What to do about the raccoons?

[Folly's place]

That's right, no fire near that stuff! Some of ours is years old (neglectful gardening, guilty), but I will try the rake.
mary

 

[Folly's place]

Sorry to hijack this thread, it's about raccoons, not my weeds!
Mary

 

[Sydney65]

Sorry to hijack this thread, it's about raccoons, not my weeds!
Mary

 

[thomasj]

It can be evil stuff! here we have poison ivy, Virginia creeper, and wild grapes, all taking over the world!
Mary

You must be my neighbor. I have poison ivy and that bittersweet climbing thing on the walls of my shop. (now that I know what that climbing weed is) I also have wild grapes all over my property but all of those plants are scrawny and not taking over like the blueberries and blackberries.

As far as poison ivy is concerned, the stuff out here doesn't bother me as much as others so I just put on the gloves, clip the vine at it's base and pull it from the wall.

 

[Folly's place]

One of my aunts said the same thing, until the summer her immune system said "Enough"! and reacted big time!
Mary

 

[thomasj]

Today, I went back into town for traps. I wanted 2 but they only had 1. I brought it home and set it with a can of tuna cat food. At 6PM I looked out the front door and there was mother raccoon feeding at the guinea's trough. I got a shot off but at 74, my aim is not stable enough to actually hit anything from a distance even with the scope. I will need to set up some sort of brace at the front door to steady my aim in case the opportunity comes around again.

It was interesting that I also had trapped one of the 5 cubs but she paid no attention him while feeding. I want over to the trap and tried pointing the muzzle of my riffle through the trap wire but it was difficult to line up a kill shot through the trap because of it's wire grid is rather small. This time, there was no reservation or remorse for what I had to do. After giving it a lot of thought, I have come to terms that any creature that comes around and threatens me and mine, it's them or me. I placed the carcass at the edge of a ravine, cleaned the blood out of the trap, and set it for the next one. One down and 5 more to go.

 

[Folly's place]

Sad but necessary! Baby raccoons grow up, and these already know about chicken dinners.
I prefer to bury them deep, not leave them out there though. Or wrap in the garbage, or bury down a woodchuck hole...
Mary

 

[thomasj]

...We’re in a county where we can’t shoot critters My neighbor lost 5 chickens a few months ago. 1 to a coyote and 3 to Racoons

Shooting critters for no reason is one thing but when you are on your own property and you have a preditor looking at your flock as dinner, I would put that equal to shooting a home invader that came in to harm you and your family. No law should prohibit you from protecting you and yours on your own property.

 

[Folly's place]

Living on the boondocks is so very nice! No HOA, no rules against roosters, lots of space outside, especially wonderful during this pandemic.
Mary

 

[Big Doggie]

Relocation for me is an act of futility where I live. I have a forrest full of them. All I can do is stand my ground.

I feel bad when I have to kill something. Where I live is farm and livestock country. The local farmers around here were born and raised to hunt for food and protect their livestock. Some of my local friends were raised on hunting racoon to put meet on the table. I moved here from L.A. and while I am a carnivour, I don't have that bread into me. But, I will do what I have to do.

It seems that free ranging the girls is inherently dangerous to them. The predators will keep coming and coming in various forms. You can’t protect them all, all of the time.