Raccoons are wearing me out

[Loadstar]

Anybody else have a ridiculous amount of raccoons? I think last year I caught about thirty. Just started again this year and it is a raccoon a night. I guess they don't have many predators besides me. Think I'm going to start looking to buy marshmallows in bulk. People have expressions for the multiplication of rabbits I think raccoons surpass them 2 to 1.

 

[Western]

They are like moles, you can thin them out for a while, then they "re-supply"

Back when they brought $20-30 they started getting thinned out, now there not worth much more than a bullet.

 

[CalG]

I hear dogs can help/...

 

[dragoneggs]

I hear dogs can help/...

Agreed... when my dog was outside for the night... they stayed away. When she was in... they came up on the deck, climbed my railing and got up on the roof. They took that opportunity to crap up there before leaving before morning.

 

[Loadstar]

They are like moles, you can thin them out for a while, then they "re-supply"

Back when they brought $20-30 they started getting thinned out, now there not worth much more than a bullet.

They are hardly worth the bullet. I live trap and shoot them in the trap. I was using some bucket sets, buuut anything that touched it dies and I try to be more selective. Used fly bait for a bit too which really lays waste to them but I really don't like poison. They are so easy I can literally shoot one, tilt trap to dump it out, reset and rebait, and catch another one that night. They will walk right over dead ones just to hop in blood covered trap for a marshmallow.

 

[dmccarty]

After owning our place for 13 years, I saw a raccoon for the first time this year. I was cooling some wort aka beer to be, on the front porch and the coon was making a bee line right for the five gallon bucket. I guess he could smell the sweetness of the wort. I shooed him away and have not seen him sense.

We thought we would have lots of coons on our place but we don't seem too. I can only think that the coyotes and/or rabies keep the coon population down. I heard this morning that animal control in a nearby city was saying that they have a rabies epidemic right now. Lots of rabid raccoons.

Later,
Dan

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We seem to have a lot of them here too; one big fellow is raiding my birdfeeders and destroying them in the process, and some of my wife's tree decoratings (like the peek-a-boo monkey). He is pretty bold; I have seen him during the day a couple of times, once on the feeder. My little Boston Terrier chased him off; just glad she didn't catch him! They also raid my compost during the night; they like watermellon I found out. We are on an acreage, but taken in by the city a few years back, so shooting is probably out of the question. Guess I'll call animal control, maybe if I trap him, they will take him to a more hospitable place.

I have noticed a lot of road-kill racoons lately also. I don't know if they are prey for the coyotes, but I haven' seen a coyote in a long, long time, not even a road kill.

 

[Loadstar]

If you are seeing them you are probably not seeing another 30. I don't see them at all really day or night unless hunting hot spots. When the mulberries disappear they start wreaking havoc on chickens though. My wife really likes when the mulberries are on the trees. We walk around and drop them out with a flashlight and a 22. I don't mind opossums, foxes, and even skunks, but raccoons tear fence and chicken wire up bad. Night before last one died in a live trap of natural causes! It was only in there maybe six hours.