Ways to get rid of coon?

[Chickerdoodle13]

I've had a coon problem recently. He's taken up to breaking through everything I've set up to keep him out. Just short of putting chicken wire around every cage, I think I just need to get rid of him. My dad and I reinforced my cages, but I don't know what else to do. He's been reaching his hands through the cages now and just killed one of my bantam barred rocks that I was planning on breeding.

I have a have a hart trap. How can I bait this? I figure I can get my friend to let me borrow his gun to take care of it if I catch it, but what is the best way to set it up?

Is there anything else I can do? I haven't had a problem during the seven years I've had birds and all of a sudden I feel like I keep waking up to dead birds no matter what I do. I want to pull out my hair! Grrrr!

 

[Arklady]

I hear they love boiled eggs a lot. Possums love cat food... I never had a coon problem myself. But I did have someone steal 10 chickens one night.

Good luck.

Arklady

 

[silkiechicken]

I used marshmellows and a well placed hav a heart trap around a corner of the chicken cage. Got him!

 

[Bailey]

For a Hav-a-hart trap- bait the trap with sardines, catfood etc... stnky is good
I'd haul the little blighter out into the boonies- you can call the conservation dept in your state and they'll usually come get them to relocate- If you feel justice must be served-(understandable) drop the entire trap in a barrel of water- make sure to reset it to get all the young ones- This time of year you may be dealing with a family- momma and babies-
I use a hot wire-to keep vermin away from the chickens ( 135 of them) use the fiberglass poles and electrify an outer perimeter chicken wire fence-
Leave lights on round the pens- put the dog house close to the pens or where the varmits are getting in your yard-

We just caught a young female Procyon lotor this evening- Bubba had it treed on a fence post. We snagged it in a fish net and put it in an old ferret cage- She was seriously upset but, crawled up to the top level. We gave it cat cood and water, some watermelon, covered the cage with a tarp
We'll spend a few days to see if she's young enough to tame - as much as you can tame a raccoon- If not, we'll release her over on the lake- Corps of Engineers camp grounds and lots of Pik-a-nik baskets
Had we not captured it it would likely have been hit on the highway- endangering my dog and cats as "street pizza"

 

[usbr]

Quote:
Its unethical and in places illegal to relocate a coon after you trap them. All you end up doing is spreading desease to a different area, upsetting the balance in that location and if one or more of the coons dont die a slow lingering death from fighting with each other, it at mininum gives somebody else a nice gift of a problem coon. Sad but if a coon must be trapped, it muct be humainly taken out. I agree though, this time of year means more than one coon.

You can bait the trap with about anything but start with what the coons want, chicken food and eggs, its too hard to bait the trap with a live chicken. If you have other barn yard animals around, it may be eating thier food too so you could bait with that. Coons are easy unless they get trap smart, which can be easy with the hav-a-heart. Set it light, make sure the linkage is free (not rubbing on anything) and consider making the trip bar a platform so the coon has no choise but to step on it to get the bait.

HTH

 

[wendy]

Quote:
we have 13 acres and we put out corn for the deer. i don't know how many yards away from our house and chicken pen and coop. but i see the coon day and night going to the corn, maybe you can use the corn. this coon has been making a nice eating out of God knows what. this is the largest coon i have ever seen. i had to get the binoculars to see if i was seeing it right

our chicken coop is not far from our house at all and we have a outside dog that would help keep things like that away i think. best of luck, tell us what ends up working for you

 

[Alleyoops25]

If you wanted to try to use a live chicken as bait and not let it get eaten place you chick in a dog crate. then place the dog crate behind the live trap. We have done this and it works great. If you rather not do this then go with smelly foods, like canned dog or cat foods, Sardines or tuna. I have also found that they love shinny objects. Anyway good luck and happy hunting

 

[Poison Ivy]

I use moist & dry cat food and bacon. I usually catch about 8 raccoon a year and a few possums too. I drown mine in a ex large garabge can. Others here don't like it but I'm not comfortable using a gun. Hope you catch him before he kills anymore of your birds.

 

[ncflowerpower]

We use a live trap and bait it with chicken bones or sometimes the remains of the night befores kill.

Here it is illegal to relocate.

Donna

 

[Deanw]

They can't resist marshmallows.