Moving a young raccoon

[dodge man]

So the groundhog crying thing, yeah or nay?

It been several years ago I shot a skunk. It must of been a mother because there were some babies that started crying so I shot the babies. I felt a little bad about that but not much.

 

[ponytug]

No, it was the pallets crying...!

 

[5030]

Like when I was vacuuming up ladybugs? There's a valve in the cleaner bag so I didn't think anything of it. I went back an hour later and they were crawling all over the hose.

Reminds me of the time when I had a yellow jacket infestation. They got in in a crack between the window frame and the brick (I live in a brick ranch) and there was a pile of them going in and out and being too cheap to hire an exterminator, I came up with a novel idea...

Waited until dark (they cannot see at night so they all stay in their nest, I set a step ladder up next to the window and affixed the nozzle of my shop vac right where they were going in and out and next morning I fired up the sop vac. I had removed the bag and put a couple inches of water and dish soap in the bottom and soon as I started the vac, they started coming out... in droves but the vac overcame them and they went into the vac. Went on all day and come evening I saw no more so I opened the vac and lo and behold, I had thousands of jackets in the bottom all drowned. Emptied the vac out by the creek and called it good. Worked like a charm. They all got sucked out..

As an aside, I have no issue with killing vermin or game animals for that matter. I hunt every year and I enjoy eating wild game, especially game I've shot myself. Freezer always has processed wild game in it be it bear or elk or deer (mule or white tail). Don't matter. I'd rather eat wild game than commercially processed meat any day.

I'm a charter member of PETA... People Eating Tasty Animals...

Besides, up here in Michigan, every white tail that is harvested is one less that winds up on someone's bumper or through their windshield. I'm all about reducing the deer population, especially if they wind up for dinner.

Don't have to be a firearm either. I have a 10 point x bow that works quite well as well.

Summertime is fishing time, fall and winter and early spring is game animal time.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, the closer you get to raccoons, the less cute they begin to appear. If you have ever trapped a large boar raccoon in a cage and go to pick it up, you honestly begin to fear for your own safety. The growl they emit sounds like a mountain lion.

And they can back it up... A groundhog can slice up a dog in a fight.

A large raccoon is looking to eat the darned dog after the fight...

They are omnivores - if you have a garden or orchard (as I do), they can do tremendous damage in one night. Those peaches you spent all year spraying...gone, except for the pits at the base of the tree... Bread, fruit, corn, eggs, chicken...well, you get the idea. Thank the Lord they aren't bigger or they would be out in the fields at night with our beef and a bottle of A1 sauce.

To put it in perspective, my lovely wife is the kindest person you might meet. But...after a large amount of glassware she had was absolutely destroyed by a raccoon sow and her kits in a storage building on the farm, I captured the offender in a cage and placed it on the tailgate of my truck. As she passed the shop, I pointed to the raccoon and gave the thumbs up or thumbs down sign to her. Without hesitation, she turned her thumb down.

Lessons learned...first, raccoons do tremendous damage. Secondly, never piss off a quiet woman.

A mountain lion?

 

[5030]

Look at the cutters on a ground hog sometime and then decide if you want to play nice... I don't. I drill 'em. I've sent a load of them to the 'promise land' in the past, coons and possoms as well. My 17 don't discriminate, neither does my 22-250.

Skunks are a different story. They aren't aggressive and candidly, I'd love to have one for a house pet (debagged of course). Could you imagine walking down a street with a skunk on a leash....lol

 

[Hay Dude]

My father had a lifelong war with woodchucks; which got a little tougher when the city expanded it's no shoot zone. After he passed away in 2017 I told my mother "let's not worry about them. You don't have a garden and they really aren't bothering anything.
It's amazing how many there are on the property now. The entrance to one den is under the garden shed; one year there were 3 babies and when I mowed the lawn they would all come out and watch.

I just dug barco-lounger size boulders out of one of my hay fields. Ground hogs like to dig their dens next to them.
While extracting a large boulder, a ground hog came up with it.
It looked a little shocked, but it did NOT cry. lol

 

[MMC]

A mountain lion?

If you've heard both, Yes... A bit more bass with a puma, but a 35# coon sings the same song...

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

 

[Hay Dude]

We got some big ol fat raccoons here, too. Most they ever seem to do here is “hiss”.
Never seen one growl like a mountain lion though.

Some poor boy died from a raccoon attack-rabies in VA

Rabies death from raccoon reported

www.nbcnews.com

 

[ponytug]

We got some big ol fat raccoons here, too. Most they ever seem to do here is “hiss”.
Never seen one growl like a mountain lion though.

Some poor boy died from a raccoon attack-rabies in VA

Rabies death from raccoon reported

www.nbcnews.com

You are a lucky man. I've had more than a few growl and go "ape sh--", and I wasn't doing anything but walking by. And yea, a mountain lion is a fair description in my mind.

All the best, Peter

 

[Hay Dude]

You are a lucky man. I've had more than a few growl and go "ape sh--", and I wasn't doing anything but walking by. And yea, a mountain lion is a fair description in my mind.

All the best, Peter

Hate the damn things. Ground hogs up high on the list, too.

 

[drssg]

Look at the cutters on a ground hog sometime and then decide if you want to play nice... I don't. I drill 'em. I've sent a load of them to the 'promise land' in the past, coons and possoms as well. My 17 don't discriminate, neither does my 22-250.

Skunks are a different story. They aren't aggressive and candidly, I'd love to have one for a house pet (debagged of course). Could you imagine walking down a street with a skunk on a leash....lol

That's funny. I'm just the opposite.

I have never shot a groundhog at my place, but I've killed several skunks that tried to make their home in my barn. They want to live in the pallets under my hay, and I get visions of my hay supply getting contaminated by skunk spray. I tried relocating one to a far corner of my property once, but it was back in the barn a couple of days later.

I have never seen a racoon act aggressive, unless it's stuck in a box trap.

 

[mllud]

My friend and I were taught a lesson as kids.
There was a big racoon curled up on a shelf in his Gramp's cellar. We poked at it with a broom handle until it came out on hind legs hissing and growling with front paws raised and swiping at us.
We turned tail up the steps and ran. Two 9- or 10-year-old boys were lucky. A lesson of respect!

They are vicious critters!

 

[CalG]

 

[MMC]

Hate the damn things. Ground hogs up high on the list, too.

Well, I'm going to stand by my description of large, aggressive coons. Most are smaller and quieter, but I can assure you some are ready to fight and do not hiss like an opossum - if you have coon hunters around ask them...

But...you bring up another nemesis of mine - groundhogs. I have killed hundreds of them in my lifetime. To no avail...

True story...I have a separate mower shop at the farm from the main shop. I started in this building which had a dirt floor (which is honestly a great surface to work off of, hardened and soaked with oil and grease). Unless you have groundhogs. They continually undermined the shop floor (forget trying to put a jack down - you never knew when it would fall through into a groundhog run). A never ending fight.

I finally spent a lot of money on a monolithic concrete and rebar pour to simply stop the darn things from attacking the shop floor. And I did the pour and finish myself with a guy that worked with me. Still cost a lot. And...wait for it, I still trap and kill 3 or 4 from underneath that slab each year (in addition to the others that attack other buildings on the farm...). Jeez... But at least with 6-7 inches of concrete, they don't come inside (yet).

Hate them - have studied them (like Sun Tzu offered...know your enemy). Their runs go forever and are used over and over.

And I have also heard them squeal if shot placement is not spot on. Best way to get them is with a Conibear trap, but it is definitely a kill trap and is dangerous to pets and anything or anyone who messes with it.

But there is some satisfaction in finally dispatching one of them. They are simply bad news for foundations, cattle, horses, and even small tractors at speed.

Now, did I mention I really don't like groundhogs...

 

[usmron]

Been by myself the last two weeks while the wife is visiting her mom.

Last couple of weeks, found out we have a young raccoon moving from tree to tree in front of the home at night or early morning when I take the dogs out for the first and last time of the day.

Guy is maybe 1.5 times the size of my cat. Not full size, but not small by any means. When I first caught his eyes with the flashlight the other week, at first I thought it might be a possum until I got closer and could tell by the tail it wasn't a possum pretty quick.

Last 14 days I've seen him perhaps 6 times early morning or after hours at night.

Game plan is put the live trap out at night in the front yard, put some cat food in it (make sure I bring the cat in for the night LOL). Check trap around 04:30, and if I catch him, load him in the truck bed and take him for a drive out back where there are some nice gullies that are forested that go down to the creek. Of course leave the trap open for him to get out, come back and pick up the trap.

Only used the trap in the past for dogs and cats for the local humane society. Had to put a couple rabid skunks down, but never had to move any wildlife.

For those who have done this before, assuming my game plan is sound? Figuring it's not rocket science.

I had traps out to cat squirrels. Caught possums and cats and coons. I carried the coon out pass the city limits and set it free. I kept catching coons all the time. Saw a wildlife officer that I knew and told him about catching the coons and said I didn't know there was that many in town. He said how far did i carry it to release it, and I said about two miles. He said there is your problem if not taken more than five miles they will return to there home. He said I was probably catching the same coon. To test what he said, the next coon I caught I sprayed orange paint used to mark utility lines. Three days later I had another coon in the trap and yes it did have the orange paint i put on his back. End of story.

 

[CalG]

Well, I'm going to stand by my description of large, aggressive coons. Most are smaller and quieter, but I can assure you some are ready to fight and do not hiss like an opossum - if you have coon hunters around ask them...

But...you bring up another nemesis of mine - groundhogs. I have killed hundreds of them in my lifetime. To no avail...

True story...I have a separate mower shop at the farm from the main shop. I started in this building which had a dirt floor (which is honestly a great surface to work off of, hardened and soaked with oil and grease). Unless you have groundhogs. They continually undermined the shop floor (forget trying to put a jack down - you never knew when it would fall through into a groundhog run). A never ending fight.

I finally spent a lot of money on a monolithic concrete and rebar pour to simply stop the darn things from attacking the shop floor. And I did the pour and finish myself with a guy that worked with me. Still cost a lot. And...wait for it, I still trap and kill 3 or 4 from underneath that slab each year (in addition to the others that attack other buildings on the farm...). Jeez... But at least with 6-7 inches of concrete, they don't come inside (yet).

Hate them - have studied them (like Sun Tzu offered...know your enemy). Their runs go forever and are used over and over.

And I have also heard them squeal if shot placement is not spot on. Best way to get them is with a Conibear trap, but it is definitely a kill trap and is dangerous to pets and anything or anyone who messes with it.

But there is some satisfaction in finally dispatching one of them. They are simply bad news for foundations, cattle, horses, and even small tractors at speed.

Now, did I mention I really don't like groundhogs...

A couple years back, a pair of chucks took up residence under the fuel wood log pile.
It took two shots (one each, on different evenings) to put those chucks away.
I used the Evanix AR-6 air rifle in .22 caliber from an upstairs window.

Damn Straight!

 

[MMC]

A couple years back, a pair of chucks took up residence under the fuel wood log pile.
It took two shots (one each, on different evenings) to put those chucks away.
I used the Evanix AR-6 air rifle in .22 caliber from an upstairs window.

Damn Straight!

That's an excellent way to get a shot. Groundhogs are shy and cautious, but not as much from above. I would think they would watch for hawks, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have had good luck doing exactly what you have done.

 

[Jstpssng]

I had one chuck appear who seemed unafraid of me. One day i was in my tractor and drove right up to him. I then dropped the bucket and chased him across the field. I never saw him again.
Since I stopped raising chickens the predators seen to have gone away.
Last year I shot a chuck and left him where he lay. A few days later I had to bury him because he was beginning to stink.

Fox were a double edged sword. Once in a while they might get a chicken, but in fall when I'm putting the mouse guards on my fruit trees I like seeing where they've been out mousing.

 

[Hay Dude]

I had one chuck appear who seemed unafraid of me. One day i was in my tractor and drove right up to him. I then dropped the bucket and chased him across the field. I never saw him again.
Since I stopped raising chickens the predators seen to have gone away.
Last year I shot a chuck and left him where he lay. A few days later I had to bury him because he was beginning to stink.

Fox were a double edged sword. Once in a while they might get a chicken, but in fall when I'm putting the mouse guards on my fruit trees I like seeing where they've been out mousing.

Believe it or not, they will charge people. We were under a tractor doing some repairs and one ran about 25’ from its den and bit the steel toe of helpers work boot. Carved a gouge in the leather surrounding the steel toe!
Another buddy was just driving up with a .380 and shot at the miserable thing. I’m guessing it was rabid?