Raccoons........ Population Density?

[Boyd]

A lot of you who either know me or know of me know that I hate raccoons and dumped coons specially........ But this year has been especially horrible for raccoons for some reason. I am sitting here at a loss because I've lost count with the number of them that I've trapped and shot this year at my house.

What is the population density of these critters? I live in the middle of farmland, with lowlands across the road including ponds, swamps and heavily wooded areas. I know for sure I've removed 30 plus in the last couple of months. Is anyone else having these issues?

 

[patman75]

I live in a similar type area, My nieghbor bought an old farm house that had been abandoned for a few years and when he moved he had to remove 17 raccoons from the house!!!

Another niehgbor has coons dogs and kills about 60 per year hunting the woods in same area every year!!!

So even with the coon hunter killing 60 per year, road kills, neighbors taking out a few and myself killing 4 this year they keep coming back every year.

It is a never ending war.

 

[beefy]

i got tired of trapping after my 9th one. if they leave me alone i'll leave them alone.

 

[fordmommy]

I know that they can have on average between 4-8 babies each litter. So-you can do the math. Lots of coonies.

 

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

I haven't had a big problem, but I am worried about this winter. I had a possum and he got ran over by a car....

I don't have any weapons and if I did, I wouldn't know how to use them. I may have to resort to traps and relocate, but that just causes problems for someone else. But I hear chickens attract these preditors.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Buy some electric poultry netting and you won't have to bother with the racoons anymore.

 

[patman75]

Quote:
You might have someone or a company drumping them off in your area or the raccoons are leaving Flint for the good country life.

 

[Lollipop]

Yup, my place in FL was on a coon highway. 2 1/2 acres on a dirt road in the middle of sprawling development. Had a dry canal at the back edge of my property and coons being run out of developing areas followed that canal, right into my chicken yard. Most of each year I would trap 5-6 per week with very few slack periods. At times (twice), I had 2 coons in the same trap on the same night. I kept a dog sized live trap set 24/7 and baited with a couple whole eggs. Caught coons, possums, foxes, etc. Lost interest in keeping count early on. Can`t talk about The Recipe that helped save my flock on many occasions. You warned me against it.....wink, wink. Sorry to hear you are having problems. There`s no end to coons........Pop

 

[jhm47]

Lots of coons here too, but we are also having a population explosion of mink and skunks. Seems that everything is trying to get our birds. Thankfully, these things seem to go in cycles, and hopefully we will begin the down cycle soon.

 

[RevaVirginia]

Thought I'd share this... Raccoons were on the absolute bottom of my favorite animal list about a week ago. Drove to the store and on my way back 3 teenage coons were just meandering on to the road in a very tight pack and my instinct braking and avoidance was there to save their hides. Almost immediately I pulled onto a dirt turn off to see if they'd try and get back on the road. After about 5 minutes no such luck. At the time I decided to head on home I spotted Momma Coon. She'd been across the road and was heading towards her little ones. <sigh> There was a point in my life that the experience would have been much different. Having chickens has really changed my outlook on them. To answer your question, I have seen more than usual, they've been mostly roadkill. See there's a happy ending

Here's a link that may surprise you..5-10 per square klic rural and as much as 100 per square klic in urban areas. http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=101