Wolf Fur? & Racoons

[SourRoses]

There's a lady fairly local to us who keeps wolves and is advertising collected fur / poo as predator deterrents.
I doubt it works... am I wrong?

We've been having a Racoon visit for some time (some birds are messier around the feeders) and it really hasn't bugged the chickens. It's fat (maybe pregnant?) and gives me puppy dog eyes, so I felt kinda bad for it. We put out a big humane trap with all kinds of bait, but after 6 weeks it still won't go near it.

Just this week, Coony broke our unspoken agreement and invited her friends to come play. The new coons are much skinnier and agile, they keep getting on the roof of the big coop (shed/stall combo) and acting desperate to get in. Our coops are quite secure with hardware cloth, and most are time tested, but I don't like it.
I've been more diligent to keep the feed areas cleaned up each night.
The last 3 nights I've stayed up till 4am popping out at intervals to jet anything I see with the hose from the back porch. My flashlight showing all these glowing eyes from the woods. There's also been a limping possum with a big chunk taken out of its side, yuck. None of them like their baths, lol. And they don't appreciate my dog hunting them, but he's not very good at it in his old age and I can't leave him out there with his arthritis.

I guess I'll keep doing this until I find another option, or they give up. Any ideas come to mind? Would the wolf fur work? Does it just smell like dog?

 

[Painted Calls]

I have yet to see proof that predator feces/urine/scent works.

Sure coyotes are predators of coons and opossums, right? Well for a bit I had them coming into my yard (40ish feet away from my coop) just to mark and poop. It did nothing to deter opossums, foxes, or raccoons.

 

[GCrumb]

I doubt predator fur will work, given the willingness of field mice to take it and build nests out of it.

I do think human pee helps, if you keep up with it and don't have anything too tempting -- it won't stop predators who already know your coop as a food-source, but newcomers may turn back from investigating.

 

[mowin]

Don't waste your money. It might work for a little, but the coons will become used to it and pay no attention. If any predator is actively trying to breach my coops security, they get shot.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’m fairly local to you and I’ve seen that lady’s adds but never priced it.

I’ll take the devil’s advocate position. There is a hierarchy of predators, and just because a coon may shrug off the odor of one species doesn’t mean it will another. Wolves (excluding coyotes from the definition, not withstanding that coyotes are a type of small wolf) are bad mojo wherever they’re found. I also know from experience that lingering presence of certain individual predators will repel game animals from an area so long as the predator uses the area. I have a coyote-sized bobcat on my place that keeps the wild turkeys away. His continued use of the land is likely betrayed by his smell (yes, wild turkeys and most other birds likely have a well developed sense of smell).

I think in principle, fresh wolf hair could be such a biological red flag, it might work. But, I wouldn’t pay much for it. Just a few dollars for a big bag.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Don't waste your money. It might work for a little, but the coons will become used to it and pay no attention. If any predator is actively trying to breach my coops security, they get shot.

I do agree that continued use of the smell with no negative consequences will teach an animal to not fear it.

 

[mowin]

I’m fairly local to you and I’ve seen that lady’s adds but never priced it.

I’ll take the devil’s advocate position. There is a hierarchy of predators, and just because a coon may shrug off the odor of one species doesn’t mean it will another. Wolves (excluding coyotes from the definition, not withstanding that coyotes are a type of small wolf) are bad mojo wherever they’re found. I also know from experience that lingering presence of certain individual predators will repel game animals from an area so long as the predator uses the area. I have a coyote-sized bobcat on my place that keeps the wild turkeys away. His continued use of the land is likely betrayed by his smell (yes, wild turkeys and most other birds likely have a well developed sense of smell).

I think in principle, fresh wolf hair could be such a biological red flag, it might work. But, I wouldn’t pay much for it. Just a few dollars for a big bag.

Trappers, often use coyote urine to cover their own sent on traplines, and catch coon, fox ECT.
Also, thankfully, wild turkeys can't smell well at all. If they could, they would be about impossible to kill.

 

[Smokerbill]

Maybe set up a few strands of electric fence wire?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Trappers, often use coyote urine to cover their own sent on traplines, and catch coon, fox ECT.
Also, thankfully, wild turkeys can't smell well at all. If they could, they would be about impossible to kill.

Much of a wild turkey’s odd behavior when hunting them that gives the impression they have a sixth sense to avoid danger is possibly (and in my opinion, likely) due to them smelling the hunter. I’ve killed many mature Eastern and Osceola gobblers all over Florida. I’m fully convinced they can smell. I don’t think its the be all, end all, explanation of why they do what they do. But I do think smell is a factor. Watch the breeze direction next time a gobbler inexplicably hangs up on you, alerts by braking strut and raising his head, and eases off in a way not consistent with him seeing you or you calling too much and tipping him off you can’t actually speak turkey. Rule out the other factors, and you’ll likely see a pattern consistent with him winding you.

Study after modern study has shown that the notion that birds generally don’t smell well is junk science from the 1800s. Off the top of my head, I am aware of study that showed that birds can smell the presence of a predator in their nesting area and will abandon it based on the smell.

https://realtree.com/the-realblog-w...key-s-sense-of-smell-stronger-than-we-thought

I bet trappers don’t use wolf urine to cover their scent when trapping. A coyote is not a grey wolf and doesn’t occupy the same place on the totem poll on the food chain. True wolves are a whole other level of apex predator than a coyote.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/january-february-2014/birds-can-smell-and-one-scientist