How To KILL A Raccoon That's Raiding Your Garden

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

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Joe from Indiana

I've been using GM for a couple of years to kill raccoons now. It does work very well.

And I can only assume that the folks who think this is unethical don't really have much of a 'coon problem.

I had 50 chickens that I had raised from day-old chicks over the course of about 3 months. One spring -- just before the chickens got old enough to start laying -- a raccoon broke into the chicken house on three separate occasions. You would think they would eat the feed, or single out one chicken and eat that. Think again. On each occasion, the 'coon pulled multiple hens off their roosts and bit their heads off, often eating just the comb. What feed it didn't eat was defecated in.

Within a week I was down to 10 terrorized birds.

Imagine yourself walking out to the henhouse in the morning and finding that kind of mess to clean up and that kind of investment -- both financial and emotional -- down the tubes. I assure you that no one who has had that kind of experience will ever look at raccoons the same way. They may be God's Creatures, but so were my chickens.

So I don't want to hear about how I should raise extra chickens or corn or anything else so the raccoons can have some. I can assure you that they do NOT play by the same rules that others would impose upon me.

Solar

Quote from: SWMP on July 12, 2012, 07:15:56 AM
I live in a very wooded area and recently decided to grow tomatoes on our deck.  The plants did incredibly well.  One plant produced slicing tomatoes and the other Roma tomatoes.  Just as the fruit began to ripen, along came the raccoons to decimate my attempt at a modest and hopefully safe and secure garden.

At this point I started to research the critters and how to deal with them. I have a friend whose father in law traps and shoots the raccoons in his yard after they began tearing the shingles off his house in an attempt to enter his attic.  He jokes that he digs more graves than the local cemetery.  He's up to about 4 dozen over the last few years.

Another tid bit that this exercise has reminded me of is a TV show that documented the unusual ailment of a small toddler that was eventually determined to be attributable to a parasitic worm in raccoon scat.  The young child somehow ingested some scat playing in the yard and the parasite attacked his brain leaving him mentally disabled.

Then there's another friends goofy wife who feeds a family of raccoons all of their leftovers.  We were at their home sitting around their pool one evening when the raccoons showed up and were treated to leftover pizza from the night before.  I have since learned that the raccoons now let themselves into my friend's home to eat out of the dog's bowl.  That is just bat-shit-crazy.
I too have an idiot neighbor that thinks he's helping by feeding the forest.
In my county you can be arrested for feeding the forest, it falls under a baiting/poaching law, even though they claim to care for the animals, the law sees it in black and white.
Maybe your county has such a law to use against those idiots.

QuoteI have also read that rather than being predators simply killing or raiding a garden to survive, raccoons are actually highly destructive and kill everything they encounter if able to do so.  I have read that raccoons will raid a chicken coop and kill everything, break every egg and eat just bits of the mess.  This is somewhat like their behavior with the tomatoes on my deck.  They leave a mess of half eaten or barely touched tomatoes all over the place.

I really don't want to deal with a pile of dead animals, but have no aversion to poison, whether GM or lead.  I don't want to deal with a pissed off live animal in a trap and don't particularly want to shoot through a trap.

I am pretty pissed that my very modest attempt at gardening is being made impossible by these raccoons.  I really empathize with the people who have large gardens or actually grow crops for a livelihood. 

I am no tree hugger and do not particularly sympathize with the plight of wildlife.  I haven't commented on what the deer do to my landscaping. 

There is speculation that along with the deer, turkeys, coyotes, etc. that have moved into the neighborhood over the years that big cats are out there as well.  That is the one addition I would like to see in order to bring some balance back into this situation.

My question is in regards to the territorial behavior of raccoons.  My friend's father in law has killed 4 dozen or so and new ones seem to fill the vacuum left by the departing ones.  Is there really an effective way to deal with these things in the longer term?
That's the biggest problem with an over abundance of wildlife, it tends to raise the predator level, in turn putting humans on the list of dietary delights of lions.
Ca has so screwed up the deer population out here, that we call them rats with antlers, and because they eradicated the wolf, now the lion, an animal that only 20 years ago was never seen, just the tracks.
Now if you don't see one, you'd have to be blind.

I'd have no issue with bringing back humane trapping for fur in large numbers, it would alleviate much of this problem.
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Quote from: Solar on July 12, 2012, 09:56:48 AM
I too have an idiot neighbor that thinks he's helping by feeding the forest.
In my county you can be arrested for feeding the forest, it falls under a baiting/poaching law, even though they claim to care for the animals, the law sees it in black and white.
Maybe your county has such a law to use against those idiots.
That's the biggest problem with an over abundance of wildlife, it tends to raise the predator level, in turn putting humans on the list of dietary delights of lions.
Ca has so screwed up the deer population out here, that we call them rats with antlers, and because they eradicated the wolf, now the lion, an animal that only 20 years ago was never seen, just the tracks.
Now if you don't see one, you'd have to be blind.

I'd have no issue with bringing back humane trapping for fur in large numbers, it would alleviate much of this problem.
The trouble is, the days of raccoon coats like the ones in this old photo are gone, probably forever.



I think a trapping comeback would be great too, but I don't see it happening. The tree-huggers and Bambi-lovers have so demonized the wearing of fur that the demand for all types, especially raccoon, is a fraction of what it was even 15 or 20 years ago. I just checked with some nearby fur buyers on raccoon fur pricing, and this year their starting price will be a maximum of $13 for a high-grade large "finished" pelt. This means that you do the skinning -- properly, which ain't easy or fun -- and you do the scraping -- not too much, not too little, just right -- and you do the stretching and drying on a board of the correct size, and you take the pelt  to the buyer, if you can find one nearby. Good luck with that too, as there are only 39 licensed fur buyers in the entire state of Ohio. If your pelt's fur has a yellowish tinge to it, which is fairly common in warmer climates, you'll get no more than $10 for it, no matter how big it is. Prices for smaller and less desirable pelts can dip as low as $3 per "finished" pelt. Most buyers will only buy "finished" raccoon pelts, though they may buy "green" pelts from more desirable critters, like bobcat. I can't find a fur buyer who will buy raccoons "in the round," meaning not even skinned, i.e., the entire dead critter, frozen, no matter how good the quality of the pelt, at any price.

Who in his right mind would go through the trapping/hunting, the skinning, the disposal of the carcass, the scraping, the stretching, the drying, and the travel to a buyer, all for three bucks? Hell, the hunting/trapping license and fur taker permit from the state cost a total of $34. You'd have to finish and sell a dozen three-dollar hides just to break even on the license fees!

Unless/until trapping 'coons pays something, I don't see it making a comeback. There are still a few guys doing it, but then there are guys who collect stamps and guys who play golf... these things are called hobbies.

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 12, 2012, 01:43:39 PM
The trouble is, the days of raccoon coats like the ones in this old photo are gone, probably forever.



I think a trapping comeback would be great too, but I don't see it happening. The tree-huggers and Bambi-lovers have so demonized the wearing of fur that the demand for all types, especially raccoon, is a fraction of what it was even 15 or 20 years ago. I just checked with some nearby fur buyers on raccoon fur pricing, and this year their starting price will be a maximum of $13 for a high-grade large "finished" pelt. This means that you do the skinning -- properly, which ain't easy or fun -- and you do the scraping -- not too much, not too little, just right -- and you do the stretching and drying on a board of the correct size, and you take the pelt  to the buyer, if you can find one nearby. Good luck with that too, as there are only 39 licensed fur buyers in the entire state of Ohio. If your pelt's fur has a yellowish tinge to it, which is fairly common in warmer climates, you'll get no more than $10 for it, no matter how big it is. Prices for smaller and less desirable pelts can dip as low as $3 per "finished" pelt. Most buyers will only buy "finished" raccoon pelts, though they may buy "green" pelts from more desirable critters, like bobcat. I can't find a fur buyer who will buy raccoons "in the round," meaning not even skinned, i.e., the entire dead critter, frozen, no matter how good the quality of the pelt, at any price.

Who in his right mind would go through the trapping/hunting, the skinning, the disposal of the carcass, the scraping, the stretching, the drying, and the travel to a buyer, all for three bucks? Hell, the hunting/trapping license and fur taker permit from the state cost a total of $34. You'd have to finish and sell a dozen three-dollar hides just to break even on the license fees!

Unless/until trapping 'coons pays something, I don't see it making a comeback. There are still a few guys doing it, but then there are guys who collect stamps and guys who play golf... these things are called hobbies.
Man, I'd love to have his coat, that is one warm windproof coat.
No, it won't be coming back anytime soon, but all it would take is some smart marketing, think De Beers and diamonds, a virtually worthless rock, yet people still pay big bucks for it.
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tbone0106

#94
Quote from: Solar on July 12, 2012, 02:24:48 PM
Man, I'd love to have his coat, that is one warm windproof coat.
No, it won't be coming back anytime soon, but all it would take is some smart marketing, think De Beers and diamonds, a virtually worthless rock, yet people still pay big bucks for it.
When I was a kid, I had an aviator-style leather jacket with a sheepskin collar and flannel lining. The leather was cracked and worn and the collar was a bit ratty... but that was the warmest jacket I think I ever owned. It was a hand-me-down from my mom's older brother, and I miss my uncle's old jacket to this day.

How have we gotten to the point where we've discarded the obvious value of things like furs and substituted crap like plastic in their place? Oh, and then we bitch at ourselves because the plastics we've chosen as a replacement are made from -- gasp!! -- oil!!!

Isn't fur the ultimate "green" clothing, short of a fig leaf?

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 12, 2012, 08:53:04 PM
When I was a kid, I had an aviator-style leather jacket with a sheepskin collar and flannel lining. The leather was cracked and worn and the collar was a bit ratty... but that was the warmest jacket I think I ever owned. It was a hand-me-down from my mom's older brother, and I miss my uncle's old jacket to this day.

How have we gotten to the point where we've discarded the obvious value of things like furs and substituted crap like plastic in their place? Oh, and then we bitch at ourselves because the plastics we've chosen as a replacement is made from -- gasp!! -- oil!!!

Isn't fur the ultimate "green" clothing, short of a fig leaf?
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
It's said, that when ever you hear a bell ring, an Angel gets their wings.
But when you smell a fart, a libs head just exploded.

When they read this, we'll need gas masks.
Forcing a lib to see the hypocrisy in their methods is akin to putting a gut to their head.
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tbone0106

Quote from: Solar on July 12, 2012, 09:03:34 PM
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
It's said, that when ever you hear a bell ring, an Angel gets their wings.
But when you smell a fart, a libs head just exploded.

When they read this, we'll need gas masks.
Forcing a lib to see the hypocrisy in their methods is akin to putting a gut to their head.

Had to be a Freudian slip. Or maybe you really meant "gut?" :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 12, 2012, 09:17:59 PM
Had to be a Freudian slip. Or maybe you really meant "gut?" :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Works both ways, don't it?



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tbone0106

Quote from: Solar on July 12, 2012, 09:28:47 PM
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Works both ways, don't it?





Why do I think you have that hunting cartoon posted on your fridge?  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Solar

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 12, 2012, 09:45:36 PM
Why do I think you have that hunting cartoon posted on your fridge?  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:
I have a thing for endangered species, libs just don't know it yet but they will come Nov.
In the meantime, I'm hunting them to extinction.
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tbone0106

Quote from: Joe from Indiana on July 12, 2012, 09:45:07 AM
I've been using GM for a couple of years to kill raccoons now. It does work very well.

And I can only assume that the folks who think this is unethical don't really have much of a 'coon problem.

I had 50 chickens that I had raised from day-old chicks over the course of about 3 months. One spring -- just before the chickens got old enough to start laying -- a raccoon broke into the chicken house on three separate occasions. You would think they would eat the feed, or single out one chicken and eat that. Think again. On each occasion, the 'coon pulled multiple hens off their roosts and bit their heads off, often eating just the comb. What feed it didn't eat was defecated in.

Within a week I was down to 10 terrorized birds.

Imagine yourself walking out to the henhouse in the morning and finding that kind of mess to clean up and that kind of investment -- both financial and emotional -- down the tubes. I assure you that no one who has had that kind of experience will ever look at raccoons the same way. They may be God's Creatures, but so were my chickens.

So I don't want to hear about how I should raise extra chickens or corn or anything else so the raccoons can have some. I can assure you that they do NOT play by the same rules that others would impose upon me.

First of all, Joe, WELCOME to the forum! I'm especially glad to see you here because I'm near you in Ohio, and a lot of these other weirdos are in places like California and Texas and, well, you know where the extremists live.  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Needless to say, I'm on your side in your battle with the raccoons. Just this evening, I walked my perimeter and refreshed my poison bait traps. My sweet corn will yield (finally!) next week, and the last thing I want to see is broken-off stalks tomorrow morning.

What are Indiana's laws about hunting/trapping 'coons? Ohio says Nov-Dec-Jan only. But I think as long as I take care of business on my own property, I'm basically eliminating a nuisance or pest, which is NOT covered by the DNR's hunting/trapping regulations.

Good luck to you and your chickens! Again, WELCOME to the board!

samgoober

#101
Tbone, I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I have a question for ya. Do you have to refresh or refill the pans every day? I set some out three nights ago, but so far, no dead coons. Also, I read on another forum that the company that makes the GM recently had to change their formula (evidently it used to be gold in color, and when they changed it, it made it blue) and the new formula isn't as effective.

I  started setting this stuff out after the coons had already destroyed my corn crop, so it's possible they've not come back. I have another smaller patch that I planted the first week of June. It should be ready in about three to four weeks, so I'm certain to have another opportunity to kills these little bastards. But I was curious about how often (if at all) that you need to pour out the "old" poison and refill it with fresh poison.

Thanks Tbone!
Sam,            IA

Sam for your own safety I have removed your last name.
Please always think safety first when posting.  If you wish to give some one your last name, do it in the safety of a PM.
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tbone0106

Quote from: samgoober on July 13, 2012, 07:17:51 PM
Tbone, I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I have a question for ya. Do you have to refresh or refill the pans every day? I set some out three nights ago, but so far, no dead coons. Also, I read on another forum that the company that makes the GM recently had to change their formula (evidently it used to be gold in color, and when they changed it, it made it blue) and the new formula isn't as effective.

I  started setting this stuff out after the coons had already destroyed my corn crop, so it's possible they've not come back. I have another smaller patch that I planted the first week of June. It should be ready in about three to four weeks, so I'm certain to have another opportunity to kills these little bastards. But I was curious about how often (if at all) that you need to pour out the "old" poison and refill it with fresh poison.

Thanks Tbone!
Sam,            IA

Sam for your own safety I have removed your last name.
Please always think safety first when posting.  If you wish to give some one your last name, do it in the safety of a PM.
His last name isn't Goober?  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

The bait is a mixture of the blue-tinted GM and soda pop. It's a fairly thick and sugary liquid that doesn't evaporate quickly and tends to withstand mild rain pretty well. Heavy rain dilutes the mix to the point of pointlessness.

I have found dead 'coons near pans of poison that have been sitting out for two weeks and more. I recently made a new batch and refreshed my sets, but that's because we've been essentially in a drought for roughly two months now, and this morning I found... nothing.

My hope is that it's because there's simply nothing left to kill. But my gut tells me to get ready for the REAL onslaught!

Next week, I'll have sweet corn, sweet sugary ears just bursting with flavor and temptation. I will collect every one I can, but I have a notion that God's creatures have the same idea.

I think I just went through the raccoon version of a "bye" week. I think it's about to be "game on."

tbone0106

Oh, and Sam, WELCOME to the forum! You'll find a lot of nice people here, and lots of... well... constructive interaction.  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:

Actually, you've found a home, if you want it. We take in strays of every description.  :laugh:

walkstall

Quote from: tbone0106 on July 13, 2012, 08:42:44 PM
His last name isn't Goober?  :tounge: :tounge: :tounge:


He does not need 15000 tree huggers and animal lovers calling him 24/7.   :lol:
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