Critter Gettin' the Corn

[txdon]

I have given up on the corn because of the raccoons and the 5 ears for a dollar corn at the grocery store.

 

[MarkF48]

I have given up on the corn because of the raccoons and the 5 ears for a dollar corn at the grocery store.

I keep thinkin' that, but then Spring comes and I end up putting it in.

 

[MarkF48]

I got a somewhat blurry picture from my game camera that with what I can see of the critter it caught the picture, it looks possibly like a woodchuck. Whether it's this guy getting the corn I don't know, but he is highly suspect and I have seen one on the border a couple times that was going to get some lead, but disappeared by the time I got the 22 out.

 

[seymojo536]

Here's some suggestions.
1. Plant more than they can eat. Somewhere between 5 and 10 acres is the sweet spot.
2. Make a deal with the local hair salon/babershop and pick up all the trimings. Spread around the perimeter of your patch.
3. Drink plenty of the soda pop with the foam on top and after filtering it thru your kidneys deposit around the patch. Ask your buddies to help.
4. Join your local coon hunters association and have them run their dogs thru your patch starting about a week before the corn's ready. Continue until you're done with the corn. Them critters can't eat while they're running.
5. Run 3 strands of electric fence at 6", 12" and 18' all around patch. Put the hotest charger you can buy on it or direct wire to 440.
6. Buy 2 of every trap made and bait with marshmellows. We would cut the top off a 55 gal. drum and half bury it in the middle of our patch. Put a wood ramp up the outside so they can jump down in for the bait. Sardines work well here. Just punch a few holes in the can and throw it in. .22 for removal.
7. Fence in the patch and turn loose several redbones or blueticks to live there for the duration. Give them a small shed to sleep in during the day, cause they gonna be working all night.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Here's some suggestions.
1. Plant more than they can eat. Somewhere between 5 and 10 acres is the sweet spot.
2. Make a deal with the local hair salon/babershop and pick up all the trimings. Spread around the perimeter of your patch.
3. Drink plenty of the soda pop with the foam on top and after filtering it thru your kidneys deposit around the patch. Ask your buddies to help.
4. Join your local coon hunters association and have them run their dogs thru your patch starting about a week before the corn's ready. Continue until you're done with the corn. Them critters can't eat while they're running.
5. Run 3 strands of electric fence at 6", 12" and 18' all around patch. Put the hotest charger you can buy on it or direct wire to 440.
6. Buy 2 of every trap made and bait with marshmellows. We would cut the top off a 55 gal. drum and half bury it in the middle of our patch. Put a wood ramp up the outside so they can jump down in for the bait. Sardines work well here. Just punch a few holes in the can and throw it in. .22 for removal.
7. Fence in the patch and turn loose several redbones or blueticks to live there for the duration. Give them a small shed to sleep in during the day, cause they gonna be working all night.

I admittedly am not an electrician, but I would question using 440 direct for an electric fence. People sometimes have an affinity for "free" stuff, including produce. Although I have no way to know, I suspect that 440 might just be lethal.

 

[rocketfish]

It might be lethal to you and your buddy's??? Especially after suggestion number 3!!!! If ya get what I mean!?!?!? Ouch!!!

 

[dragoneggs]

It might be lethal to you and your buddy's??? Especially after suggestion number 3!!!! If ya get what I mean!?!?!? Ouch!!!

Nothing like frying your own cob! :shocked:

 

[Ed of all trades]

I have a neighbor that has a "shop" just down the hill from my garden. Not a real shop but a place he works and has some storage in old box truck beds. He keeps cat feed down there for his cats and the coons come every night to help themselves. Every coon in the country comes to eat cat food and is within 100 yards of our garden. We just gave up on trying to grow corn. I have killed a bunch of them but it don't seem to make much difference. We have a guy in our area that sells us corn for $5 for one of those green produce wholesale bags so we get 5 or 6 of them every year and put it in the freezer. Now if I can get the chipmunks to stop eating the green beans........
Ed

 

[oosik]

There is only one veggie that I ever grew in the garden that some "uninvited guest" didn't eat. Kohlrabi The deer always taste everything but nothing ever ate it.

 

[McREBEL]

A friend of mine had his 1 acre corn patch totally destroyed in one night by wild hogs. He said it looked like a tornado came threw the patch.