I need advice on dealing with a big fat murderous raccoon!

[Azriel]

I've had very good luck with two strand electric fence, and a very strong charger. My charger is good for 10 miles, and I have it on maybe 250 foot of fence. I have seen it knock out a coyote,he fliped over, layed there for a few min., got up and staggred away. I have never seen a coon hit it, that would be great..
I for one live in the country because I like the wildness, and the wild animals that come with it. I go the route of strong protection over killing if at all possible. I did have a problem coon last year that had found this was a good place to get easy food. Didn't get into the chickens because of the fence, but got all my gold fish that I had had for 15 years and had just put out in the new pond. Stayed up all night trying to shoot it, no luck. Found out the next night that it was a momma wth 4 babies, trapped all the next night and moved them about 100 miles away to a wilderness area. Have not had a problem since. But now my barn cats are feed early so there is no food at night to draw in coons and get them used to getting fed here.

 

[cjbuchholz]

We had a mid sized coon getting our full grown turkeys. He wiped out 2 of them. Go to snareshop.com and pick up a few snares, boil them in water with oak chips if you have them, then wear rubber gloves to set. You need to have some sort of an opening or path where the raccoon is getting in, though. I bought the snares with "stops" on them so they wouldn't close all the way in case a cat or or dachshund accidently set one off. Worked great.

I caught another one a few nights ago in a live trap. We use cat and/or dog food as bait. Have to agree with the previous post about relocation . . . It's just not feasible nor fair to other folks raising poultry and most suitable areas probably already have a resident population of raccoons.

I've heard anti-freeze (cannot be the "eco" or "environmentally friendly" types) works well, if you douse the carcass, inside and out and leave near the scene. However, make sure to tell your neighbors to keep their cats and dogs inside if you do this. You could put the carcass out at night and bring it in during the day if it's still there. I'm guessing it's illegal, but have heard it works well.

 

[goldcatdoghen]

Shoot the darn thing or take your ax to it.

 

[njduck]

most of the time when you relocate a wild animal it dies a not so nice death. if you relocate within 10 miles of where you caught it, it will come home. when you take them farther then that. They die trying to find their way home.

 

[susannemw]

Quote:
He is beautiful - what kind of bird is he?

 

[CatDaddyAlbert]

Shoot First, Shoot Second, Shoot Third...and if there is a raccoon left standing you might ask a question or two.

 

[beauty2thebirds]

That is horrible, but I sure do know what you mean. About 8 weeks ago we had the same problem, I was loosing a bird A night for about a week, then one night, I lost 14. I thought we were dealing with a bobcat for sure.
I went and bought a live trap, used the gutted out carcass of one of my prize hens that I had just found, stuffed her in the trap, and waited. It took a couple of days, but I got the pain in the keister. I was a bit surprised to have caught a raccoon, but after she was taken care of and we were disposing of the body, I discovered she was a nursing mom.
And with all bad experiences I have had with the masked bandit, it always seems to be when they have babies.
So when you catch her, and I am very sure it's a her. Be tough, that is the next generation of chicken killers that won't be growing up.
Good luck, and GITTT HER!!

 

[RWD57]

Lost one of my guineas recently so i set a leg hold trap where they were getting into the pen, caught a skunk one night and a few days later caught a racoon, both died of lead poisoning. I keep the trap set all the times.

 

[greymane]

Finally caught one of the nasty ring-tailed assassins last night. We have lost another Red Star and a couple of two month old pullets to this bugger and his buddies. (I think there are...er, WERE three of them.)

 

[Blessedchickens]

I agree with no poison only because we have several neighbor cats, our own cat and two very silly Great Pyrenese mixes who would get into it, no matter where we put it!!
We have a coop that used to be a tack stall in a pole barn. It has the builder's wire on the front entire front wall- floor to ceiling with metal screws, cement floor and three other sides are are metal. Unforntunately very hot right now but everyone free ranges during the day. We send the Great Pyrenese out to roam free at night around the pen (not while chickens out as one discovered they taste good.) All of our chickens - fourteen Autralorps and seveteen silkies and bantam cochins, three guineas and five ducks all get in the coop at night and get a metal door shut on them. Even that is not perfect as the door has a regular door knob on it. My hope is that the GP pups will not allow a raccoon the time to figure it out, as they are out there at night.

But I never underestimate the power and determination of a wild animal when it is hungry. ESPECIALLY a momma coon or momma anything.