How To KILL A Raccoon That's Raiding Your Garden

Started by tbone0106, August 24, 2011, 06:48:20 PM

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SWMP

#60
Becoming a little more aware of the need to be self sufficient, after years of becoming more active with firearms, planning including LT food storage, etc., I took the extreme step of buying two pre-potted tomato plants from our local garden store.  These tomato plants in their pots with attached tomato cages were carefully nurtured on our spacious Trex deck, watered twice or more times per day using our retractable Frontgate hose reel recently plumbed onto our deck.

I think you get the picture.......

Our lot backs up to hundreds of acres of wilderness, thousands of acres if you count the hillsides along the Ohio River.

I watched as our tomato plants created tasty tomatoes almost ripe enough to pick.  Then came the ravaging raccoons.  I thought about trapping and shooting the critters (I can do so with a suppressed .22) but figured I'd tear up the cage or worse catch or cause a ricochet.  Along came GM from Tractor Supply.  I put a pan out that was licked clean, but no raccoons.  That said, the group of 4-6 raccoons I had on a wildlife video seem to be gone (the mix must have been just right assuming they all went home for a final nap).  A single raccoon walked by our back door a night or so later, setting off the motion light and was then caught in the act of ravaging my vast tomato farm.  This raccoon seems to have visited the refilled pan the following (last) night and fell victim to the high fructose syrup in the mixture.  I picked him up this morning about a foot from the pan.

After our heavily attended 4th of July party we had two large wheeled garbage cans that were overstuffed.  Figuring that the raccoons would hit the cans. I poured another bowl and set it by the cans.  The raccoon(s) did hit the cans, but couldn't get in and only created a small mess.  The freshly poured bowl was ignored to my surprise.  The first pan may, however, have caught the culprit as described earlier.

Both the pan and the bowl are working again tonight.

The only concern I have is that wildlife, by its nature will fill in any gaps created by the mix.  Hopefully I will get a tomato or two off my plants and will succeed in living off the land (or at least the deck).

Solar

Quote from: SWMP on July 05, 2012, 09:13:19 PM
Becoming a little more aware of the need to be self sufficient, after years of becoming more active with firearms, planning including LT food storage, etc., I took the extreme step of buying two pre-potted tomato plants from our local garden store.  These tomato plants in their pots with attached tomato cages were carefully nurtured on our spacious Trex deck, watered twice or more times per day using our retractable Frontgate hose reel recently plumbed onto our deck.

I think you get the picture.......

Our lot backs up to hundreds of acres of wilderness, thousands of acres if you count the hillsides along the Ohio River.

I watched as our tomato plants created tasty tomatoes almost ripe enough to pick.  Then came the ravaging raccoons.  I thought about trapping and shooting the critters (I can do so with a suppressed .22) but figured I'd tear up the cage or worse catch or cause a ricochet.  Along came GM from Tractor Supply.  I put a pan out that was licked clean, but no raccoons.  That said, the group of 4-6 raccoons I had on a wildlife video seem to be gone (the mix must have been just right assuming they all went home for a final nap).  A single raccoon walked by our back door a night or so later, setting off the motion light and was then caught in the act of ravaging my vast tomato farm.  This raccoon seems to have visited the refilled pan the following (last) night and fell victim to the high fructose syrup in the mixture.  I picked him up this morning about a foot from the pan.

After our heavily attended 4th of July party we had two large wheeled garbage cans that were overstuffed.  Figuring that the raccoons would hit the cans. I poured another bowl and set it by the cans.  The raccoon(s) did hit the cans, but couldn't get in and only created a small mess.  The freshly poured bowl was ignored to my surprise.  The first pan may, however, have caught the culprit as described earlier.

Both the pan and the bowl are working again tonight.

The only concern I have is that wildlife, by its nature will fill in any gaps created by the mix.  Hopefully I will get a tomato or two off my plants and will succeed in living off the land (or at least the deck).
Welcome SWMP, glad you joined.
It appears T has got quite a following on this thread, all with the same issue, an overpopulation of coons.
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Sword of Justice

A big thumbs up to Golden Malrin!  :thumbsup:

First night = Success! (Although it wasn't exactly what I was seeking).  Opossums and skunks have been all-too-frequent univited guests and have eaten a lot of eggs from my laying boxes.

Last night I placed out three eggs with cracked shells and GM for their inspection.  This morning's result is shown below.  One egg gone and one possum down.

It appears the "lead poisoning" administered the night before resulted in the first night free of terror and predation for my chickens in over a month.  Sure wished I could have saved the 20 or more birds lost to these pests.  Now I just hope I can save the small number remaining.  I'll keep everyone posted, and thank you!


Sword of Justice

Hooray! Photobucket works!  :thumbup:

Here's the pic of the notorious chicken killer that finally met its fate.  No pen full of feathers and chicken parts this morning!  A small measure of revenge perhaps, but it felt extremely satisfying! :biggrin:


tbone0106

Quote from: Sword of Justice on July 06, 2012, 05:08:46 AM
Hooray! Photobucket works!  :thumbup:

Here's the pic of the notorious chicken killer that finally met its fate.  No pen full of feathers and chicken parts this morning!  A small measure of revenge perhaps, but it felt extremely satisfying! :biggrin:


Now THAT is the way I like raccoons -- DEAD.  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Good shooting, young man, and best wishes for many happy returns of the event!

Sword of Justice

Well, when I gathered my two pans of GM this morning, I thought that perhaps nothing had ventured near them.  That was OK because I still had all my chickens once again for the 2nd straight night.  And this after I was losing 1-3 every night for a month.  However, by late afternoon, I began to detect the "sweet smell of success"...well, let me change that.  There was nothing sweet about that stench in the 100°F Georgia afternoon, except that it meant that mixture I learned about here had scored another success.  A bit of trampling through the underbrush revealed a wonderful sight....a very large, and VERY dead, male raccoon approximately 10 ft from my chicken coop and less than 6 ft from where the pan of GM had been last night. He had buried himself in the thick cover but I pulled him out for a quick photo shoot. This was the first attempt with the grape soda, and I couldn't be more pleased.  If GM put out hats and t-shirts, I'd gladly buy one of each to wear proudly! Thanks so much tbone....I'm beginning to have hope I can save my few chickens after all.




tbone0106

I like to call each one "Bluebeard" in the unkindest way possible. Ain't it cute how they shuffle off this mortal coil with that blue stain all over their faces?

You're obviously catching on. Congrats! A habit I've developed is to walk around each evening and inspect my bait stands, paying special attention to how full they are. The soda pop mix is remarkably resistant to evaporation, so it doesn't change much from day to day. In the morning I do the same thing, and if it appears that one has been disturbed or the liquid level is down, I start looking around. The farthest a 'coon has ever traveled from one of my stands is maybe 30 feet, and he was a tough old boar that probably went at least 25 pounds. If they don't just fall dead next to the bait, they seem to try to get to the nearest cover.

Looking back over my older posts on the subject, I don't see where I mentioned wearing gloves. WEAR GLOVES when you handle GM! It is DEADLY poison to animals in general, including the human kind. Damn, that's the sort of thing I should have mentioned already, ain't it?

Maybe I should write a manual, and then we'll see how long the Fish & Wildlife folks take to show up at my door with a warrant and guns.  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 07, 2012, 05:48:08 PM
I like to call each one "Bluebeard" in the unkindest way possible. Ain't it cute how they shuffle off this mortal coil with that blue stain all over their faces?

You're obviously catching on. Congrats! A habit I've developed is to walk around each evening and inspect my bait stands, paying special attention to how full they are. The soda pop mix is remarkably resistant to evaporation, so it doesn't change much from day to day. In the morning I do the same thing, and if it appears that one has been disturbed or the liquid level is down, I start looking around. The farthest a 'coon has ever traveled from one of my stands is maybe 30 feet, and he was a tough old boar that probably went at least 25 pounds. If they don't just fall dead next to the bait, they seem to try to get to the nearest cover.

Looking back over my older posts on the subject, I don't see where I mentioned wearing gloves. WEAR GLOVES when you handle GM! It is DEADLY poison to animals in general, including the human kind. Damn, that's the sort of thing I should have mentioned already, ain't it?

Maybe I should write a manual, and then we'll see how long the Fish & Wildlife folks take to show up at my door with a warrant and guns.  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:
I took care of it T, glad you mentioned it, I'd hate for someone handle food or something after dealing with this stuff..
You may want to mention disposal, since this is still deadly to say, a dog getting a hold of a carcass.
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tbone0106

Quote from: Solar on July 07, 2012, 06:09:35 PM
I took care of it T, glad you mentioned it, I'd hate for someone handle food or something after dealing with this stuff..
You may want to mention disposal, since this is still deadly to say, a dog getting a hold of a carcass.
Yeah, that's an issue for sure, one I hadn't brought up. If you don't have a handy landfill or a bottomless pit, there is the problem of disposing of the carcasses. In my experience, dogs, coyotes and other scavengers, including turkey buzzards, do not touch a victim of GM. There is apparently some taint to the carcass that discourages them.

I'm lucky enough to have about 1.5 acres of low-lying land behind my property -- a sort of semi-swamp that is wet enough that the farmer won't seed it and no one really wants to do anything else with it -- and with the farmer's permission, I scatter the carcasses in the grass to decompose in the sun. That seems to handle my custom -- roughly 20 animals so far this season. Of course, SOJ, your season is obviously year-round, since you're in Georgia and trying to protect chickens, and you may need to think about what to do with those dead 'coons in the winter months. (You worry about chickens, I worry about sweet corn and tomatoes.)

GM has been around for something like 30 years, and there are no reports of domestic or wild animal kills connected to its use, except when it's combined with, say, meat as an attractant. (If you've been close enough to GM to smell it, you know THAT ain't what's bringing in the 'coons -- or anything else. PHEEEWWW!)

tbone0106

Quote from: Eyesabide on August 24, 2011, 10:38:43 PM
It will kill other critters, but is more effective if you mix it with peanut butter or milk to do so.
I have not heard or found out if the meat will be tainted from it though. If not for human consumption, can the Racoon meat be fed to dogs to supplement their feeding in a survival situation? ( If the coon was killed with Golden Malrin? )
In my experience, dogs won't touch the meat, nor will cats, coyotes, buzzards or other scavengers we have around here, like possums and skunks. The GM has an AWFUL smell, and I suspect that may be why. I would not feed it, no matter how processed, to my livestock or pets.

tbone0106

For the benefit of one and all, and in an effort to protect my precious ass, I offer the Material Safety Data Sheet for Golden Malrin. For those of you who are not familiar with MSDS's, they are useful guidelines that describe the safety issues associated with a substance you may come into contact with. Any time a substance that may be harmful to humans goes to market, OSHA and other agencies require that an MSDS be issued at the same time.

The MSDS for Golden Malrin is here in PDF form.

Golden Malrin is not designed to kill raccoons; it is designed to kill flies. My recommendation of the product for killing raccoons is not illegal, any more than my use of unleaded gasoline to help me start a fire is illegal. But it goes against the product label's recommendations, and may get your local fish & wildlife contingent motivated to get better acquainted with you.

As always, you use the information presented here at your own risk. It tickles the living shit out of me that folks are seeing benefits from GM in their own lives. BE CAREFUL!!!!

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 07, 2012, 07:46:23 PM
In my experience, dogs won't touch the meat, nor will cats, coyotes, buzzards or other scavengers we have around here, like possums and skunks. The GM has an AWFUL smell, and I suspect that may be why. I would not feed it, no matter how processed, to my livestock or pets.
Not to mention, the meat would be horrible tasting considering all the adrenaline rushing through the blood stream.
If you've ever had venison that was killed on a chase, you know what I'm talking about as compared to a clean kill, where the animal drops in it's tracks.
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jrweflen

I love this post and all of the replies!  I live in Indiana, NOT in a rural area. We live in town, and I have never seen raccoons on our property until this year. In past years, I have seen an occasional opossum, but this year, raccoons are EVERYWHERE. They come on our front porch where we put cat food out for our outdoor cats. I have 4 kids, and I really do not want these disgusting, disease-carrying animals on my property,especially since they even come up to the porch in the middle of the day.  There is a very large momma raccoon, and 4 of her kids, and they are very aggressive.  Even when I go out to scare them off the porch, they don't seem to be afraid of me. We are in the middle of a drought, so maybe that's what is bringing them out so much this year. They roam around our neighborhood in about a 4 block radius, and they even got into our neighbor's swimming pool to get water, and tore the liner with their claws. I was worried that they might attack our cats, so I wanted to get rid of them. My dad lives one block down from us, and one of his friends told him about GM. He tried it mixed with Coca Cola, and the next morning he found a dead coon about 10 feet from the bowl. This was 4 nights ago, and he has put it out every night since then, and every time he has found a dead coon the next morning.  He told ME about it, and last night I tried it for the first time, and I actually looked out our front window last night just in time to see 2 of the coons licking the bowl clean! This morning, I collected the dead coon, which had actually made it about 15 feet before it died. Between me and my dad, the bodies are really starting to pile up! I mixed it a little stronger tonight, and put out another bowl.  Good riddance!

tbone0106

Quote from: jrweflen on July 07, 2012, 09:37:23 PM
I love this post and all of the replies!  I live in Indiana, NOT in a rural area. We live in town, and I have never seen raccoons on our property until this year. In past years, I have seen an occasional opossum, but this year, raccoons are EVERYWHERE. They come on our front porch where we put cat food out for our outdoor cats. I have 4 kids, and I really do not want these disgusting, disease-carrying animals on my property,especially since they even come up to the porch in the middle of the day.  There is a very large momma raccoon, and 4 of her kids, and they are very aggressive.  Even when I go out to scare them off the porch, they don't seem to be afraid of me. We are in the middle of a drought, so maybe that's what is bringing them out so much this year. They roam around our neighborhood in about a 4 block radius, and they even got into our neighbor's swimming pool to get water, and tore the liner with their claws. I was worried that they might attack our cats, so I wanted to get rid of them. My dad lives one block down from us, and one of his friends told him about GM. He tried it mixed with Coca Cola, and the next morning he found a dead coon about 10 feet from the bowl. This was 4 nights ago, and he has put it out every night since then, and every time he has found a dead coon the next morning.  He told ME about it, and last night I tried it for the first time, and I actually looked out our front window last night just in time to see 2 of the coons licking the bowl clean! This morning, I collected the dead coon, which had actually made it about 15 feet before it died. Between me and my dad, the bodies are really starting to pile up! I mixed it a little stronger tonight, and put out another bowl.  Good riddance!
I would suggest that you scout around a bit more. If there were two 'coons slurping, then two 'coons died. You just haven't found #2 yet. By this afternoon, you should be able to simply follow your nose...  :blink:

Sword of Justice

 :smile: Nice to see that the number of satisfied users continues to climb! Three nights of terror-free rest for my chickens and counting! If this keeps up, I may actually believe that the tide has turned against the predators for good! Still placing the liquid mix out nightly.  Ate some fried chicken for Sunday dinner and put out the skin/bones with GM hoping to take down the fox that I've seen prowling around.  No dogs around unless there are some wild ones about.

Thanks for the update on the gloves. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if you're using something that drops animals in their tracks, you darn sure better keep it away from yourself!  Been using rubber gloves since the onset.  Washing them thoroughly after each use.

Looking forward to reporting untouched bowls of grape koolaid/GM and untouched fish carcasses.  It will take awhile,and I'll need to go buy the 5 lb can (almost emptied the 1 lb can already!) but I believe I can start to think about rebuilding my chicken flocks...something I couldn't have considered a week ago!