Kentucky lets you raise raccoons?!

[conny63malies]

Guess where i am moving to next year, yup Kentucky. And when my husband is done with the Army in four years we will stay there in the state. Its lovely there, i love the mountains and the hollers.
BTW Ohio used to be even easier on the wildlife laws.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

We have had snakes, racoons, pole cats(skunks), ferrets, squirrels, alligators, you name it we have raised them.

Racoons can make good pets but can also be temperamental. One of ours attacked me from behind once an almost took off my thumb.

 

[Darin115]

I raised 2 baby racoons years ago. Found them with their dead mother in the middle of the highway. Brought them home and raised them on a bottle. One was a male and the other was a female. They loved people for a while. You could turn them out in the yard and they would run and play. When they got tired they would run up your leg and sit one on each shoulder.

As they got older the male got aggressive. He would bite you for no reason. The bigger he got the more aggressive he was. Gave his to a guy that kept him for several years.

I gave the femal to a lady that I met at Walmart. She always wanted a raccoon. She build a huge pin for it. It was a large out building and she made a fenced in outside area for her. She put logs and balls and all kinds of stuff for her to play with. Not sure how old that coon lived to be but she eventually died of old age.

Now I was supposed to have a permit but didn't.

I also met a guy down at Tuckertown dam while I was fishing. He had a 5 gallon bucket and he was netting shad and filling up the bucket. I figured he was going to use them to catfish. I asked where he was going catfishing and he said I am not going fishing. I am catching cat food. I said you must have a bunch of cats. He said nope, just two. I said are you going to freeze the shad and feed them a little at a time. He said no, I have 2 large cats and they will eat these in a week. Then he asked if I wanted to see them. I said sure.

We walked up to his truck and as I got closer I saw 2 BIG cat heads sticking over the dash waiting for his return. I said what kind of cats are those?? He said bobcats. He raised them from kittens when their mother was killed. They were just like house cats. He opened the door and here they came. They did act like house cats. He said the male could be aggressive toward other animals at times but he stayed outside in a lot but the female was as gentle as a kitten and stayed in the house. They played with his dog and other house cats. They were part of the family.

We talked for an hour while the cats ate shad and played in the grass field in front of us. Several people stopped and took pictures. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Also, we were going to a bow shop years ago in the small community of New Hope, NC. We passed the New Hope store and my buddy said there is a huge buck in the parking lot of that store. I said no way. We turned around and went back. No deer. He swore he say it. I went in the store and asked if they saw the buck in the parking lot. He said of course. Just as he said of course here comes this buck walking thru the store toward me. I was speachless. It was in velvet and came up to me wanting a snack. Teh store clerk said he likes crackers. I bought a pack of crackers and fed him. They kept flea powder on him and he lived in the house except during the rutting season. He stayed around for a long time.

The last I heard about the deer was that the store owner gave the deer to Dale Earnhardt. He came from his farm and loaded it on a horse trailer and took it to his farm to live out his days. The reason he had to go was; there is a ballfield adjoining the store. The guy owns both the store and the ballfield. A guy was watching a game eating a hotdog. The deer comes up to the guy and takes a bite of his hotdog. The guy gets ticked and punches the deer in the head. The deer stands up on his hind legs and proceeds to flail the man with his front feet.
The man was going to sue unless they got rid of the deer. So they gave the deer to Earnhardt. I am sure the deer is long since passed now.

Darin

 

[ChickenfootDuckbutt]

One of my cousins "has" red foxes.

they found a litter of kits back in '03 and the momma not even 5 feet from the den, she had died in a snare trap

(no they didn't set it, it was off their property which backs up to a national wilflife park).

anyways, they raised up the kits to be wild and started letting them come and go as they pleased.

one of them, the only vixen, comes to their house every year with her mate to have her kits under their back porch, where she raises them up until they are old enough to go with the parents. "Sasha" is just like a cat, she eats with their outdoor cats, and lets you pet her UNTIL she has a litter of kits, then she wants left alone.

I know in WV you can have pretty much anything depending on where you live, atleast thats how it USED to be.

 

[Avalon1984]

Wow, thank you for sharing those interesting stories!

 

[ChickenfootDuckbutt]

The deer comes up to the guy and takes a bite of his hotdog. The guy gets ticked and punches the deer in the head. The deer stands up on his hind legs and proceeds to flail the man with his front feet

May I?

Man: AMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
deer: Hoootttt dogggggg...

"omnomnomnomnom"
Man:

deer:

I KEEL YOU!!!!

personally if a deer came up to ME and wanted my hotdog, I would think that it was the coolest thing on the planet, I sure as heck wouldn't punch the thing in the head

 

[Avalon1984]

My contribution to the topic.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Now I want another baby coon, they are neat little animals

The females we had when I was younger were the ones who got aggressive, mainly when they started coming in heat. The males were mean to my brother but he deserved it

He would use them as 'bait' for his coon hounds.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
The early days...

We did lose one after some intestinal issue this year and it was terrible. The pain of losing him almost made me never want to have any again.