Racoon: Now I am MAD!!!!Need help!!!

[can you hear me now?]

Well as an update I have gotten 3 coons 2 opposums this summer. I finally found my weak spot where I had stapled some wire on top of the coop that had gotten pulled up and have since fixed the door. I am down to 5 chickens but I know when I finish my fort Knox project this year for all the breeds I want to get going they will not get in. Thanks to all that took the time to post and give good information.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I personally like to roast my coons in a big cast iron pot and add sweet potatoes toward the end when they get tender and serve them over rice. It offsets the damage I might have suffered

 

[TriciaHowe]

Sorry for your losses. My black lab and golden retriever have been my best detterents so far. Before I had them though I had a coon tear the legs off of all my 2 week old chicks through the coated wire bottom. Never would I have thought that they could have pulled their legs through. That was the last draw. I trapped several coons and possums after that and that's when I got my pups (adopted from the animal shelter

). Haven't lost a bird to a wild predator since the dogs were old enough to know to chase off the critters....

 

[trinacliff]

I love animals, but can't stand raccoons...or coyotes. Does anyone know if coons can climb a concrete block wall? I wouldn't think so, but then I'm sure stranger things have happened...LOL! I have read that they can't jump.

Thanks,

Kristen

 

[chauqg]

Do not live trap him...... Use a conibear trap to kill him. I have shot them, snare trapped them, and used conibear traps. Conibear is the best method - inexpensive too $18.00. I dont have coon trouble any more, but my trap is always ready. Last one I killed was in the spring. He was in the garden. Put the trap in a 5 gallon bucket or container; cut slots in both sides to accommodate the springs; bait into the inside bottom of the bucket with anchovies before the trap is installed in the slots, then set trap and place it into the bucket (carry it & bait in bucket/container); ONLY release locks/safetys when at point where you have installed bucket. Keeping it up keeps dogs out, but not cats. Have killed several feral cats, but what the hey. THey would have killed my girls too.

http://tinyurl.com/yjpvtq9

The trap has a chain to wire on to a tree or steel stake to keep the animal contained. Trap kills quickly, but a very large coon can try to pull it away. He will not succeed and his tail will be on Davie Crockett's hat.

Careful handling coons... they carry round worms on their feet.

Good Luck!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I also am convinced that you can kill it with a trap. Great-grandpa was a trapper and I have 2 of his traps. My dad used one when he had a coon problem but it didn't work out so well. One of his young turkeys somehow got trapped and he brought it to me. He wanted me to amputate the broken leg. I wouldn't do it, but I did figure out a splint and put it in seclusion.....it didn't work out so well, but I tried. I would say Dad could have had good success, if he had considered more possible complications and planned better. Well.....live and learn.
I have a live trap....well 2 of them really and I have caught chickens in it also, but then again, I wasn't worried because I knew it couldn't hurt them. If I felt I needed to I would set up all 4 of my traps....mine and Great-grandpa's.

 

[chauqg]

Quote:
Rhoda,

leg traps capture and do not kill. What type of trap do you have leg traps cause animal to suffer until you finish it off. They were developed for later processing of the pelt. Conibear type kill traps do it now - designed for immediate kill - (on #220) with 90 pound crushing jaws. Put your traps up in containers so your birds and other pets can not get at them where coons will easily hunt down the bait. The only problem I have had is with feral cats getting killed - they like fish too. Have had coons, foxes and always hawks; the only lost one bird to predation and that was a coon years ago. Guess I have killed 15+ coons in 10 years using the same conibear traps - Hope my luck lasts!

Cheerz

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I suppose it might be called a leg trap. My great-grand did mention that he sometimes had to finish off the animals.....minks and such. And of course, sometimes he didn't. I know there are some people that have different views than me and not to sound ugly, but I might be a little harder than most. I can kill. I prefer to use my live traps, however. I say live traps, because it will stay alive until I find it. If it is a coon, it is going to be cooked. I want a fresh kill, don't I? And there are a few other things that aren't leaving the trap alive either. They did cost me a good deal of money, but when you consider what will happen if you don't have one, that is even more expensive.
If my coop was imperfect........as I have experienced long ago, then I would need a trap almost all the time. But I have been lucky this go round. Husband fixed me a coop that is really well put together. But if I get scared, for whatever reason and I think I need to do something, all the chickens will stay cooped and there will be 4 traps set. 2 live and 2 otherwise. Actually I consider the latter 2 to be more antiques and a personal gift than anything else, but I will use them if I need to.

 

[doubled]

http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zracoon.html

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Oh thanx........cool site......I'm going to keep it.

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