Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[KYTinpusher]

I use the Duke Dog-safe hand-hold traps here. They are more effective for raccoons than the cage-type live traps, IMO. While I live out where I can shoot, the person who told me about these traps lives in the city. He uses a good whack with a shovel to dispatch the critters. I use marshmallows to bait them. I should mention that while they do "live" trap the critters, there is no safe way to remove them witbout killing the critter first.

 

[Saris]

Where we live if you use a trap animal control will come pick it up and take it out into the forest to relocate. Not the most popular choice but probably the most humane. If not possible then I would shoot it. Drowning sounds not right to me though.. I don't know why it just seems mean...

It does seem mean, but it's the best option I have, I would shoot it if I could but I am not going to deal with a fine for shooting a gun within the city.

I would have to agree......... with drowning the animal would be panicked and I die slower. All of God's creatures should be treated with respect and if it comes down to dispatching an animal I think it should be the quickest and most humane way possible. I hate taking a life but we are in the same boat with a fox problem..... and should we eat wrap it or catch it in the act a shotgun will be put into play?

If I thought I had a better way I would do it. I won't use poison since that is a worse death and I don't want someones pet cat to get killed by accident.

It is against the law to trap and then release back into the wild these pests. If you think about it the logic is that somewhere near where you are releasing the pest there is someone living that will inherit your problem. I once had a cat that wasn't very smart that inadvertently got hauled 35 miles and left (it was sleeping in a covered boat that was taken in for service). That cat took 6 weeks but managed to return to our house. I bet animals that are taken much shorter distances will likely return and become pests again. Kern

We called our local animal control when we had trapped a skunk, we got told, we couldn't kill it, we couldn't take it somewhere else and release it, and they wouldn't come get it either. It sucked, we eventually found their den under our garage and flooded it when they were out for the night hunting. They didn't come back after that.

It's not against the law where we live and I guess we just live far enough out in the country that if animal control takes them they don't come back. They also don't become someone else's problem because there are no people. I'm thinking you must live in a neighborhood or near a city? Just a guess because we don't have those problems here... I'm not trying to be rude so I hope I don't seem that way. It's just not how you described where I live. Lots of livestock here also.

I live in the middle of the city. I look forward to being in the country where I can just shoot the darn things.

I use the Duke Dog-safe hand-hold traps here. They are more effective for raccoons than the cage-type live traps, IMO. While I live out where I can shoot, the person who told me about these traps lives in the city. He uses a good whack with a shovel to dispatch the critters. I use marshmallows to bait them. I should mention that while they do "live" trap the critters, there is no safe way to remove them witbout killing the critter first.

Exactly, I'm not gonna risk me or my husband getting bit to take a live raccoon from a trap to dispatch it more humanely.

 

[Saris]

Anyway, I'm going to share some pics of my lucky chicks.

Lookit deez loveys!!!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

My two nicest lavender (self blue) Ameraucanas.

Very nice birds!!

Anyway, I'm going to share some pics of my lucky chicks. Lookit deez loveys!!!! [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

They are pretty little birds...

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Anyway, I'm going to share some pics of my lucky chicks. Lookit deez loveys!!!! [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

Poor babies.. they must be scared to death. Hopefully the gun laws against shooting pest will be lifted soon. I know it's hard in the city.. hopefully you catch the critter so it doesn't come back..

 

[MrsBachbach]

We'd most likely end up drowning it. Not my preferred method, but if we can get it trapped I sure as heck am not going to try and get a full grown live raccoon out of a trap to dispatch it. I can fill a big rubber tub with water and drop it in with rocks on top. Or maybe bring it out to the woods and shoot it in the cage. Depending on time of day and what not. I am not practiced with a gun or a bow to really want to shoot at it unless it's up close, I wouldn't want to miss.

I can get behind the shovel and shut up part though. hahah

If you live trap it, why not take it way out of town in a more natural habitat and release it? Your halfway there anyway.

 

[jroberts]

I used to own a raccoon. They like shiny things. If you trap it with some food and a spoon. Just take th trap off somewhere and Let it out. Then retrieve it. Or you could just have someone shoot it in the trap.

 

[jroberts]

Which I don't believe is necessary. But it's the most humane way. It would take it roughly three minutes to drown. Which is a long time when your dying.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Which I don't believe is necessary. But it's the most humane way. It would take it roughly three minutes to drown. Which is a long time when your dying.

My sister in law had a coon that they kept in the house. Cool little animals, very personable, but they sure don't belong in a house! They eventually released it near a lake when it was much older to live it's coon life, but, it was a likeable addition to the family.
I agree with the trapping, but I've seen animals go through some pretty horrific death throws even with a shot to the head, so I dread when I have to do that (animal is suffering). If I have a live trap I would use it for what it's made for, catch and release and hope it isn't nursing babies somewhere. Take that animal to the woods near a creek and it will live a raccoon life as it should. Everything has a purpose.

 

[bruceha2000]

So sorry @Saris . That really stinks. It makes me mad to hear about predators that kill a bunch of livestock only to leave uneaten bodies.

I get that they have to eat and that's why they come around but why are they just killing. I hope you get the little bugger (want to use a different term but it's not appropriate). Hope the rest of the flock is doing okay.

Yep. My older daughter ("you aren't going to kill anything") figures the wild animals need to eat. Apparently even if it is one of her favorite chickens. If the coon that ate only Fae's head and neck was hungry, it would have eaten the rest of her. When it returned to the barn at 7:15 that evening (going I presume for the hen recovering from an infection in the broody box!), I trapped it in the coop. Shot, tossed in the woods for the buzzards, and I shut up.

Quote:

We'd most likely end up drowning it. Not my preferred method, but if we can get it trapped I sure as heck am not going to try and get a full grown live raccoon out of a trap to dispatch it. I can fill a big rubber tub with water and drop it in with rocks on top. Or maybe bring it out to the woods and shoot it in the cage. Depending on time of day and what not. I am not practiced with a gun or a bow to really want to shoot at it unless it's up close, I wouldn't want to miss.

I can get behind the shovel and shut up part though. hahah

REALLY sorry for the trauma you and your birds suffered.

I agree, I do not have the skills to shoot an animal "on the run", or even "on the sit". But they are really hard to miss in a Havahart trap.

Air pellet guns are not considered "firearms" in many cities, especially in the .117 size. Yet they can carry a pellet a good distance so I am a bit surprised they are NOT considered firearms. I bought a Gamo "Bone Collector" air rifle the day the coon killed Fae. Still in the plastic bag in the box when I trapped the coon in the coop. Took 3 shots but without any iron sights and having no idea how straight it was shooting, even at 10 feet or less, it was hard to know where I hit it. The coon moved between each shot (single shot, the pellets were 30' away on a table). On the other hand, the adult chuck that I trapped in the havahart in the barn alley died fast and I would guess painlessly. Inches from the barrel of the gun and through the forehead. No more woodchuck tunnels opened into the alley floor since.

If you find you CAN use air pellet guns in the city, use heavy pellets. There are reviews that say the Bone Collector is as loud as a .22 rim fire. But those people are using lightweight pellets that break the sound barrier. I bought the Gamo Whisper pellets, 10.5 grain. When I later mounted the scope and started to learn the gun, the smack when the pellet buried into the 3/4" particle board backstop 40' away was louder than the gun. I suspect you could fire that outside someone's bedroom window and they wouldn't hear it.

It's not against the law where we live and I guess we just live far enough out in the country that if animal control takes them they don't come back. They also don't become someone else's problem because there are no people. I'm thinking you must live in a neighborhood or near a city? Just a guess because we don't have those problems here... I'm not trying to be rude so I hope I don't seem that way. It's just not how you described where I live. Lots of livestock here also.

Do they tell people they "rehome" the vermin ALIVE? I'm willing to bet even if they say it, they don't do it. It is illegal ANYWHERE in Vermont to "rehome" a coon and we have a lot of unpopulated land.

If you live trap it, why not take it way out of town in a more natural habitat and release it? Your halfway there anyway.

Because relocating is illegal in a lot of places.