Yeah, I don't know what has caused this massive bumper crop. Last year was horrible -- dead coons splattered all over the roads. I haven't seen that sort of highway toll this year, but clearly my little corner of Heaven is well-populated by raccoons.

And they don't hiss, actually. When I walk up to the trap with rifle in hand, they sort of growl. As if to say, "If you'd just let me out, I'd mess you up really bad."

I never considered a golf club as a weapon, but then it would require releasing the little bastards, now, wouldn't it? But if I had to choose, I believe I'd go with a 4-wood. More lift under the chin.

Brand new member here, and thank God for this post! I enjoy having chickens in my backyard and have built a pretty elaborate run and laying house for what had been my 40-50 birds.  I sell the eggs to neighbors for just enough to almost cover the feed, but it's not about the money.  I love having chickens around.  Well, until the last 2-3 weeks.  After 4-5  years of only losing 1 or 2 birds a  year, raccoons have found my chickens and they have utterly decimated my hens.  They are killing 2-3 each night.  I now have only 13 hens and am about a week away from being completely out of my backyard chicken hobby.  I have spent hours securing the pens the last two days only to find two more hens dead and partially eaten this morning.  A small bantam chick with a broken foot was kept in a cage and the cage was opened by one of the vile creatures.  I am at wit's end. I dread getting up in the morning to see the latest carnage.  I harbor no animosity to animals in the wild, but I would kill these particular raccoons with my bare hands if I could.  So I did a search and found this thread.  I will have some Golden Malrin within the hour. I will apply it to some Mtn Dew, Grape soda, whatever it takes.  I plan to put out the mixture at night and take it up before the chickens come off the roost.  I don't want these raccoons relocated.  I want them dead and I want to see them dead, like that marvelous example in your picture.  Because after losing chickens that were more like pets than livestock, it's now personal.

Thank you for the welcome! Seems like a great site with good people!

Well, I was disappointed to find the feed n seed closed for the 4th so no Golden Malrin.  A man who undoubtedly used GM had told me about a product a month ago that was blue and came in a metal can that he used to eradicate feral cats around his property.  He couldn't remember the name and the fellow at the store sold me something else instead.  It's called QuickBayt for flies and the active ingredient is Imclaprodin or something like that.  It has been a huge disappointment.  I've put it all over fish carcasses (I am a part-time guide and have lots of fish parts!), left over fried chicken, etc etc.  Whatever I leave out is completely gone by morning, but I've seen NO dead animals of any kind and the predation on my chickens has only increased since I started.  I've observed two foxes crossing my yard (my son shot one through the eye with the first shot he ever made with a rifle!) and my neighbors reported seeing a coyote crossing the road.  I live in rural Georgia and I've had no issues in the past with predators.  But I've observed the coon with a dying chicken in its mouth twice now in less than a week.  So I made due with the best I could tonight.  I loaded up two aluminum pans with QuickBayt and added some pepsi to both.  I put them in opposite directions from the pen on two trail areas (both of which show recent evidence of slain chickens).  I'm crossing my fingers I will see my first poisoned raccoon soon.  To answer the earlier question, my plan is to keep poisoning until the predation stops or there is some poisoned food remaining in the dishes by morning.  (I take up the poison before sun up to avoid killing my birds.)

We'll see how this goes.  I plan on buying a can of the "good stuff" on my way to work tomorrow morning.  Thanks again for all the advice!