coon are super smart theres one been getting in my nieghbors humingbird feeders i put a trap out he stretches out in the trap trips the door eats the bait backs out and rolls the trap down the hill then goes after the humingbird feeders got it all on my game camera best way to catch one like that is dig a hole put some sardines or something that smells good in there put a foot trap in there and cover it up the trigger needs to be even with the ground should catch him in no time but dont leave him in there to long he will chew his leg off and take off
There is a new trap out now that is designed to catch raccoons and little else. The name of the trap is the Duke Dog Proof Trap. This trap uses the coons own feeding strategy against him. The trap looks like a short piece of auto exhaust pipe. When Mr. Coon sticks his fist into the top of the trap and begins to remove the bait below the trigger a horizontal jaw closes on his front paw. I have seen pictures of 3 or 4 raccoons within a 50 by 50 foot area all with a front paw securely penned in a Duke DP Trap. So there seems to be very little trap shyness with the Duke DP raccoon trap. As with any toe hold trap it is important to set it where or in such a way that the coon is unable to get the trap chain tangled on underbrush, trees, etc. because this gives him the purchase or mechanical advantage to break a bone. Toe trapped animals don't gnaw their legs off, they get tangled in natural obstructions, the chain swivel binds up and the coon fractures a bone leading to the skin tearing.
No one should think that a coon get's himself caught in a live trap for chuckles. Yes coons are smart. They are smarter than we humans when it comes to staying alive. Exposing ones self to a dangerous situation on purpose is a uniquely human trait. How many times do you hear of a young man needing rescue from a cave, cliff face, or even more ominous, the canyon floor beneath the cliff face? The most horrific thing that you can do to a territorial animal like a coon is to carry it to some distant place and release it to forage on unfamiliar turf, which is usually a sentence of death by slow starvation. If a coon does not starve then it has the option of fighting off maybe dozens of other coons living in this new area like the new coon was a Roman Gladiator.
It is against the law in all 50 states as well as against Federal law to release a raccoon caught in or at your chickens' coop, pen, yard, or run except that you must release the coon in or at your chickens' coop, pen, yard, or run. The coon MUST be released at the same location at which it was trapped. You may not even transport a trapped coon across property lines. You may not transport a coon to another location for release, no not even to a so called "Wild Life Rescue Shelter" because of the danger of either spreading rabies into a rabies free zone, or re-introducing rabies into an area from which rabies has previously been eliminated. Therefor the "Wildlife Rescue Shelter" is forbidden from "rehabilitating" and "reintroducing" a coon into the wild
(unless they have a valid state license and written permission to release or shuffle native wild life like a deck of cards) So it is a violation of the law to merely "Rescue" coons. The only exception is that you MAY destroy any coon trapped on your property as long as the deed is done on the same property were it was trapped in the first place. This law is intended to protect you, your spouse as well as your children and pets from rabies, your chickens included. If you do not wish to destroy the raccoon then you have no option but to leave it be and continue in its chicken killing or its rabies spreading ways.
Sometimes I think that chicken killing is a symptom of raccoon overpopulation.
So don't be a Jonny Raccoon Seed, if you 'ketch' a coon kill it, its the humane thing to do and your chickens will love you for it.