Keeping in standards for naming the garden pests. On my deck after sunset. I've got a lot of small plants and seedlings out. Opened slider to yell at him and all he did was move to the side. Went in to get firecrackers and he was off deck by then but I still popped off a couple. Ratcoon is too big for my Hav-a-hart.
I stepped out last night to put my battery tender under cover in case of dew . Heard a small ruckus over by the seed feeder , shined Mr Flashlight over there , saw two huge yellow eyes staring back at me from about 3 feet up the nearest tree . I tried to get closer to get a good look , but he/she/it went up the tree to where I couldn't see it . I figger it musta been a raccoon though , from the pictures I looked up on the interwebs . He might have to be dealt with ... I think he was probably eating some of the cracked corn that's in the current bag of wild bird seed .
I've posted this one several times before:
That was a couple of years ago but I also caught one last spring.
I had one that eluded me one summer as trap would be tripped but no critter. Then I saw it one night tripping the trap but too big for the doors to close.
Deer hunting in a federal refuge, I heard footsteps, did not think it a deer, shined my flashlight and saw those yellow eyes. As light became clearer, I saw the raccoon and it climbed the tree next to me and crawled in a hole in the trunk higher than my platform stand. I've got pictures but they are kind of fuzzy, but here's them/there eyes:
I've got
:-)) I love it!
we've tried to trap them here too with a large live-trap, but rarely do they get caught. they are certainly the most active and varied critter raiding all sorts of things. i've seen them climb up the poles in the back to check the few very small nest boxes for eggs/chicks. not an easy climb as the poles are 7-8ft.
they are usually the culprits when the killdeer eggs get raided. a few nights ago they found the nest out front with 4 eggs in it. all gone now. about every other year the killdeer put their nest inside the fenced garden and in there they have a much better chance of surviving.
songbird
I catch raccoons and skunks whenever I forget to close a trap for the night.
'peanut butter bait for skunks, raccoons, groundhogs, squirrels, and sometimes roaming cats.
When I bought my Hav-a-hart several years ago I got the trap big enough for a ground hog but there was a bigger one that could catch raccoons. I've caught the smaller ones many times but as I pointed out if animal is too big trap will not close. Peanut butter does catch everything. Never got a cat but I once did get a bird.
My first ground hog trap was home made. It is easy to do just framing in a wooden box with chicken wire with a sliding door at one end and trigger inside the box. I got stymied when I caught a skunk because I had a latch that could only be released by getting right next to the trap.
phorbin wrote: ...
we've used peanut butter many times and caught only possums. i think the resident raccoon knows how the trap works and avoids it. it is large enough to catch one if they go in, but they don't. it's been sitting there for weeks. as this one is fairly mild mannered so far i'm hoping to not ever capture it as then it will likely be replaced by one that is more of a pain in the ass.
songbird
We have a one door trap and a two door.
The one door trap has a spring loaded gate, which is very reliable.
The two door trap depends on gravity, is OK and large enough to contain a raccoon but is not as reliable because some raccoons understand stretching, reaching, grabbing and leaving their butt out the door. -- I had to tip one raccoon into the cage before it dragged itself out.
You had to be there.
I'm very careful with critters around here as rabies is endemic. I don't want to be bitten or scratched by them.
My trap's the old cage with two doors which have to fall and lock by gravity. Caught a raccoon last year and thought I might drown it. I had an old plastic garbage can that I started to fill it with water and did discover that tilting trap could open it. Having nearly filled the can, it squished over and dumped the water. Figured the Lord did not want me to drown him so I released him in the park.
When I was a young boy, think ten or twelve years old, my family were well known for being coon hunters. All of us had at least one coon dog, mine was a "black and tan" name Lady. She was quick to find the trail and get on it quickly and, generally, was the first to sound "found."
We only hunted in the fall/winter as the raccoons were nice and fat. Skins sold for a nice bit of money at that time and we ate the raccoon. They have several glands in their bodies that can spoil your meal so we were careful to get them out. I never really cared for the meat as it had a sweet taste to me.
I quit night hunting when I got out of the Navy in 1960 except for when the coons raided my corn patch or the hen house. Between raccoons and opossums the dog and I stayed pretty busy. It was a lot of fun and sort of scary for a little kid though.
Thanks for stirring up old memories.
George
Have not heard of any recent cases of rabies but assume it is still around.
I recall a bait program of vaccination taking place in France many years ago. Guess it works.
Laws vary on trapping animals. Here it is legal to trap them and kill them but not release them elsewhere. I've never heard of the law enforced.
I usually only kill wildlife I intend to eat. Just finishing off last falls venison.
I hear you. -- I don't kill anything when there's an alternative.
The flood plains/park system on the other side of the river receives my deportees. They are far enough away from traffic and sheltered enough to have a chance.
FWIW and for interest sake, Ontario has a bait vaccination program for raccoons, foxes and skunks which appears to have worked very well.
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