The raccoons keep on coming...

[OhZark Biddies]

My young groundhog has not been back after it tried digging under the body grip trap I set at the hole where it was digging into the run.

I suspect it got a smart rap in the face when the trap fired.... and just doesn't want to come anywhere near again. But I'll be keeping an eye out for digging in case it returns.

But the raccoons keep on coming...

... I spotted one picking up sunflower seeds under my bird feeder in the front yard last night when I got up at 2am and looked out the window. The bird feeder is critter proof, but I scatter seed on the ground for the doves, and that does draw raccoons and squirrels. The yard light lets me glance out there and see the raccoons easily so it serves as a census station of sorts.

I'll probably put out melon guts in a live trap in the next day or so to see what I get.

 

[techbsmith]

... I spotted one picking up sunflower seeds under my bird feeder in the front yard last night when I got up at 2am and looked out the window. The bird feeder is critter proof, but I scatter seed on the ground for the doves, and that does draw raccoons and squirrels. The yard light lets me glance out there and see the raccoons easily so it' serves as a census station of sorts.

I'll probably put out melon guts in a live trap in the next day or so to see what I get.

They seem to LOVE sunflower seeds! The past two days, I've had baited with marshmallows and they've stopped. I think I'll do the sunflower seeds again and see if that net's a few more.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

They seem to LOVE sunflower seeds! The past two days, I've had baited with marshmallows and they've stopped. I think I'll do the sunflower seeds again and see if that net's a few more.

I used to have a "pet" raccoon that I first met when he was just a kit with his litter mates and they were stealing sunflower seeds from my bird feeder (not a critter proof one at that time).

This is him caught in the act one morning right at daylight.

Eventually we became friendly and he would come up to the front porch in the evening and I'd keep treats out there and give him marshmallows, catfood, peanuts in the shell, bits of fruit, popcorn, or whatever.

He'd pretty much eat out of my hand, but he was a wild animal, so I never trusted him enough to actually hand feed him, just toss him a treat from a foot or two away, and let him know that he couldn't come up the steps onto the porch with me. Anyway, marshmallows were his favorite and he didn't care for apples as much.

Eventually 1 "pet" coon turned into 3, and interestingly, one of the others never really wanted the marshmallows... she always preferred the peanuts. These were all young raccoons, and a lot fun to watch... but there were a lot of them around at the time of all sizes and ages, and there were always some eating sunflower seeds under the feeder (this was before we had chickens).

But it was interesting to see their individual preferences and habits. I could tell the 3 apart by their habits and body language after a while.

And that is sometimes what it comes down to when trying to deal with a specific problem animal, is that it has quirks and habits that are different than the general population, which make it difficult to catch by just doing what you've been doing.

With raccoons it seems they learn from watching their bandit buddies get caught also. So for instance if you catch one in a live trap with cat food, you might not be able to catch it's buddy with the same setup.

So yeah, mixing it up often helps.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

If you always camouflage the trap and make sure it doesn't have your scent on it, you can usually catch newcomers and raiding mates without having to do much else. There will always be a leader (alpha) and groups will be arranged in a "pecking order" of seniority with each acting it's role in the group. (groups are usually siblings and parents)

 

[kwhites634]

I've been trying since Friday, thought it was going to be a slam dunk... long story, but I've been getting schooled.

The old guy down the road from me tore down his old barn a few weeks ago and displaced a bunch of varmints. I know he had pack rats (aka wood rats) and ground hogs in there, because I helped him trap a bunch of the pack rats last fall, and I'd see groundhogs run under the tack shed when I was checking traps... or feeding his horses while he was out of town.

Anyway, I ended up with at least one of the ground hogs and so far at least one pack rat (that I caught the other day) in my shed/coop.

Here is a picture of the little fella' mocking me, looking at the pile of "junk" ( aka potentially useful stuff that collects in a shed) that I stacked on it's burrow after I filled it in.

I know some of you are looking at this picture and saying "not sure that's a groundhog, it looks more like a woodchuck to me"... and to you I say "i'm pretty sure it's a 'dirt squirrel' either way you look at it"!

View attachment 1479129

Any way, I'm sure I'll get him here right quick, but for all the critters I've trapped over the years I've never even tried to trap one of these... dealing with them in the past, has always been more of a "marksmanship activity" if you know what I mean, but this one is coming in from the back of the shed out of the woods where there is no open view.

Anyway, I've hijacked this raccoon thread, so my apologies to @techbsmith ...but maybe some of this info will help in a few months when the raccoon invasion lets up and the groundhogs starting pouring over the wall

groundhogs vs. woodchucks....there's a difference?

 

[lazy gardener]

Not where I come from. Also Whistle pig, and a quick google search turned up "land beaver".

 

[techbsmith]

groundhogs vs. woodchucks....there's a difference?

Just a difference in how they are referred to. Groundhog, woodchuck, and whistepig are all m. monax which are found in North America. Genus Marmota.

 

[kwhites634]

Thanks! That's great thought, but according to @lazy gardner it's a good snack, and my wife's always after me about eating all of her healthy snacks, so win + win there.

Actually I have a "pet" yearling that was a fawn last fall, and would hang out with me in the yard while I was doing chores. So much so that a neighbor pulled up to visit one evening, and we were standing there for 10 minutes and he froze and said, "don't move there's a deer right over there", and I said: "oh I forgot about her, I just figured she ran off when you pulled up..." And so her and her family group ended up being regulars all winter... I'm pretty sure she would have come in the house with me if I'd have invited her, but here sister, momma, and aunt (or grandma?) were a bit more cautious.

Anyway, she and here sister came by mid morning just today, and then she came back this afternoon, and then this evening she was just on the edge of the woods (not 35 yds from me) for 30 minutes watching me water the plants and fill the bird bath... until I went in, and she went and "bird-bathed"

... so I was kind of thinking I might put just a bit of sweet feed out for her each morning... not too much, just a bit... since she's here eating all my wife's flowers anyway.

@techbsmith ...so sorry, now we're on deer... I'm sure we'll get back to raccoons, once we talk about every other mammal in north america... but be warned when we get to thirteen lined ground squirrels, I'm gonna' have a lot of questions.

I had an uncle who raised an orphaned Whitetail doe fawn. She loved Twinkies. He had a lot of fun riding through downtown Paducah KY with his "little buddy" on the truck seat beside him, 'til she wandered off one breeding season, never to return.

 

[cageguy]

I've just started using the blinking red light device this year. Current flock of 14 @ 16 weeks old have suffered NO PREDATOR issues in a pen that, over the years has been a racoon/possum cafeteria.
My device is a no name, bought on line at auction, SOLAR CHARGED blessing for my barred rocks.

 

[aart]

I've just started

Give 'em a week or two...they'll get used to it.
Have you had any losses just prior to installing the flashers?