Are you smarter than the average racoon?

Tig · Mar 26, 2009

Chain the lids to the wire crate. Put the clip or lock on the wire crate down low. Hopefully it will be away from their focus.
I've watched raccoons in action. They know their way around. You have to give them a new puzzle to figure out. It's a game, think of it like the Olympics and right now you are getting the silver medal.

Tim Stuart · Mar 26, 2009

Doug, I had the same issue at my place down in Dayton on FM1409. I final built a nice dumpster out of plywood and vinal siding trimmed it to match my house. I set the dumpster just on my side of the ditch and when the garbage man came he would flip the lid up and get the garbage out. The only thing about it he would leave the lid up when he was done. The dumpster was 4'x6'

two_bit_score · Mar 26, 2009

You just need a good trap. Trap 'em and 'dispose' of them.

Thumper & Buttercup · Mar 26, 2009

The year we declared war on the Raccoons here, we cheated a bit. We took a pile of sunflower seeds, put them at a base of a tree. The took one of those lights with the sensors, but no light bulbs, this light had a inside sensor that would turn on anything that was plugged into it.

So we had a light that told us that anything was there, come running around the house with a flashlight and a shotgun, the first think the raccoon does is run up the tree. We killed 67 of them that month. They had come in and destroyed our corn crop (150'x300') in one night, now we know why.

One night we got about 11 up the tree at once.

Highbeam · Mar 26, 2009

That poor tree was full of lead after 67 kills. The neighbors must have loved you. Even distant neighbors can hear that.

Great thinking!

Thumper & Buttercup · Mar 26, 2009

Out here on our farm it's every farmer for each other, all nasty things are a target, the more we get the better for all

. One night I think I had the whole family up there, hollered for the wife to get another light, it took about 30 min to get them all.

I had a real smart one, took a couple weeks to get him, he would run, one night I go to the north and start running not turning on the light until I was about 15' from the tree, I hear something and swing the light behind me, saw the raggedest skunk going the other way, we had run right by each other in the dark, I let him get about 40' from the house then let him have it. Wife was laughing when I told her how close I came to getting it.

Redbug · Mar 26, 2009

I had a coon for a pet at one time. He was smarter, (different kind of intelligence), than the dog or cat, and with those hands could get into just about anything. His favorite game was to run inside a grocery bag. I would crumple it up and throw it on the bed. He would come blasting out, (squealing all the time), run around, go back into the bag to be tossed again, and again. He grew up and started getting mean, so I turned him loose out on a farm...errrr...the woods.

We hunt them down here, and they are pretty good eating, too. I try not to think of Rocky when I pull the trigger.

Scooby074 · Mar 26, 2009

For those that may be interested in the straps i put on my cans to keep out the raccoons heres a link

Home Hardware Product Details

Im sure you could make a similar one using a belt or a replacement luggage strap from the dollar store instead of paying $8.00 for one. They do work though.