fighting raccoons

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My coop and run are both enclosed with small mesh wire. But also I have a hot wire 6 inches from the ground and a wire at the top of the enclosure if a smart coon decides to jump and climb the wire sides. Have never lost any inside the enclosure, I have heard coyotes and coons scream at night though (chuckle)
 
Most coon issues happen at night, so if the girls are inside a tight coop, should be no serious problems. But it must be predator proof. A lot of folks do not understand what that means or how far you may have to go to get there. Hot wires certainly help.

But if fall else fails and you decide trapping is what you need, this is how I would do it......this guy has some of the most informative videos on it. Why you should use the DP's vs. a live trap and how to set them for success. BTW, I think this guy also eats some of the coons he catches.

 
I gather he isn't trapping coons to keep them away from chickens or he wouldn't have let the juveniles go. Guess they make better eating when full grown.
 
Correct........not protecting chickens. He is a fur trapper........so let the little guys go to grow up and get larger.

Concept of a large spread of DP traps would work, however......and do it just as he did. Bait em and get them using the traps before you set the traps. Then nab the whole bunch all at once vs. using a live trap and trying to catch them one at a time.

BTW, he and several others are only using inexpensive .22 cal air rifles (pellet guns) to dispatch what they catch. Point blank shot to the forehead. Just a thunk and a splat........so could be used in urban settings vs. a loud, noisy powder burner.
 
Yeah, I heard the pellet gun fire. How does he get them to stay still so he can get the muzzle on their heads? I find the critters in the traps aren't very cooperative in that regard. They move all over the place, even if just their heads.
 
Glad to see he wasn't successful the first shot. Happens to me a LOT. In fact only one time I did 1 shot kill a critter in the trap it was a woodchuck. And it was the FIRST time I used the gun after killing the coon in the coop. Figured it was easy in the trap. But nope. Every one since then has been at least 3 shots. Of course I keep reloading (single shot .177 rifle with heavy pellet) until the critter stops moving around. As suggested, I TRY to hit them in the center of an imaginary X running from ear to opposite eye. Presumably their skulls are not at thick there (or something).
 
Note both trappers are using high velocity .22 air rifles. Those pack more wallop (foot pounds of energy) than a .177. I have a .177 that would put a .177 pellet through a 3/4" pine board.......so these are not toys. If that is what a person has, then use at least the rounded dome type pellets like Beeman FTS or go to a flat nose wadcutter or target pellet. But for those who might buy one of these, think .22 caliber. You can find inexpensive, effective options at Walmart. Powerful, single shot spring powered guns that are not accurate at a distance, but quite capable of snuffing coons in a trap.
 
Looks to me like he had a pistol in the second video. I got my .177 at Walmart, ours didn't have a lot of selection, no .22s and the pistols they had didn't seem very powerful. I didn't see any as big as what he has, mostly the size you would carry in a small holster. I ended up with the Gamo Bone Collector 1300 FPS if used with the PBA Platinums. But for family reasons, I have to have it quiet so no super sonic pellets for me. And no online shopping either.

But I figured if it ran the PBAs faster than other guns they had, it would run the heavier pellets faster as well and they would be more likely to penetrate the animal's skull. Of course my knowledge of air guns is really minimal so perhaps given I'm not shooting at distant targets, it may not much matter what the FPS muzzle velocity is.
 
It’s been along time but if anyone remembers this thread I have an update. 1. We moved. 2 I haven’t lost one chicken to raccoons or anything else in 5 years. We have a 10 foot wooden fence and a concrete floor coop. I did find a neighborhood chihuahua chewing on one of my chickens but I rescued her in time. She survived. Then we replaced the fence so…
 

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