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Right, that would keep ME away from the coop for four months! Don't mean to be rude, but do you know anything about coons? I'm a trapper, and have caught coon using (for bait) meat so rotten it would gag a vulture.
Do you think you're sending the raccoons a message by hanging a gutted carcass of one of their own kin? Trust me, they don't care. Have you never noticed how many coons are killed on the road in the same places, night after night, year after year? These animals walk past two or three rotting brethren to meet their own end in traffic. Wild animals have neither the time nor the inclination to sit around pondering their own or others' mortality. If the surviving members of the dead coons clan think at all about the hanging corpse, it would be something like, "oh well, more chicken for me".
Not to mention, a rotting pile of meat near the coop will surely breed tons of flies, offend your neighbors, and attract many more varmints (possum, skunk, fox, coyote, and the ever-present stray dog), all of which would just love to take a crack at your poultry.
Really, sunflowerenvy, no offense, but you can't be serious!
We took them to a wooded area that has a bayou running through it. I feel that is the best place take them...We can't shoot the 22 in the neighborhood, unless we wanted the cops to show up at our house. Coons are going to be a problems for anyone that lives near a wooded area, I don't think I did anything wrong taking them away. And I'm definitely not going to hang the carcass on the run...I don't think my neighbors would appreciate the smell and I also have to walk by there daily....
The highest concentration of raccoons that I've ever seen was in Arlington, Texas. There was a high end apartment complex where the residents fed them. I saw at least a dozen one day. I always worry because these raccoons will not be afraid of humans because of this. What if some one's child gets bitten trying to play with one?
I'm not going to argue about what everyone thinks is right and wrong. Each person has their own opinion and they could go on forever. Two less coons for me to worry about killing anymore of my chickens. Whats done is done, end of story.
I'm with you. I'm of the mind that I bought a house close to the woods, what did I think was going to live nearby? I chose to live here where wildlife has been long before me or any of my neighbors. My approach is to make the coop and run safe, not kill the wildlife because they are doing what they have been doing forever ~ make the most of ever opportunity. I have yet to see any evidence that people have or deserve more rights than any of mother nature's other creatures, especially since we are more destructive of nature and the other creatures actually fit in the cycle of life.
Now the feral cats that people have domesticated and turned loose to wreak havoc, I will turn over to the animal control for proper disposal.
Release or not to release, I'm not going to get into the discussion but it seems to me that if you could have shot them without attracting undue attention you would have, therefore perhaps you may want a less dramatic method for next time.
If the traps fit in your bath it doesn't take long - you don't have to watch, leave it thirty minutes to be absolutely sure.
If they don't fit in your bath or you don't want that sort of image everytime you're having a soak, take them to a quiet pond or river but put some rope on your traps or you might lose them.
If you are out in the country take them to your nearest farmer (after phoning him) he'll know exactly what to do and he'll probably make good use of the meat and pelts.
Yes, living in the country brings wildlife with it, I'm not advocating an all out killing spree on any wild animal but sometimes you need to protect the things you have. Just because they are furry animals doesn't make them any different to a wasps nest in your porch or fire ants in your lawn. People have no more rights than any other creature, that's why raccoons and all predators have no qualms about killing any animal they want to eat (or sometimes kill for fun), they also have no qualms about attacking anything they think might attack their young. People are just animals so we should have no qualms about it either, but then we have morals that, presumably, other animals don't and that's what makes it so difficult to decide what to do.