patrickg
Veteran Member
Hillbilly, Why do you say 'coons are dirty because of what they eat? Gee, they even wash some of what they eat, don't they? Grin grin, wink wink.
I have two Havahart large single ended traps that I got two 'coons with 3 and 5 days ago. Seems the one 'coon started climbing my DIY bird feeder stand made from rebar and then going out the horizontal rebar to get at one of the sunflower feeders. Bent the vertical rebar 45 degrees and took the one feeder 20 ft through the grass. I straightened it and refilled the feeder and the next morning it was bent over past 90 degrees and was nearly touching the ground (it is over 6 ft high). So that reved me up. I baited two traps and set one by the compost heap where they frequently dig up vegetable scraps and I put the other by the feeder stand. Next morning he had got into the sunflower feeder by standing on top of the trap but at least didn't bend the rebar AND had gone into the trap ate all the bait and left. The trap was brand new and malfunctioned. He tripped the door but it only fell about 1/2 inch and jammed. Reworked the trap and rebaited it. Caught and deported the rascal about 5 miles (and across the south Canadian river). Set and baited again and got #2. Deported him. First shot out of trap the instant I opened the door and he was off so fast I couldn't bring a camera to bear. For the second, my wife took a picture as he hit the road. I had to hold the trap vertical and shake it vigorously to get him out. I don't have a problem with 'coons in the world but we have a large garden and that is incompatible with 'coons. I hope I can keep the numbers down by keeping a couple traps set and baited near the garden. Those buggars can pull several mature cornstalks down in a night and ruin your chances of eating sweet corn.
Regarding the Whistle Pig's cousin the woodchuck (aka ground hog) and the poison gas flare thingies. If they aren't readily available you can make one out of confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar) and salt peter (potassium nitrate) and some powdered sulphur. Mix the sugar and salt peter roughly 50/50 ,by volume, maybe a bit heavy toward salt peter but no more than say 60/40 then add in powdered sulphur 10-25% by volume stir well but do not use sparking tools or a lot of pressure, definitely not a mortar and pestle. You can wrap it up in news paper say 3/4 inch ID and 6 inches to a foot long and tape it with Scotch tape. Fuse can be made from soaking soft cotton string in a saturated solultion of salt peter and drying it well. With care you can light the paper and get the mixture to ignite but wear welding gauntlets to hold it as it may spritz a few sparks. You can lay it in his hole and light it with a propane torch. Lay it in his hole and cover it with a piece of scrap plywood, masonite, or whatever. Shovel on some dirt to get a seal and look for smoke coming out anywhere else as they often have more than one opening. Cover it quick before the occupant can escape. It is better to search around for alternate exits and cover them in advance.
There will be a dense cloud of smoke created but contained in the burrow. The smoke will be partly made up of sulphur dioxide which is pretty poisonous. This stuff does not need oxygen (air) to burn as the salt peter supplies the oxygen. Later (like the next day) you can get the ply or masonite back and fill the hole with dirt.
Patrick
I have two Havahart large single ended traps that I got two 'coons with 3 and 5 days ago. Seems the one 'coon started climbing my DIY bird feeder stand made from rebar and then going out the horizontal rebar to get at one of the sunflower feeders. Bent the vertical rebar 45 degrees and took the one feeder 20 ft through the grass. I straightened it and refilled the feeder and the next morning it was bent over past 90 degrees and was nearly touching the ground (it is over 6 ft high). So that reved me up. I baited two traps and set one by the compost heap where they frequently dig up vegetable scraps and I put the other by the feeder stand. Next morning he had got into the sunflower feeder by standing on top of the trap but at least didn't bend the rebar AND had gone into the trap ate all the bait and left. The trap was brand new and malfunctioned. He tripped the door but it only fell about 1/2 inch and jammed. Reworked the trap and rebaited it. Caught and deported the rascal about 5 miles (and across the south Canadian river). Set and baited again and got #2. Deported him. First shot out of trap the instant I opened the door and he was off so fast I couldn't bring a camera to bear. For the second, my wife took a picture as he hit the road. I had to hold the trap vertical and shake it vigorously to get him out. I don't have a problem with 'coons in the world but we have a large garden and that is incompatible with 'coons. I hope I can keep the numbers down by keeping a couple traps set and baited near the garden. Those buggars can pull several mature cornstalks down in a night and ruin your chances of eating sweet corn.
Regarding the Whistle Pig's cousin the woodchuck (aka ground hog) and the poison gas flare thingies. If they aren't readily available you can make one out of confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar) and salt peter (potassium nitrate) and some powdered sulphur. Mix the sugar and salt peter roughly 50/50 ,by volume, maybe a bit heavy toward salt peter but no more than say 60/40 then add in powdered sulphur 10-25% by volume stir well but do not use sparking tools or a lot of pressure, definitely not a mortar and pestle. You can wrap it up in news paper say 3/4 inch ID and 6 inches to a foot long and tape it with Scotch tape. Fuse can be made from soaking soft cotton string in a saturated solultion of salt peter and drying it well. With care you can light the paper and get the mixture to ignite but wear welding gauntlets to hold it as it may spritz a few sparks. You can lay it in his hole and light it with a propane torch. Lay it in his hole and cover it with a piece of scrap plywood, masonite, or whatever. Shovel on some dirt to get a seal and look for smoke coming out anywhere else as they often have more than one opening. Cover it quick before the occupant can escape. It is better to search around for alternate exits and cover them in advance.
There will be a dense cloud of smoke created but contained in the burrow. The smoke will be partly made up of sulphur dioxide which is pretty poisonous. This stuff does not need oxygen (air) to burn as the salt peter supplies the oxygen. Later (like the next day) you can get the ply or masonite back and fill the hole with dirt.
Patrick
