.

Is there any good way to trap them and get rid of them?

 

[Texpatriate]

One of those Have-a-Heart traps and a .22? There, now its gun related. My parents live out in the sticks and the coons come and steal dog food off of their back porch at night, so I always thought that they could put the dog bowl into one of those kind of traps to catch them in the act. Never actually done it, but that's the best idea I've come up with.

 

[lions]

+1 on the live trap. From my experience they like apples, dog food, tuna, and peanut butter. Another +1 for the .22. You can take them out in the country and let them go but they have a habit of coming back, this is where the .22 comes in. Happy hunting!

 

[Nulik]

I figured someone would make it gun related

I've got a .22 but I'm in a fairly urban area so I was thinking more along the lines of a shotgun. All I've got is #4 shot though, would that be humane enough?

[Edit]

Crap, they like friut? I've got three fruit trees they seem to be nesting in :/

 

[Zip7]

I catch them all the time - we are overrun with them and possums. Same method works for both...

I use a live trap of a size and design similar to this: http://www.kness.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=28

Although mine is a cheaper version of it. For raccoon you need one about that size though. it will work for opossum as well.

Every time I see one around, I set the trap out, and rarely come up empty.

A few tips... I always leave the trap outside, and it gets dirty and rusty, but it doesn't get human smells on it.

Every time I use it, I lube the moving parts with vegetable oil. and set it for a "hair trigger"

For bait I use either an ear of feed corn, or a partly peeled sweet potato or regular potato - use a zip tie to tie it to the back of the trap pan, where they HAVE to step on the pan to get at it. Once it's tied in, smear it all over with peanut butter. Tie it in the center of the pan toward the rear so that a coon can't reach in from the sides and get a handful of peanut butter - that's what they want. I've never really tried other baits, because peanut butter smeared on something works every time.

Try to set your trap in such a way that there are obstacles on the sides - to discourage the critter from coming up on the sides of it and trying to reach in. You want the easiest route to the bait to be through the front door. A narrow ditch is a great place, because it limits access from the sides and funnels them through the door.

Some traps like this have a release door on the back (opposite where the critter comes in). If you buy one, I would look for that feature, because it makes it much easier to bait. Mine doesn't have it, and it's a PITA to tie the bait in reaching in through the front door.

When you catch one, he won't be very happy or friendly, but if you take him somewhere far away and turn him loose, he won't come after you or anything. You may have to shoosh him out of the cage, but once they realize they are free, they haul butt away from you as fast as possible.

I don't really relocate mine... I have two cur dogs that I hunt with - they tree squirrel and coon, so when I catch a coon, I just take him a hundred yards out in the woods and turn him loose and set the dogs after him. After he's been through that he'll be more wary of my place. Coons that live in town can get pretty bold, but my two curs keep 'em honest around my neighborhood.

 

[Haemon]

I'm kind of surprised your animal control won't help. You could see if they would at least lend you a live trap. They seem to work well on the raccoons we have around here. They love kibble. If you manage to catch one, handle with care -- leather gloves won't do much to protect you from a bite, and they can carry some nasty diseases.

 

[ColinthePilot]

If you manage to catch one, handle with care -- leather gloves won't do much to protect you from a bite, and they can carry some nasty diseases.

Thats one reason why .22LR would be my solution of choice. Maybe subsonic ammo. Worked pretty well when my friend's trashcans were getting knocked over. Ironically, we threw the coons' carcases into the trashcans they were eating out of.

Possums in San Antonio are starting to go urban during daylight. I saw one at La Cantera running around the back of the Kona Grill a week ago. I mentioned to my date that it was the first time I had ever seen a possum both during daylight and without a "thump thump" shortly after the sighting. And I got a second date even after that remark.

 

[GigaBuist]

How are the 'coons mucking with somebody's pets? Are these people leaving small dogs out in the yard at night or something? Outdoor cats? They should take the animals in if they're concerned with their ability to deal with the natural wildlife.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the 'coons unless they're active during the day. That'd be a good sign of rabies.

All that aside:

I've got a .22 but I'm in a fairly urban area so I was thinking more along the lines of a shotgun. All I've got is #4 shot though, would that be humane enough?

I don't hunt but from what I gather #4 is adequate for small critters. It's still going to be loud though. You might want to pick up some CCI CB Longs. They're a 29 grain .22 Long with very little powder charge. Box says they come out around 710fps. They're subsonic and are about as silent as you can get. The impact of the bullet into plywood makes more noise than the gun actually firing. When I bought them I told the shop owner, who's more of a hunter than a shooter type, that I was snagging them for low-noise groundhog control at my parent's place. He piped up that a lot of guys use them for raccoons at night so they don't wake up the neighbors. So, there's an option for you.

 

[Ifishsum]

I've shot two in my backyard - both were wandering around in mid day and acting strangely. One with a high powered pellet gun between the eyes, the other with a .22 Super Colibri round. The Colibri shot from a rifle is actually quieter than my pellet gun.

 

[Nulik]

I'm not sure how they got at the pets but I'm in a pretty urban area so from what I gather the pets were in the back yard in one case and the racoons got at them there. The one that caused my neighbor to come knocking was that her dog and the racoons had some sort of issue while she was walking it.

I wasn't so much concerned with noise as I was with a .22 continuing on if it went through the racoon. If they're on the slow side though that shouldn't be too much of a concern.

 

[bensdad]

Jeez, last time I posted an answer to an animal control problem we had a billion page heated debate about ethics. Oh well, here goes.

I don't know how "urban" your area is, but if it's just too urban for the discharge of a firearm you can fill a garbage can with water and plunk the livetrap right in. My dad does is all the time with every kind of critter that fits in a live trap (possum, skunk, coon, cat, gray squirrel).

 

[TxState101]

.410 works best, I've found.

Had some up at my grandma's, watched where they came out of hiding at night, sat on the back porch one evening, saw them coming out, dropped one and didn't get the other one. But the .410 worked well enough.

 

[Zip7]

unless they're active during the day. That'd be a good sign of rabies.

both were wandering around in mid day and acting strangely

That's most likely dysentery. Coons go through population cycles - since nobody traps for fur anymore, their only predators are gators. So they get overpopulated, and then die off from dysentery. This causes them to wander around during the day acting strangely.

The big fat coons we have around here are so tough CB longs bounce off of them, so I'd suggest something more lethal. I have shot many a coon out of a tree with standard .22 ammo, and very few of them come out completely dead. So CBs aren't enough. I shot a possum about ten times with CBs and he still tried to wander off. So I don't shoot at critters larger than squirrels with those anymore.

 

[Bartkowski]

I would use a live trap baited with apples and then shoot it with a .22. I have had better luck by spraying apple juice around the area and on the trap.

 

[KiltedClaymore]

Well, if the sucker is still alive when he hits the ground, guve him the bayonett.

 

[TxState101]

My mistake when I shot the one at up my grandma's was I shot one, and it stopped midway up a tree, where I reloaded and shot him again, rather than shooting the other one on the ground. The one in the tree wasn't going anywhere. Still glad to have bagged one though. Less raccoon turds on the dock.

 

[Mauserguy]

The other night I was at the folks when the back yard apricot tree began to shake. I got a flashlight and darn it, there was a dog sized coon up there shaking the tree to scare us. Actually, he was kind of cute. We let him eat his fruit.
Mauserguy

 

[bensdad]

Quote:
unless they're active during the day. That'd be a good sign of rabies.

Quote:
both were wandering around in mid day and acting strangely

That's most likely dysentery.

Are you sure it's not distemper?

 

[KiltedClaymore]

either way, shoot 'em

 

[physics]

Hold an apple out with one hand, while holding a nice long section of 2x2 behind your back. When the raccoon comes to take the apple, hit it hard on the nose with the 2x2, and it will die. Not exactly the most humane death in the world, but cheap and effective. Kill one, and the rest should go away, that was my experience.

 

[Big45]

Try napalm.

 

[1911Tuner]

Raccoons are cute, and very entertaining when they're playing...especially the little ones....BUT...Ol' Ringtail can be pretty nasty in a face-to-face encounter. Best avoided if at all possible. In numbers, they can be quite the nuisance.

If they're active during the day...something's wrong. Rabies or Distemper, with the early stages of Rabies the most likely candidate. Like bats flying during daylight hours...get away! Ditto if a Raccoon sees you and moves toward you...or doesn't run from you. Run!

Healthy Raccoons won't usually initiate an attack on a dog unless there's a perceived threat against their young. They're not lookin' for a fight.

Remove any possible food sources. Garbage cans are 'Coon smorgasboards. If they can't be secured inside a garage or building, a little ammonia around the lids and inside is a good deterrent. Their noses are as sensitive as a dog's, and it won't take'em long to learn that this isn't a very good "all-you-can-eat" food bar. Moth balls in the cans is also a good way to discourage unwanted dinner guests.


Automatic dog feeders also draw the little bandits' attention. Likewise leaving cat food out on the deck at night. They love cat food.

Good luck. I've had problems with the critters a couple times, and I know how stubborn they can be. Removing delightful aromas is the best way to give'em incentive to hunt elsewhere for their midnight snack.

 

[doc2rn]

Two words people "Lion...Dung", get yourselves some lion dung from the local zoo and sprinkle it around your property. The varmints will leave you alone and bother your neighbors.

 

[txgho1911]

Coon unlike Possum seem to attract rabies like sink on some coon food.
For the different bugs around any daylight observation of coons or contact is bad. Urban coons are sick in the head already and need to be destroyed. Even Chicago has found wildlife trying to over run sandwich shops.

 

[loneviking]

Well, coons do get sick fairly easy. They are prone to rabies, distemper and a parasite that goes to their brain and really makes them crazy. The last one I shot went after my Great Pyrenees in his dog box one bitterly cold night. A 12 gauge with 00 buck was the wrong load as the coon was so small only about three pellets got him. I'd go with #2's or #4's out of a 12 gauge as that's a dense enough pattern to catch him. This guy weighed in at 35 pounds and I doubt a 22 would put him down.