Raccon problem - do you have some solutions?

[loiseee]

I am in Arkansas, and had a huge problem with Racoons and Opposums. LOL!! I would set the trap and use cat food, they would get in, take the cat food and let themselves out or drag the trap and roll it over so now I have a garbage can with the trap inside of it, I wired one side of the trap to the handle so they could not drag it out and they can not get down the side of the trap to get the bait either. They LOVE sunflowers seeds, raw by the way.I put in a cup or so just behind the flap, and a few in fron of it, has worked great for me, in 1 month I caught 12 raccoons, and 6 opposums, I do have 1 large male still here that will not go into the trap, so am going to set it out by the horse water tank, that is where he is drinking, I see his foot prints but he is no longer in my barn. If I am not lucky the day I catch one to get one of my neighbors, I just take a very LONG drive out to the national forest and find a creek or river and let them go, and you have to go 20 miles or more.

Good luck.

Lois


sorry, I lay the garbage can on its side with some type of weight on both sides so the garbage can does to roll.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

kill em with the .22 mag

 

[Kelly G]

Well....we caught a rather large possum last night. I wonder if that was the one not going in the cage. I have NO idea. This is a big P.I.A.

I re-set the trap with the same can of anchovies from last night - do you think this will still attract anything?

I am very discouraged reading so many of these posts. The wildlife officer I talked to (who could not advocate what we were doing, but still gave us some information), advised us that 10 miles away, close to a river, and with trees would be far enough with good enough resources that they would not be likely to come back.

Also, there are several highways between here and there....so maybe cars will be on my side!

I'm so discouraged.

 

[bobbi-j]

The problem with relocating as has been stated in many, many other threads is, you're very likely dumping your now trap-smart problem on someone else. Just shoot the thing (or have one of your neighbors do so) and be done with it. That's far more humane than hoping it gets hit by a car and possibly suffering because it didn't die right away. Not to mention all the other issues with relocating an animal in what is possibly another animal's territory. That's a whole different can of worms (or sardines!)

 

[Kelly G]

The area they are moved to is not populated - it's about 10 miles outside of "town"


However....I'm slowly moving into the "shoot 'em" camp.

 

[deerman]

I USE EGGS break a few on the trigger plate, they go in to lick up the eggs. eggs will not catch stray cats.



Laws in your State on relocating raccoon.........you must have the land owner permission. I for one would be shooting at someone releasing them on my land. Lucky I'm in Ohio it illegal here.



Trap and Remove Them: If it's legal to do so in your state, you can trap and remove the raccoons. It's illegal in many states to relocate raccoons, because they are rabies vectors. However, it's legal to relocate them here in Florida. However, it's not legal to relocate them on public lands. You must do so on private land that you have permission to relocate on. Remember, relocated raccoons want to get back to their original territory, so you should bring them at least ten miles - yes, ten miles - from the capture site.

 

[bakerjw]

Needless to say a raccoon proof coop is a necessity.
It was hard to shoot my first trapped raccoon. Now it is second nature.
My wife gets up before me and oftentimes she'll see me get up half asleep and walk outside with a rifle. Shortly thereafter there'll be a pop and I'll come in and start getting ready for work. Ole Mr. Raccoon goes off to freezer camp until garbage day. They migrate into the area and I keep thinning down their numbers.

They're cute adorable animals that will ravage your investment given the chance.

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
I don't think 10 miles is far enough away, they will come back.
I move mine 40 miles away, deep into the logging areas, usually near a source of water. They never come back or they have been killed and eaten by a cougar.

 

[Mattemma]

I just caught another coon last night. This was a BIG one and almost broke from the 1089 havahart cage when I was dealing with it.Be careful once you do get that coon.Possums don't seem to fight much,but those coons can get nasty.Oh and I put cantelope in the cage last night.The night before I tossed in an apple and got a coon.Day before that was the possum and it went for a carrot.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
WHILE THEY ARE IN THE CAGE PAINT A PINK STRIPE DOWN THE CRITTERS BACK WHEN IT MAKES IT BACK IT WILL BE EASY TO identify