Death to all Raccoons

[lucusloc]

Wow, this is a long thread. No idea if it was mentioned before, but it bears repeating if so; in many states (Oregon included) raccoons are a protected species. They are considered a fur bearing species and so they need proper licensing and tags to kill (furbearers license). This is despite their prolific breeding, outright pest levels of population in various environs (like suburbs) and absolute zero risk to even heavy levels of hunting. I was super surprised to find this out, but the wife actually looked it up and sent me the ODW guidelines on it;

Oregon furbearer hunting and trapping regulations | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Furbearer hunting and trapping regulations are issued ever other year. Report your harvest

myodfw.com

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

Loading…

www.dfw.state.or.us

I am sure any discussions about "dealing with" problematic raccoons in this thread are pure fiction and internet boasting/BSery and have no basis in reality. Ya'll are liars and I don't believe a word of it.

 

[Flopsweat]

Wow, this is a long thread. No idea if it was mentioned before, but it bears repeating if so; in many states (Oregon included) raccoons are a protected species. They are considered a fur bearing species and so they need proper licensing and tags to kill (furbearers license). This is despite their prolific breeding, outright pest levels of population in various environs (like suburbs) and absolute zero risk to even heavy levels of hunting. I was super surprised to find this out, but the wife actually looked it up and sent me the ODW guidelines on it;

Oregon furbearer hunting and trapping regulations | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Furbearer hunting and trapping regulations are issued ever other year. Report your harvest

myodfw.com

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

Loading…

www.dfw.state.or.us

I am sure any discussions about "dealing with" problematic raccoons in this thread are pure fiction and internet boasting/BSery and have no basis in reality. Ya'll are liars and I don't believe a word of it.

Of course we all practice such furbearance.

 

[OldBroad44]

Wow, this is a long thread. No idea if it was mentioned before, but it bears repeating if so; in many states (Oregon included) raccoons are a protected species. They are considered a fur bearing species and so they need proper licensing and tags to kill (furbearers license). This is despite their prolific breeding, outright pest levels of population in various environs (like suburbs) and absolute zero risk to even heavy levels of hunting. I was super surprised to find this out, but the wife actually looked it up and sent me the ODW guidelines on it;

Oregon furbearer hunting and trapping regulations | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Furbearer hunting and trapping regulations are issued ever other year. Report your harvest

myodfw.com

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

Loading…

www.dfw.state.or.us

I am sure any discussions about "dealing with" problematic raccoons in this thread are pure fiction and internet boasting/BSery and have no basis in reality. Ya'll are liars and I don't believe a word of it.

When I first realized I had a problem with raccoons killing my ducks, I called ODFW and asked what people with such problems do about the raccoons. I did not ask what I should do, which would more likely get a required response citing the law. I wanted the reality of what people actually do and whether odfw enforces the laws about raccoons. My carefully worded question was designed to solicit that info.

I got a forthright response saying what people are supposed to do when raccoons are destroying livestock or crops is call odfw and they will send a trapper. But the reality is that it takes such long time for the trapper to respond that that is not practical. What people with problem raccoons generally do is shoot or trap the coons themselves . And odfw looks the other way as long as you aren't collecting furs and you don't rub their noses in it. The laws were designed for a world in which raccoons were a much less numerous wild species , not a semi urban critter pest overrunning many neighborhoods . The odfw guy said if we live- trap a coon we could call them. But they would just shoot it in the trap. And yeah, if it was legal to discharge a gun where we were, it would be easier on all concerned if we shot the raccoon in the trap ourselves . Some people dispose of the coons by dropping trap in a barrel of water and drowning them. That is more discreet and saves damaging the trap.

ODFW looks the other way and depends on most people discreetly eliminating their own problem coons. However, the thing they really do not want you to do is transport the coon to somewhere else and release it. People almost never take the coon far enough to get it away from houses and farms. And dumping a now-trap-wise problem coon on someone else is a mean thing to do. In addition, transporting and releasing coons spreads disease.

 

[Tlock]

Wow, this is a long thread. No idea if it was mentioned before, but it bears repeating if so; in many states (Oregon included) raccoons are a protected species. They are considered a fur bearing species and so they need proper licensing and tags to kill (furbearers license). This is despite their prolific breeding, outright pest levels of population in various environs (like suburbs) and absolute zero risk to even heavy levels of hunting. I was super surprised to find this out, but the wife actually looked it up and sent me the ODW guidelines on it;

Oregon furbearer hunting and trapping regulations | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Furbearer hunting and trapping regulations are issued ever other year. Report your harvest

myodfw.com

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

Loading…

www.dfw.state.or.us

I am sure any discussions about "dealing with" problematic raccoons in this thread are pure fiction and internet boasting/BSery and have no basis in reality. Ya'll are liars and I don't believe a word of it.

Your wrong......

 

[Bobbygun]

Your wrong......

How so? The part about everyone "bs"ing?

I know a guy (let's say "a friend") whose neighbor's dog got chewed up by a raccoon. Since the neighbors weren't really "gun people" or hunters, they called my friend for assistance. He dispatched the raccoon with a twelve-gauge shotgun the next time it showed up. Several years later I was talking to a local game warden about the event. He expressed very little interest - possibly due to the statute of limitations being long since passed. He did point out that you weren't supposed to do that.

 

[Tlock]

How so? The part about everyone "bs"ing?

I know a guy (let's say "a friend") whose neighbor's dog got chewed up by a raccoon. Since the neighbors weren't really "gun people" or hunters, they called my friend for assistance. He dispatched the raccoon with a twelve-gauge shotgun the next time it showed up. Several years later I was talking to a local game warden about the event. He expressed very little interest - possibly due to the statute of limitations being long since passed. He did point out that you weren't supposed to do that.

With game violations there is no statute of limitations.....so in oregon you have a right to stop damage done by wildlife, we arnt talking deer and elk. Couger, bear, coyote, bobcat, fox, racoon and even beaver when causing damage can be trapped and killed. The land owner has every right to protect their property. Examples: beavers cutting down trees, raccoons killing chickens, coyotes killing lambs, bears getting into bee hives and the list goes on and on.....the land owner can contact odfw and they will send someone like me out or they can handle it themselves. With cougars the land owner can even have his own hounds run the problem couger or hire it out to a hounds man.

 

[Bobbygun]

With game violations there is no statute of limitations.....so in oregon you have a right to stop damage done by wildlife, we arnt talking deer and elk. Couger, bear, coyote, bobcat, fox, racoon and even beaver when causing damage can be trapped and killed. The land owner has every right to protect their property. Examples: beavers cutting down trees, raccoons killing chickens, coyotes killing lambs, bears getting into bee hives and the list goes on and on.....the land owner can contact odfw and they will send someone like me out or they can handle it themselves. With cougars the land owner can even have his own hounds run the problem couger or hire it out to a hounds man.

Isn't the landowner supposed to contact ODFW first though? (Not that I would expect anyone to actually write you a ticket if you don't.)

Edit to add: Looking at this ODFW website, it looks like you need a permit to trap a raccoon. It doesn't address simply shooting one. LOL

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

 

[lucusloc]

Isn't the landowner supposed to contact ODFW first though? (Not that I would expect anyone to actually write you a ticket if you don't.)

Edit to add: Looking at this ODFW website, it looks like you need a permit to trap a raccoon. It doesn't address simply shooting one. LOL

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

I am pretty sure that just shooting them constitutes "hunting" and that is definitely covered elsewhere in the regulations.

Responding to some of the other comments just because the ODFW looks the other way for problem coons does not mean that the laws are not on the books and cannot be enforced if they want to, even just because they decide they don't like you for other reasons. Yes, there are some exceptions carved-out in the law for problematic critters (of all types) but every exception requires some kind of affirmation from ODFW to enact. If you do not have that then you are not in compliance with the law, full stop.

Considering how prolific and problematic coons are I suspect many people are not aware that they are considered as part of a class of critter with some of the strictest regulations placed on them. It is good to know that even if the regulations are largely unenforced as there is still some amount of legal risk. Do with this information what you will, I am just putting it out there.

 

[lucusloc]

Of course we all practice such furbearance.

Boo, I am reporting you to ODFW for bad puns and violating the dignity of all furbearers. I hope they throw the book at you, may you rot in solitary for all eternity.

 

[Bobbygun]

I am pretty sure that just shooting them constitutes "hunting" and that is definitely covered elsewhere in the regulations.

Oh I agree. I just thought it was funny (thus the "LOL") that particular website ignored the possibility.

I was curious, so I looked at the Big Game Regs and the Furtakers Regs online. Looks like you can get a free license to take some furry critters on your own property. But you still have to have the license, not just blaze away.

I tried to find something to verify what @Tlock wrote about no statute of limitations on wildlife violations but couldn't find anything addressing it. The Oregon statutes of limitation that I found were simply by level of offense: Misdemeanor A, Misdemeanor B, etc.

I mean, it's all so complicated. But not as complicated as duck hunting. Man, I think you have to be an ornithologist to safely hunt birds. I can't tell the difference between a teal winged merganser from a buffalo headed brussels sprout.

 

[Tlock]

Isn't the landowner supposed to contact ODFW first though? (Not that I would expect anyone to actually write you a ticket if you don't.)

Edit to add: Looking at this ODFW website, it looks like you need a permit to trap a raccoon. It doesn't address simply shooting one. LOL

ODFW Living with Wildlife - Raccoons

www.dfw.state.or.us

Say your woke up in the middle of the night to your chickens going crazy, Mr racoon is killing all your hens.....do you call the next day to get odfw permission or just kill the animal in the act? Yes to fur trap or trap coons as a nuisance you need a permit. DAMAGE is totally different.

Every game violation is a crime....you can be arrested for fishing with no fishing license

 

[lucusloc]

Say your woke up in the middle of the night to your chickens going crazy, Mr racoon is killing all your hens.....do you call the next day to get odfw permission or just kill the animal in the act? Yes to fur trap or trap coons as a nuisance you need a permit. DAMAGE is totally different.

Every game violation is a crime....you can be arrested for fishing with no fishing license

I mean, the letter of the law says you cannot trap or kill that raccoon until you get permission. Seems like you only legal option is to chase it off and then report the issue in the morning, get permission then trap/kill the beast the next time.

Now it does seem that ODFW is "on record" as not caring about coon enforcement but that is not law. IF they like you or are indifferent towards you you are probably fine to just off the thing and be done with it. If they already have a problem with you for something else or you off the coon and then skin it you are probably going to have a huge issue with them over it.

But no matter how you slice it there is a risk. Even just getting noticed by an bubblegum enforcement officer with a chip on their shoulder could cause you a world of legal hurt.

 

[Tlock]

I mean, the letter of the law says you cannot trap or kill that raccoon until you get permission. Seems like you only legal option is to chase it off and then report the issue in the morning, get permission then trap/kill the beast the next time.

Now it does seem that ODFW is "on record" as not caring about coon enforcement but that is not law. IF they like you or are indifferent towards you you are probably fine to just off the thing and be done with it. If they already have a problem with you for something else or you off the coon and then skin it you are probably going to have a huge issue with them over it.

But no matter how you slice it there is a risk. Even just getting noticed by an bubblegum enforcement officer with a chip on their shoulder could cause you a world of legal hurt.

There is no problem with keeping the animal as long as you had damage. I kill cougars and bears all the time and the land owner keeps the cat or bear to have a rug made. Cougars and bears must be checked into odfw asap after the animall is taken. You don't need to get permission from odfw to take a bear or couger beforehand. I deal with this on a daily basis and coons fall under the same rules if you have damage

 

[Alexx1401]

Say your woke up in the middle of the night to your chickens going crazy, Mr racoon is killing all your hens.....do you call the next day to get odfw permission or just kill the animal in the act? Yes to fur trap or trap coons as a nuisance you need a permit. DAMAGE is totally different.

Every game violation is a crime....you can be arrested for fishing with no fishing license

While back when I posted the pic of the one I killed it was this exactly. He was working to get under the fence. Few are going to not just kill the critter. This would be a great place to insert the only line S S S. Now if the person happened to have some "karen" neighbor who actually saw them do this? They might call to complain but, unless they have video of the owner killing the pest? Simple. If game people bother to show up you say no. You did not shoot the pest, you scared it off. You would almost have to be willing to turn yourself in to get in trouble with this.

 

[jbett98]

Last summer, a sweet little old lady that lives across the street from my rental house asked me if I could figure out where a dead animal smell was coming from in her back yard.
After looking and sniffing around a bit I gave up. Sure enough, the next week it was back. I finally found the dead squirrel under a Hosta plant that she waters every Friday afternoon.
It seems the water re-hydrated the carcass and brought the smell back, so I grabbed a shovel and walked over to a 120 year old historic wood shed that the city owns and shoved the dead squirrel under the floor boards where a racoon resides.
The next day, I found the carcass shoved back out of the tunnel entrance, so back in it went.
This went on for a week or so and finally the racoon gave up moved away.

 

[Bobbygun]

Every game violation is a crime....you can be arrested for fishing with no fishing license

I'm not sure what precipitated this comment. I certainly wouldn't argue with this statement.

Maybe it was intended for someone else?

 

[Flopsweat]

 

[Flopsweat]

 

[ditchtiger]

My cousin run over a coon and he put it in his trunk to skin it out the next day. . Coon had other plans as it was not dead. went from the trunk to the interior and ley loose its grief

 

[lucusloc]

My cousin run over a coon and he put it in his trunk to skin it out the next day. . Coon had other plans as it was not dead. went from the trunk to the interior and ley loose its grief

coons, like possums, are harder to kill than you would think. For the possums it is because they are too dumb to know they are supposed to be dead, for the coons I am pretty sure it is just pure malicious spite.

... I suddenly realize why my wife wants a coon as a pet. It is her spirit animal.