possums and racoons

Hi, I'd like some suggestions on ridding myself of these nuisances. Perhaps because my neighbors have dogs they tend to find sanctuary in my back yard. I don't want a dog. I live in a large city so shooting them is out of the question. I could borrow an AR-15 but I'm sure I'd get in trouble. I don't want to set up trap cages. Is poison a good solution? There are no kids to worry about and my back yard has 6 foot walls so no stray dogs can get in. I guess I could post a sign, stray cats stay out. T-Bone

Reply to
T-Bone
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I wouldn't use poison if you intend to eat them. HTH :-)

Cooking a Possum (from Message-ID: )

First you have to get a good one, best if it is about half grown. Put it in a cage and fatten it up on buttermilk for a few months. That will get the juices flowing when you cook it.

Now for the important part when you skin it never, never cut the tail off it is like beaver tail and a true delicacy. Put in center of a large black cast iron skillet Tuck the legs under and wrap the tail around over the nose on the right side for balance Put yams around the side with carrots for some flavor.

Place in oven at 375 degrees and bake until tender and a golden brown. Be sure to baste during the baking process with a mixture of lard, salt, pepper and buttermilk for that true down home flavor. Remove from oven, place in the center of the table call the wife and kids to dinner and enjoy your feast.

Best regards, Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

I remember an electronic circuit that you could build to electrify your garbage can. The same idea could be used with a simple electric fence kit.

Place your metal garbage can on a small sheet of plywood and connect an electric fence transformer to it (providing you don't have small children about). The transformer sends out very short pulses of HV that will jolt the cleverest of critters.

good luck

Handi

Reply to
Handi

Check with your city authorities. They may even take care of it for you.

Where I am, you can not live capture and release. It's the law. While I believe they are over reacting a little, but we have had a couple of rabies situations with them and they tend to have a problem with rabies. They also have another infection, that looks something like rabies but can not be transmitted to humans, as I understand it, but who is to know. In any case some cities have a crew to take care of the problem, and they can become real problems.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

:) Hi, :) I'd like some suggestions on ridding myself of these nuisances. :) Perhaps because my neighbors have dogs they tend to find sanctuary in :) my back yard. I don't want a dog. I live in a large city so shooting :) them is out of the question. I could borrow an AR-15 but I'm sure I'd :) get in trouble. I don't want to set up trap cages. Is poison a good :) solution? There are no kids to worry about and my back yard has 6 foot :) walls so no stray dogs can get in. I guess I could post a sign, stray :) cats stay out. :) T-Bone

Calling animal control and have them trap them is the easiest solution. Actually don't know if I recall ever seeing a possum die from rat poison no matter how many blocks it may have eaten.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

It is said that the early bird gets the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Reply to
Lar

is poison a good solution? you want to deal with racoons, possums, your neighbor's cats (this alone should stop you), and anything else that you poisoned, crawling under your house, maybe even IN your house, hiding and dying, and rotting for the next 6 months?

poison is never a good solution. it will be much less effort to deal with traps than hidden dead animals.

randy

Reply to
xrongor

You're doomed on the opossums. They are vagabonds, never staying more than a couple of days. If you have a continuing problem, your area is riddled with them - it's not the same one.

Racoons are scavengers and foragers. If there's nothing to eat, they won't hang around waiting for you to bring out the scraps.

Best bet all around is a tamper-proof garbage can.

Second best solution is to trap the 'coon, shave it nekkid, and release. It'll die of shame.

Reply to
JerryMouse

Do you have a compost pile or anything that attracts them? I get a few possum and 'coons throughout the year, the usually hang out for the night then move on.

Before I poisoned call your local animal control, they can set traps (or will remove them if the animals are around when they arrive). The downside of poisoning is if the thing crawls into a hard to get to spot around your house and dies it's gonna stink freaking bad (my cat dismemembered a squirrel out front and you couldn't walk near the front door w/o getting a nose full. I found the corpse after I raked the area...the cat had covered it with leaves).

Reply to
ryeish

Poison also poisons whatever eats the animal after it dies.

Live traps work for me. Just hope you don't trap a skunk.

Reply to
Ron Hardin

I've got a good German one (RWS model 34), and it won't kill a raccoon (unless maybe you managed to hit it in the eye), and I doubt it would kill a possum. It works great on rabbits and squirrels.

Best regards, Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob
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If you have nuisance animals, you need a nuisance animal kit:

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John(who just won a free one)

Reply to
John‰]                        

zxcvbob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

There are 9mm spring-piston air rifles with quite a bit of muzzle energy(600+ FPS),much more than any .177 pellet gun. Or you could use a crossbow.

Although it seems the OP is more concerned about their presence than anything else,as he didn't mention any damage caused by the animals. If they aren't raiding trashcans,doing damage or threatening your pets,I'd leave them alone.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Reply to
T-Bone

I have raccoons, possums, skunks, porcupines and a few other critters (like moose and deer) that show up here on an almost daily basis. They do it because food can be found here. The skunk eats with our cats and the raccoon comes up on the deck to eat bird seed that has been scattered there.

I'd bet that your neighbors' dogs' food is the attractant. If that were removed, particularly at night, your critter problems would likely go away.

I enjoy the wildlife so I don't plan to do anything. I would appreciate it if the moose would slow down though since their idea of an appetizer is a full grown rhododendron bush.

RB

zxcvbob wrote:

Reply to
RB

The urine of carnivores do scare prey animals away. Is there a zoo in your area that can supply the urine?

Reply to
KLM

ive used pepper on occasion to keep animals out of newly seeded lawn with some success...

randy

Reply to
xrongor

On Sat, 8 May 2004 16:39:31 -0500, "JerryMouse" w

Not the one I caught last winter. The sucker was on my porch snarling at me. I whacked it with a snow shovel and it ran off the porch and went into a 5 gallon pail laying on it's side. As soon as it went in the pail, I shoved snow in front of the pail. trapping it. Then I proceeded to shovel half the front lawn on top of that pail and packed it down tightly. Several people told me that possum tunnelled out someplace. When the snow melted in spring, there was a dead possum in that pail. Thats one less nasty ugly disease ridden possum in my neighborhood. I like most animals, but not possums, or anything else with a long naked tail.

Reply to
unlisted

"Joseph Meehan" drooled on his message news:vebnc.2598$ snipped-for-privacy@fe2.columbus.rr.com...

with math that good are you sure you are not Polish instead of Irish? or is that how you add after the 8am cocktail hour?

and a wrist rocket goes a long way to rid possums and raccoons.

Reply to
William B. Ackerman

Some say Coyote urine which is very expensive for a small bottle but then, have you ever tried to get a Coyote to pee in a bottle? Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Walt Conner

Reply to
Walt Conner

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