Trapping a racoon - can anyone share their experience with this?

[Sally PB]

How do you dispatch of them?

I use a live trap, and shoot them with a 9mm bullet while they're in the trap. Back of the head, or into the mouth, are the best/fastest/most cerain kill.

The bullet will probably go through the animal, so I do it from above. The bullet can go through the animal into the ground.

I bury them in the garden, at least 2 feet down.

 

[KarynVA]

I hired a guy who came and baited havaheart traps and then legally disposed of the raccoons and, from my experience, there are always more. In fact, even the guy I was paying to come and remove the raccoons eventually told me they will just keep coming, lol.

Now we have made peace with knowing we always have raccoons and/or skunks living under our deck. So far, they have not messed with our chickens, knock-on-wood. (Our coop and run is fully enclosed in hardware cloth, etc. etc.)

 

[Red Mangrove]

Racoons are the worst predators I've had to deal with. They're intelligent and love to decapitate chickens

 

[sdm111]

How do you dispatch of them?

I use these. A lil quieter than a .22 out the trap I used crossbow

 

[aart]

I use a live trap, and shoot them with a 9mm bullet while they're in the trap. Back of the head, or into the mouth, are the best/fastest/most cerain kill.

The bullet will probably go through the animal, so I do it from above. The bullet can go through the animal into the ground.

I assume you put the end of the pistol barrel thru a hole in top the of trap?
Do you worry about the animal moving so the bullet misses and ricochets...
..or the bullet going thru the animal body and wrecking the trap wires??

 

[mossyoakpro]

I assume you put the end of the pistol barrel thru a hole in top the of trap?
Do you worry about the animal moving so the bullet misses and ricochets...
..or the bullet going thru the animal body and wrecking the trap wires??

I'm a suppressed 22 short kinda guy....no exit and no sound.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Raccoons are afraid of nothing, not even the cross hairs dividing their eyes. I am a Sx3 type when it comes to predation. .22 LR Hollow Point for small "varmits" .20 gauge #3 Buck Shot for yotes

 

[mcdze]

if you live rural, its worth it to invest in a thermal, a good air pcp hunting gun, and set your coop up in a location you can monitor it from a house window, which will be the position you set up in, removed screen, clear shrubs etc .. once predators know where your birds are they can decimate them, lots of time and money wasted .. a good 'positive' predator elimination setup wil eventually pay for itself and give alot more peace of mind ..

 

[Folly's place]

Having a predator proof coop and small run for overnight, and times when your birds can't free range (might be weeks at a time!) will prevent most predator issues, most of the time. Young birds and Silkies, who can't fly, might be at risk during the day from raccoons and opossums, but these particular 'bad guys' can't get other birds then, only at night when they are roosting.
We lost birds overnight to both, back when our flock roosted in our barn. it was NOT fine!
Mary

 

[ViKulik]

If you cannot shoot them order one of these for $15

Barker's Skunk Sleeper Syringe Dispatching Injector​

You put acetone in it and attach to a broom handle.

Like they all said, stop training the raccoons they are pulling my chickens through the wire!

I live adjacent to a a cypress swamp and some woods, I have serious Raccoon issues. I only trap right by the coop, but trap them 24-7 I have a HavaHeart raccoon trap and a 5' 30" x 24" coyote trap because I had a HUGE one, 35+ pounds, that could reach all the way to the back of the regular one with only his head and front leg in the trap. I also have 4 Dukes dog proof coon cuffs around the coop baited with marshmellows and licorice with a golf ball on top to keep out mice and to get their attention. The dogproof traps are much cheaper and more effective than the live traps. Only about $17 each.

Here is one bandit in a coon cuff wedged under the wire floor of my chicken run with a flipped over empty live trap next to him. After he raids the live trap he gets caught in the coon cuff. I have only ever lost one from a coon cuff and he ran off with the trap and chain because he jerked so hard he snapped the quick link attaching it to the run.