Raccoon War

[4570Man]

The problem with the bucket trap is that it isn't very forgiving; how would you feel if your dog accidently got into it? At least you can release nontarget animals from a foothold trap.

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Not really. Anything caught in my foothold trap gets shot.

 

[goeduck]

We have coyotes, therefore no rabbits, coons, fox, and hardly any pheasants.
I would rather NOT feed the d*#m coyotes anything but lead.
And Gators??? I think I'd prefer the coons!

From what I read I would MUCH prefer coons over gators as the lesser of two evils. Glad not to be in gator country.

Wolverines have moved into our state, now there is an animal to worry about. Anything that a grizzly has to respect is something to think twice about. They are not in in the area of any of my properties but it would not surprise me that they get introduced.

 

[/pine]

From what I read I would MUCH prefer coons over gators as the lesser of two evils. Glad not to be in gator country.

since it's not a life or death thread (except for unfortunate coons...!)...I will relate a personal, true experience...

My property in FL is in one of the most densely populated in the state...and even though it is within a quarter mile from the Gulf of Mexico...it is in an out of the mainstream traffic location ( no through traffic lanes within over half a mile) it is within a couple hundred feet of a natural spring that has historical significance for native tribes that used the same area over many centuries...

At any rate...one summer while I was developing the property in GA...I got a letter from the power company stating that they could/would not read my meter because there was a gator living under the corner of the house and it was threatening to the meter reader...
I called my neighbor and he had the state guys come in and capture and remove a 5' gator...
Later that fall when I was back down there and investigating...there was a huge wallow pit under that corner of the house and there where dozens and dozens of cat, possum, coon etc. skulls scattered around the pit...investigating, I learned that alligators regurgitate skulls of larger prey...

 

[CajunRider]

From what I read I would MUCH prefer coons over gators as the lesser of two evils. Glad not to be in gator country.

Wolverines have moved into our state, now there is an animal to worry about. Anything that a grizzly has to respect is something to think twice about. They are not in in the area of any of my properties but it would not surprise me that they get introduced.

The gators stay in my pond but are generally shy and scared of people until they get to be around 8 ft or so. That's when they will be taken care of legally. Other than that, they stay out of the way and are harmless to me. Now when I have grandchildren, I will be more aggressive in controlling the gators. The coons are nasty. They leave scats on my deck and porch and tore apart my trash bags.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Our 100 lb. Lab died a year ago. He kept the wild animal situation under control. But since then the critters have learned he's gone and they are doing a happy dance. Have seriously thought about getting a German Shepherd but neighbor has chickens.

Our neighbor has chickens too. Several years ago we put in an invisible fence and both dogs have collars. It's worked great for us. Burying it in the woods was the hardest part but it was well worth it. I'd like to expand it someday. Sorry for going a little off topic but that's how we keep the critters at bay.

Kevin

 

[rekees4300]

I never said tbat you did; yet do you really think tbat it was OK to dump your problems on someone else? Several others agreed with me, and I was not the only one who made that comment.

Sorry for the flippant comment re Maine. No it's not OK to dump my problems on someone else. Agree with you and the others so decided to stop relocating. :thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

The gators stay in my pond but are generally shy and scared of people until they get to be around 8 ft or so. That's when they will be taken care of legally. Other than that, they stay out of the way and are harmless to me. Now when I have grandchildren, I will be more aggressive in controlling the gators. The coons are nasty. They leave scats on my deck and porch and tore apart my trash bags.

Yep, much rather have gators than coons. Never had to clean up a pool full of gator scat. As a kid, I used to swim in a lake that had large gators but we never had a problem. The only time I got a bit nervous was one evening a thunderstorm came in and blew our boat off the beach so we had to go swimming to get the boat back. Twas getting a bit dark so not a time to be swimming.

Later,
Dan

 

[PhysAssist]

I致e shot plenty of rabbits with my 22 caliber pellet gun and they usually just flop over. I致e tried shooting groundhogs with it and after 2 attempts of not a quick death I decided it was inadequate for the job and now use a 22lr minimum. I prefer a shotgun though. We don稚 have a raccoon problem so I致e never shot one but I壇 assume they?*e about the same as a ground hog.

When I shot the raccoon, it had just appeared around dusk in October, and was sitting on the dock of our pond shaking and drooling, so I knew it was diseased, and I had only a narrow time window to do something about it.

As I said previously, we tried calling both Animal Control and The Co. Sheriff's office, but neither showed any sign of responding.

So using the only tool I had available, [Crosman American Classic 766] and maximizing its utility [using lead pellets instead of BB's; and over-pumping the air chamber to 11 or 12 pumps] I got close enough to be sure of hitting it hard [with a large mature double-trunk tree between me and it] and shot it several times square into the front of its head, even though it fell over and stopped moving [except for postmortem twitches] after the first one.

If I had access to something more capable, I dang sure would've used it, and if I hadn't had the pellet-gun, I'd have used rocks if necessary.

 

[PhysAssist]

Quote Originally Posted by CajunRider
The gators stay in my pond but are generally shy and scared of people until they get to be around 8 ft or so. That's when they will be taken care of legally. Other than that, they stay out of the way and are harmless to me. Now when I have grandchildren, I will be more aggressive in controlling the gators. The coons are nasty. They leave scats on my deck and porch and tore apart my trash bags.

Yep, much rather have gators than coons. Never had to clean up a pool full of gator scat. As a kid, I used to swim in a lake that had large gators but we never had a problem. The only time I got a bit nervous was one evening a thunderstorm came in and blew our boat off the beach so we had to go swimming to get the boat back. Twas getting a bit dark so not a time to be swimming.

Later,
Dan

I would tend to agree- I'd love some gators in my pond to keep the heron and kingfisher at bay a little.

Never had any [living in NYS], but my understanding is that as long as you don't feed them, they're pretty much good neighbors- until [as CR said] they get mature- then they're more terror-torial and protective of their young too...

 

[CajunRider]

Quote Originally Posted by CajunRider
The gators stay in my pond but are generally shy and scared of people until they get to be around 8 ft or so. That's when they will be taken care of legally. Other than that, they stay out of the way and are harmless to me. Now when I have grandchildren, I will be more aggressive in controlling the gators. The coons are nasty. They leave scats on my deck and porch and tore apart my trash bags.



I would tend to agree- I'd love some gators in my pond to keep the heron and kingfisher at bay a little.

Never had any [living in NYS], but my understanding is that as long as you don't feed them, they're pretty much good neighbors- until [as CR said] they get mature- then they're more terror-torial and protective of their young too...

Down here, I'm most appreciative of them keeping the cormorants, nutrias, and turtles away from my pond. Watching a gator eating a turtle is quite something.