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trapping raccoons - no luck yet

post #1 of 20
6/12/12 at 1:32pm
Thread Starter 

I lost a couple 2 month old chicks to raccoons night before last. They couldn't pull the babies through the pen but managed to get ahold of them with their fingers and lick their heads and necks - they were slobbery there. Not a puncture mark or feather missing. I think they strangled them trying to pull them through. The pen is chain link and wrapped with cage wire. I *thought* that it was raccoon proof. The babies were apparently hot and slept up against the wire instead of their little house.

 

My dogs are usually out all night for added protection but they had worked in the heat all day and I thought they deserved a night resting in the AC.

 

So, last night I kept the dogs in, set the trap, baited it with tuna.. which I warmed up to make the smell carry.

 

Nothing this morning. How long does it usually take to catch them? 

 

In a kind of funny aside, my matriarch hen, a BO named Ashley, got stuck in the trap this morning while I was doing chores. She wanted that tuna... she's a chicken of the sea, LOL

 

I have been reinforcing things and running hot wire around every enclosure and coop but catching this raccoon (or raccoons) is a vendetta now.

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post #2 of 20
6/12/12 at 1:47pm

I have never caught a racoon. Sometimes they will come and go.    Something killed my two hens a few months ago, I never knew what killed them !   they both got bitten on their necks, it was very strange that the creature didnt eat them or took them away !  I locked them up every night. 

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post #3 of 20
6/12/12 at 2:01pm

Go for sweet bait.  I had a BIG one tearing up my barn.  Cat food - nope.  Tuna - nada.  Kitchen scraps - zip.  Honey bun - rolled the trap 5' across the yard, but didn't get him.  Marshmallows crammed into the spaces in the back and bottom of the cage - Got Him! 

Member of the Derperella Club-- We're just all goin' round' the rooster, here

Single Mom to The Cane Sisters: Candy & Benzo (EE), Nova & Sola (S.Sussex), Raisin & Citizen (SLW), Hurra (FBCM), Ameri & Ineeda (JGx), Lido (BLRW) + 1 horse, 3 dogs and 4 dumpcats

My Coop Building Page http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/670830/the-shed-is-here-omg-now-what#post_9055853

GREAT article on...

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Member of the Derperella Club-- We're just all goin' round' the rooster, here

Single Mom to The Cane Sisters: Candy & Benzo (EE), Nova & Sola (S.Sussex), Raisin & Citizen (SLW), Hurra (FBCM), Ameri & Ineeda (JGx), Lido (BLRW) + 1 horse, 3 dogs and 4 dumpcats

My Coop Building Page http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/670830/the-shed-is-here-omg-now-what#post_9055853

GREAT article on...

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post #4 of 20
6/12/12 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by canesisters View Post

Go for sweet bait.  I had a BIG one tearing up my barn.  Cat food - nope.  Tuna - nada.  Kitchen scraps - zip.  Honey bun - rolled the trap 5' across the yard, but didn't get him.  Marshmallows crammed into the spaces in the back and bottom of the cage - Got Him! 

Agreed. They act like marshmallows are crack.
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post #5 of 20
6/12/12 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 

Marshmallows it is!

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post #6 of 20
6/12/12 at 7:46pm

 make sure the trap is rock solid, a coon may also refuse if the trap tips as it is walking in.  You can also stake the trap down so the animal can't roll it.

 

Sweet is working well right now, and don't ever worry about heating up something especially in Texas! lol  Location is much more important than smell.  If you set were the animal is you are gonna catch em.  Trying to pull an animal over is more difficult.  They are lazy like me and will take a meal that is in front of them first.

 

One last thing, if it is near the trap and the coon is caught it will be in the trap!

1 DGF (baby mama),1 daughter, 1 short haired miniture dachshund (black n tan), 2 Bared Rocks, 1 Buff Opringtons, 2 Black Austrolorp, 1 White Wyandotte, 3 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Light Brahma, 1 Silver Spangled Hamburg, 1  Blue Andalusian, 2 Production Reds, 1 Barnyard mix, 1 Phoenix rooster, 1 Black Blue Andalusian and too many Quail at this point!

 

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1 DGF (baby mama),1 daughter, 1 short haired miniture dachshund (black n tan), 2 Bared Rocks, 1 Buff Opringtons, 2 Black Austrolorp, 1 White Wyandotte, 3 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Light Brahma, 1 Silver Spangled Hamburg, 1  Blue Andalusian, 2 Production Reds, 1 Barnyard mix, 1 Phoenix rooster, 1 Black Blue Andalusian and too many Quail at this point!

 

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post #7 of 20
6/12/12 at 7:58pm
Thread Starter 

Oh yeah mazojoe, I trapped a raccoon about 6 years ago at a different house and she pulled part of a roll of foam insulation into the trap in tiny shredded up bits. She looked like she was sitting in a pink cloud.

 

I put the trap right up against the pen they killed the chicks in. Same side and everything. Obviously, I don't have any chicks in there for now.

 

Thanks for the tip for making sure it's level. It will make sure it doesn't wobble even the tiniest bit.

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post #8 of 20
6/13/12 at 3:53am

 I have a trap that is set in front of a hole in my chainlink fence.I dug a little dirt out in front of it to put my trap in,and covered the trap with black rubber mats. I have caught so many animals at that spot.It must be the highway for them all-along the fence line by the woods.

 

If only I could catch the cottontail in my front yard as easily who is enjoying my berry patches!

 

Hope you get THEM soon!

2013 Captures-3 coons, 1 possum.
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2013 Captures-3 coons, 1 possum.
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post #9 of 20
6/14/12 at 7:01am

I have had good results using peanut butter as bait. I needed a non-feline attractant.

Good Luck.

Chickens and turkeys in the backyard since 1984. They co-habitate with PB pigs (5) and barn cats. Only purebreds are Welsummers, SC Rhode Island White and Royal Palm Turkeys. APA. NRA.

You would be amazed what you can trade eggs for.

No woman ever shot her husband while he was doing the dishes.

Oh yeah, I got a nap for that.

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Chickens and turkeys in the backyard since 1984. They co-habitate with PB pigs (5) and barn cats. Only purebreds are Welsummers, SC Rhode Island White and Royal Palm Turkeys. APA. NRA.

You would be amazed what you can trade eggs for.

No woman ever shot her husband while he was doing the dishes.

Oh yeah, I got a nap for that.

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post #10 of 20
6/14/12 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 20736 View Post

I have had good results using peanut butter as bait. I needed a non-feline attractant.

Good Luck.

 

Interesting use of cats as bait...

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BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Predators and Pests › trapping raccoons - no luck yet