dispatching a coon

[Goldendoodles]

My brother has a Gamo Big Cat air rifle. It's great and just makes a little pop. I think you did the right thing. It hurts right now, but in a few weeks you'll be glad you did it.

 

[SurprisingWoman]

I live in the 'burbs. We can't have guns, and I am not a gun person.

I don't have a pond, river, creek or lake close by.

I have already made my peace with how I will dispatch the next raccoon caught in my hav-a-hart.

My county animal control will come out and dispatch them and remove the carcass but he HATED it.

I know what I will do that will have it start, and end, here.

Do what you have to do.

If you told 98% of the people that know me how I plan to take care of my next predator, they wouldn't believe you because I am known as THE animal lover. That's exactly why I made my choice. I love animals and I won't ask someone else to do what I am not willing to do myself.

 

[AHappychick]

thanks guys I do feel better about it today.

For those that dont know before I had chooks I had a coon take up residence in my Garage. I called a trapper and had his set up and he aught 5 coons. He relocated all of them 3 hours upstate at the cost of over $400. And no this is not a joke and yes I paid it, had no choice as I hired him. But I will never do that again even if I could afford it.

I will re set the trap tonigt but I am hoping that the others will move to the next home and not bother with my property anymore. Hopeful thinking I know.

 

[gsim]

No way would I enjoy what you had to do.

That said, remember that they will not stop at one meal, one chook. They first murder every defenseless thing in sight and reach, then eat what they want and leave a huge wasted mess, when one bird would have fed them for a week.

They are taking the easiest way of feeding themselves by preying on that which cannot escape as opposed to their natural food in the wild. Gardens for them to steal from are gone and some game is dormant so they turn to defenseless helpless chickens losing their fear of man due to both hunger and laziness. I would be trapping non-stop until I could not catch one in a month of trying. And like you, no relocating for me either!

War is war.

 

[StupidBird]

How much do you have to worry that a coon that won't back down to being whacked with a broom has RABIES? Just wondering, as it hadn't been mentioned yet. Do raccoons get distemper or other nasties too?

 

[mdbokc]

They get rabies, distemper and a whole lot more. You have one, get rid of it, chickens or no. jmho

http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/1997/fall/raccoon.shtml

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Raccoons on a food source don't back down. Rabies, distemper, etc. should always be considered when handling/disposing of them, but I doubt if this one had it. It was feeding in the evening and sounds like it acted completly normal for a raccoon.

Sorry you had to do the deed, but as others have stated, it would have come back and tried for your chickens or even cat eventually. I also appreciate that you didn't catch and release for it to become someone else's now trap wise problem. I live out in the country with fields, woodlands, and a creek. Sometimes it feels like the whole county is dumping their unwanted pets and/or problem wildlife at our place.

 

[proudmama88]

Quote:
Which is one reason why I'm always like

when I hear of people saying crap like, "oh, you killed a CUTE little RACCOON? How COULD you?"

Maybe I could because I don't like walking out to my coop and run only to find my beloved chickens' bodies ripped through the fence, or maybe I could because I shudder at the thought of a possibly diseased wild animal coming into contact with my chicken protector, Aslan the Great Pyr, who would not back down if he caught one of these things in his yard around his chickens, rabid or not.

To the OP - you do whatever you gotta do, because your little chickens only have safety and protection from YOU and no one else. Don't feel guilty, feel relieved that your birds won't suffer a horrible death at the paws of one of their biggest predators.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I don't see what other choice you did have. I mean no sense in letting it go after catching it and it is a danger to your chickens. I, of course would have shot it, but I'm in the very deep south and practically in the woods. And I guess its no big surprise that I also would have eaten it, but in your case......okay, how to kill something that you can't shoot and you have to restrain, but if you put your hands on it, you will certainly be bit or scratched? I guess you would have to use some kind of grabby thing. Try to forget it.

 

[Tony O]

I used to like all wild life. I would release them to another location. Couldn't kill anything, and felt bad if I had to. That being said, I'm glad you didn't re-locate that coon, and you should be too. In a study done a few years back, racoons released as far as 50 miles away, returned back to where they were taken from. In your case, once caught in your trap, would be more alert to that same trap and probably wouldn't be caught in it again. Mean while, it would be killing your defenseless birds till there were none left. I know. I've been there - done that! I got wiped out and learned the hard way.

BTW, Keep an eye opened. There may be a few more lurking near by.