Need racoon and sweet corn advice.

[sixdogs]

Racoons have been in my sweet corn and it's starting be be an issue. My plan has been to go out at night with a bright light and a 12 ga. and take care of things, but I don't know enough about their habits. At 10, 11 and midnight they must be waiting me out and I can't find them. Maybe later?
I figure they are coming from the neighbor's place a mile away buy not sure. They do drag some corn in the opposite direction of the neighbor so unsure in that. There is no good housing/habitat immediately around my place but I live in a flat plains area surrounded by untold thousands of acres of grain corn and beans.
What time do you think they would be making the garden rounds?

 

[Donsyl]

I would get a live trap or two. Racoons love peanut butter.....use that as bait........used to have problems with them getting my chickens and caught them and replaced them in a better environment

 

[gauthier]

Heres how you deal with coons in your sweet corn patch,,,been growing corn for many years,have tried this and that,but this works,,,you pick your sweet corn before the coons eat it! About as soon as coons start eating your corn,it is ripe,you may need to let them have a few ears,but...

You freeze it,than you eat your corn,not the coons,,try it.

 

[simplemike]

Here is a trick a farmer buddy I work with uses , since I live in town and don't have these problems. He has tried lots of ways to outsmart the racoons like planting in the middle of his field corn, didn't work said they went in 12 rows through the field corn to get the sweet corn. Best results run an electric fence hot wire about a foot off the ground.


Mike

 

[gauthier]

Yeah,that can slow them down,but it won't stop them once that corns ripe.

 

[Bird]

At 10, 11 and midnight they must be waiting me out and I can't find them. Maybe later?

I don't know whether coons in different places keep different hours or not.:laughing: When I was a kid, my Dad's best friend raised, trained, and sold coon hounds, so I've gone hunting with him a few times and we never starting hunting until about midnight.

But in the late 90s, my brother's wife fed the coons in their backyard (she got 100 loaves of bread a week from the bakery thrift store) and they had a dozen or so coons show up every evening just before dark.

 

[whistlepig]

A bowl of dog food in the back yard with a light over it is the proven method around here.

 

[brucew44guns]

I have the live cage type trap, got the trap door on it. I pile up a bit of dry corn in front of the opening, put a metal pan with some corn in it at the back of the cage, and set it near where I see the worst damage. next morning I usually have a coon. After 4 or 5 are caught, the trouble all stops till I've ate whats left. They sure can wipe you out fast, but I imagine a few of them have wished they had stayed home after they came here.

 

[sixdogs]

A bowl of dog food in the back yard with a light over it is the proven method around here.

Ok, now we're talking turkey here.The idea is I stay inside and cozy and wait for them to show up. I like that. Maybe a baby monitor for the sound aspect?
Will they scatter when I open the door?

Over the years I have tried catch and release and I'm such a softie I re-locate spiders. But I fear the racoons will just keep coming and not get the hint. I don't have any big box traps and it seems like I could go through a lot of effort for a negative gain.

 

[whistlepig]

Ok, now we're talking turkey here.The idea is I stay inside and cozy and wait for them to show up. I like that. Maybe a baby monitor for the sound aspect?
Will they scatter when I open the door?

Over the years I have tried catch and release and I'm such a softie I re-locate spiders. But I fear the racoons will just keep coming and not get the hint. I don't have any big box traps and it seems like I could go through a lot of effort for a negative gain.

Raccoons and skunks are shot on sight around here. I love animals myself and moved to the country to be closer to them but skunks and raccoons are way out of balance.

Skunks:
Dig under my foundations in my house and barn.
Spray my house dogs at least twice each year.
In the spring they dig up all the baby cottontail rabbits in my yard out of the nest and eat them.

Racoons:
All containers, garbage, horse feed, cat feed, dog feed, have to have the lids fastened down with bungee cords. Only enough cat food set out that the barn cats can eat in a few minutes.

And these days I am seeing a lot of diseased raccoons.

The dog bowl and light are in my back yard.