WOW 100 racoons

[scooter147]

I contacted our animal control officer today to see if they would come out and set a trap to catch a racoon that is destroying my place. It has ripped my chicken run gate to shreds, chewed two holes through the privacy fence that I use on one side of my run, has turned over an broken at least 6 flower pots, ate all my tomatoes and has started on my grapes on and on and on. My coop is like Fort Knox (I hope) so I am not too worried about the hens.
Anyway she told me that since April 1st she has trapped 100 racoons in my township. Now I live in St Louis County Missouri and my neighborhood still has a "rural" feel to it and we do have a lot of wildlife for a suburban area. We have mainly three acre lots etc. but I thought 100 racoons in basically 4 months was a lot. She only sets traps on those she gets complaints on. I have tried to trap him myself with everything from hotdogs, marshmellows, dry and wet cat food and no luck. He either is very smart or too big to fit into my hav-a-heart. Animal control has the ones that are big enough to trap coyotes so I am hoping this coon will fit into it or feel comfortable going into a big trap.

 

[aprophet]

if you are just trying to catch coons try digging a hole under the trap put you bait in the hole then center the trigger of the trap over the bait. put a cinder block or 2 on top of the trap to keep the critters from flipping the trap I use re bar to drive down through the trap at opposite corners. It helps to use 3-6 traps on the same nights it also helps to change baits and move your traps a coupla times a month molasses and fish work the best for me with grey fox and coon. The trap need to be minimum of 10 X 12 X 30 for a raccoon somewhat larger for a grey fox. if you catch 6-8 coons in one night it does not take long to get to 100

 

[moetrout]

100 coons sounds like a lot, but I bet that's not even half of them. Last year my uncle shot 200 coons in one week from one single 80 acre corn field! he said he would release the dogs and then walk the perimeter and shoot them out of the trees. Coons are very prolific.

 

[sourland]

Hopefully you are not dealing with a trap smart coon that was trapped and relocated by some good samaritan. I have no problem believing that she has caught in excess of 100 coons. When rabies was epidemic in this area, I would see 4 or 5 sick coons daily. Our animal control agent would only dealt with coons that had contact with people or domestic animals. His recommendation was to shoot and bury the rest.

 

[birdicus7]

If you would like to try your hand at catching your racoon again, try a can of sardines as bait. Do not open the can but puncture holes in it with a can opener and slide it in your trap. Works all the time. Good Luck!

 

[scooter147]

Quote:
When I talked to her today she said their would be a correction in the population this spring in the form of distemper and she then she would really be busy when people started see them during the day.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

100?! WOW, I wonder how far they were re locating them....it might be the same ones coming back..although that is a lot of them....Good Luck. I caught one so far, but I haven't seen any signs. the last one left dropping on top of the hen house and that's why I set the trap..the first 2 nights I caught my cat....the third night I was not expecting to catch anything except the cat again, but I was surprised. I guess it beat the cat to the trap.....maybe I should set it each night though...now I'm very concerned.

 

[scooter147]

I set my trap last night with wet cat food. Well the little devil rolled the trap about 6 feet and managed to get the cat food to fall out of the can and ate it all. Smart devil. I may have to put on my Elmer Fudd hat and go sit in the dark with my 20 guage this Friday night and wait for him to show up. ;-)

 

[CMV]

D'Angelo N Va. :

...I wonder how far they were re locating them...

They are being relocated to the nearest incinerator. Animal control does not typically relocate trapped animals because of the risk of spreading diseases. Animal control officers are fully cognizant of the dangers as they get to deal with sick animals every day. They are also not swayed by a set of sad eyes because those sad eyes have a set of sharp teeth underneath that officers have been introduced to on more than one occasion, no doubt.​

 

[booker81]

Quote:
They are being relocated to the nearest incinerator..

Bad of me, but this made me really laugh out loud.

We don't tolerate coons here. Their pelt is worth more than them being alive to us. We just give them to a friend who does a lot of fur trading, he helps us out a lot, so it's kinda payment to him.