Raccoon Problems

[waterfowler]

Pitchforks work just fine. i would not advise shooting on a concrete porch. It is a good way to put your eye out.

[Art Eatman]

I used to keep a five-gallon bucket with hen-scratch on the front porch, scattering a small coffee can's worth for the quail, doves, rock squirrels and antelope squirrels. The raccoons wandered up from down at the creek and found the bucket.

Okay, so a steel plate on top of the lid, and an old mercury flask on top of that. A screw-in hook on the wall to hold the bail of the bucket. 3AM: Clank! Yup, Rakkity Coon. So, I wandered out and threw a squalling fit and that kept him gone for several days.

Drove home one night, and there, sticking up out of the bucket was the back half of Mr. Coon. He sat back, looked at us in great indignation for disturbing him, and then went back to his supper.

Okay, so fun and games is fun and games, but the bucket now lives inside.

Fast forward: Those plastic buckets make great mouse traps; with grain in the bottom they jump in--but the sides are too slick for them to get out. Once again with a screw-in hook, and the bucket then a couple of feet off the back porch deck.

Noises. A peek out the window shows Mr. and Mrs. Rakkity and the three coon kids. I set up for fun and games. One of the young ones gets nose-down in the bucket. I sneak out onto the porch, and the other four waddle away.

When a 3/4-grown coon is nose-down in a bucket, and you slap him on the rump and scream very loudly, he attempts vertical levitation by paw-stand. Doesn't work worth a hoot. He at least got turned around in time to get slapped on the nose. I backed away and let him practice being elsewhere at a high rate of speed.

Raccoons are fun. Hours of entertainment!

[2rugers]

Pig feeder, not baby Coon buffet.

Indignation is written all over this ones little snarly face.

[Old Grump]

To many people here want to shoot into a bunch of concrete. What is the matter with you?

[Spammy_H]

I want to clarify something - I wouldn't be shooting into concrete. My front porch is concrete. I don't want to use so much firepower that I end up with a 'coon bomb exploding all over my front, but not so little as to not do the job.

[L_Killkenny]

Too all the above: If a coon is on your concrete front porch and you hit that concrete while shooting at Mr. Coon............ you need your guns taken away. That's some bad shooting right there.

LK

[Art Eatman]

Aw, now, Kilkenny, you don't know what's beyond that porch. He does.

Were my front porch concrete, a ricochet would have to travel for miles in order to find some dwelling.

There's no law against a rural fella having a concrete porch.

[earlthegoat2]

Bring the cat inside.

Poison the food with rat poison.

Let raccoons munch away for a few weeks.

Put some meat or something yummy smelling out to attract more.

Rinse repeat.

Understand that collateral damage will occur such as killing other cats and maybe dogs too.

[hogdogs]

That collateral damage of bait is multi tier as well and IMHO not worth the risks. One dead rat from poison can kill 2-4 more animals down the line.
Brent

[shortwave]

No since in getting blood on front porch. Live trap the coon and carry trap/coon to the yard. One head shot with 22 leave`s a dead coon with very little blood. Carry trap/coon to where your going to dispose of coon. Dump coon. Reset trap. Repeat as needed.

[ohioup]

+1 on what shortwave said.

[TheNatureBoy]

Why kill the raccoon? Bring the cat and the food inside and they will go away. They are interested in the food, not the cat. My neighbor had a small but very productive apple tree in his front yard. Raccoons used to hang around the tree every day around dusk. When he cut the tree down the coons moved on. Haven't seen them since.

[Shotgun Don]

IMO the best thing to do is find a solution that lets all of ya live in peace. I deff would`nt go bouncing rounds of the concrete lol. Remember....raccons are just trying eat and live. Now if there tearing up the house then i would trap em and carry em off

[BIGR]

Does this bring back any memories?..... I have had about the same problem for years. What got it statrted was this big time coon hunter use to feed the coons across the creek from our house. My wife feeds some cats on the porch and the coons loves the meow mix. Once they discovered the cat food it was all over with. I have seen them come up on the porch and stand up looking in the storm door before. Our cats do not pay any attention to the coons and the coons have never bothered the cats. The raccons had several litters of little ones and the gang kept growing. Wife thought they were cute and wood feed them near the shrubs out from the house. The most at one time that I counted was 24 of them. I really didn't want to just shoot them and wanted to relocate them. I could probably have taken about 4 or 5 out with one shotgun blast, but you know that was out of the question. Back in the fall I got this coon hunter to bring his live traps and he has caught all but 4 of them. He did relocate them on his place. He puts peanut butter on the inside of the trap to attract them inside. Cats have not got caught yet but those opposums like to get the peanut butter. Believe it or not 5 or 6 of those coons have busted out of the live traps. One boar coon probably weighed 25 pounds I bet. I am hoping when the weather gets better the trapper can come get the rest of them.

[specs]

I use the Havahart trap all of the time and it works great for coons and possums until it catches a SKUNK. Just try to get that off of your porch. Whatever you do, put a long line on the trap so you can drag it away. I have caught skunks up by the house a few times and it is never fun.

BTW, when I lived in town and had critter problems I used a live trap and dispatched the critters with a Benjamiin 22 pellet rifle, and sometime a 177 pistol. When they are in the trap yopu can't miss. In one summer I caught and killed 38 squirrels in a suburban neighborhood. We were overrun with them.

[Shotgun Don]

Nice guy ^^^^

[treg]

ohio bowhunter Two words...Golden Malrin . If you want details , shoot me a PM . Will solve your coon problems once and for all .

+1
It works.

[dakota223]

have a heart trap with a 4 foot rope tied to it. then a full rainbarrel. save your bullets for the range

[shortwave]

it works great for coons and possums until it catchs a skunk

Indian use blanket held in front of him. Walks towards trap/skunk and lays blanket over trap. Skunk can't spray indian.

[Catfishman]

Have a heart traps work like a charm. But don't pick up the trap by the little bitty handle on top with a live coon inside.

Here in Mississippi there is a Coon Black Market. People trap and sell coons. Just remember if you skin it before you sell it, leave one foot attached. Noboby will buy it otherwise, for fear it is a housecat.

[Mike U.]

Having killed a 'coon with an aluminum bat, inside my last house, i don't really recommend it. I was not injured & it wasn't horribly messy, but my cats haven't looked at me the same since then (they watched).

LMAO!!



I'm with the .22 head shot crowd.
Use a deep hollow point like those found on Winchester 333, 555 or their Xpert rounds. Or, I suppose you could use the Fed. bulk pack, if need be.
Shouldn't be too messy on a 'coon.
Good luck!

[Michael Anthony]

Friday I shot a raccoon six times with 165 grain .40 caliber jacketed hollowpoints at about 3 yards. Shots 1, 5 and 6 were to the head. On shot 5 he was "neutralized" but still breathing hard so I delivered the 6th to the head trying to end his misery. Shots 2-4 were aimed center mass because he was fidgeting but holding his ground. It is believed he was rabid.

With each shot he just postured up higher and would spin and then stand still. I was reminded of the end of Scarface.

Is this normal or was this just an exceptionally tough animal? I know I didn't miss shots 1, 5 or 6 but it is possible I missed on 2-4.

[XD Gunner]

Even though the 'coon hunters around here claim that there are no raccoons left, we trapped (and killed) 44 last summer, and 41 the summer before that, along with various opossums, stray cats, and small weasel shaped rodents (maybe the neighbor's ferrets, not sure)

They were getting into our dog food and horse nutrition supplies. You can't solve the problem by killing them, you have to seal up what they are trying to get.

[Catfishman]

With each shot he just postured up higher and would spin and then stand still. I was reminded of the end of Scarface.

LMAO


Goodness Gracious! A new argument for high cap magazines.

[joeseabee]

I use the have a hart traps. Works great for ground hogs and coons (and cats, but that's not the intent here). The coons in SE Ohio must be extra mean, because every one I've caught in the trap got shot with a .22LR or .17HMR right through the mouth while they were biting the end of the barrel. Here's how I do it:

Bait trap with something sweet (Pancakes worked really well)
Catch coon on first night
Take out to disposal area
Put gun barrel through cage wall
Pull trigger as the coon bites the end of the gun
Dump coon
Reset trap and repaet

I also use a conibear trap, but it's kind of hard to let your cats out of them