Racoon Tech Info

[RVTECH]

I thought my daughter was pulling in the driveway just a little while ago so I opened my front door to see the biggest racooon I have ever seen eating the cat food! The thing could barely move as it was so fat and as it turned and lumbered away I noticed it had no tail!! Anyway I grabbed my High Standard .22 and loaded it with nine rounds of CB caps and with flashlight in hand went on an impromptu hunt but to no avail. Anyone know much about their habits and what may be the best way to catch it? Since moving here in 2004 I have never seen one as I thought the resident cougar that has been living around here was keeping them under control but I guess not.

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[Mark W.]

Have a heart trap and a can of cat food. They will find you. If you would like some practice swing on by you can deal with the six I have had dancing and banging each other on my carport roof. The Red Ryder does a good job of getting them to move along. If it wasn't that my only point of view of them places my neighbors house as the backstop I would just shoot the dorks with a .22 short in the head and be done with it. But a miss would not be acceptable

 

[RVTECH]

Well since my first post and now it has apparently returned because the rest of the cat food is gone so now it is mocking me! It must have just moved in because other than the feral cats I see running off when I open the door the food will sometimes remain for days. I have managed a good shooting position from inside the house as one window allows me to see the front deck just a few feet away so i may remove the screen and open the window for barrel access and wait. Sure is a mangy looking thing with no tail. I may head out with a flashlight to check the shed & outbuildings and see if I can corner it.

 

[Mutt]

Now that they know food is there, they will never leave it alone ...... ever. You will get more and more as they discover there is food available. You can't put food out anymore unless you want them to move in.

 

[RVTECH]

I am hoping this is the only one and with any luck the food will soon be it's undoing. It didn't show much fear either as it barely got out of the way of my foot as I was chasing it off the deck. My cat has suddenly taken to setting on the steps looking out as if on guard when normally she is scratching on the door to come in.

 

[Greenbug]

They have been known to kill cats too.... And are a carrier of rabies.
Do you have a trail cam you can post at the cat food to see what time the Raccoon is freqenting? Maybe then you could set up an ambush at that time?

 

[PBinWA]

The Have-a-hart trap works good for me. I use dog treats because the neighbor's cats don't seem to like them. I still catch the cats every so often.

I have to cover the trap and make sure it can't be flipped over because the Raccoons will just flip it and shake out the treats.

If you have a "junk" .22 or .410 you can just stick it in the cage and when the Raccoon bites the end of the barrel - fire. It's easy and the head silences the shot.

There are some other techniques and traps that are interesting. You can drill a big hole in a tree and then hammer nails into the hole on an angle. Stick some food at the bottom of the hole and then when the Raccoon reaches in to grab the food the nails will dig into their wrist and trap them. You can buy commercial versions of this method too.

 

[darkminstrel]

The ones I had were most active one hour after sundown, and about a half hour before sun rise. Easier to catch near sunrise though. Tired and lumbering by that point. Remember they're related to bears...don't get too close.

 

[darkminstrel]

They have been known to kill cats too.... And are a carrier of rabies.
Do you have a trail cam you can post at the cat food to see what time the Raccoon is freqenting? Maybe then you could set up an ambush at that time?

We had a tom a couple years ago. Found his front half, and a day later 2 pregnant female 'coons moved into my roof eaves.

 

[Twodogs]

Get ride of all outside food and water.
Please read up on coonhound paralysis racoons can kill your pets without contact.
My dog got it and it took 3 months to recover.
To everyone feel free to PM me if you have questions.

Gary paugh

 

[mjbskwim]

When I bought a house years ago,the racoons had made a den under the deck.I went to chase them off the deck one night and one,without a tail,turned and growled at me.I went for the shotgun.
Nope neighbors won't like the new neighbor for long.
So I went to Big 5 and bought a Gamo air gun.Told the manager what it was for and he gave me discount after discount. Hated racoons! Shot one in the head.Done(well kinda flopped for a bit) Shot the no tail running across the lawn and missed,I thought.
2 weeks later the neighbor asked me to do something with the stinky,dead raccoon by the fence
They are just huge rats with a little more dexterity and less fear of humans.And that won't be the only one that comes to your door if you keep feeding the cat outside.
And they breed like rats/rabbits,so you alone will never put a dent in the raccoon population.
As far as killing the cat,I have heard they avoid cats if possible.But they do carry rabies

 

[RVTECH]

Thanks for all the good info. I think I have an ambush worked out. I moved my motorhome into a position where I can hang the .22 out the dinette window while I set in relative comfort with the catalytic heater on and have a perfect line of fire toward the deck. I'll set a dish of cat food out and wait. With any luck I'll be posting pics of the kill soon.

 

[moose]

The Have-a-hart trap works good for me. I use dog treats because the neighbor's cats don't seem to like them. I still catch the cats every so often.

I have to cover the trap and make sure it can't be flipped over because the Raccoons will just flip it and shake out the treats.

If you have a "junk" .22 or .410 you can just stick it in the cage and when the Raccoon bites the end of the barrel - fire. It's easy and the head silences the shot.

All this.

I have a wire live trap. If you don't want to (saving hides) or can't (inside the city limits, etc) shoot them, the trap fits nicely in a 55 gallon drum of water

 

[jbett98]

How not to get rid of problem coon. True story.
Set Have-a-Hart, check. Place bait inside, check. Place in optimum location near shop where coon is residing, check. Come back next day, trap is sprung with problem coon inside, check.
Grab shop .22, check. Look for ammo, all out, what to do.
Decide the most humane way of dispatching this pest is to stuff cage with coon into heavy duty black plastic bag and funnel exhaust from work van into bag. Sounds good so far doesn't it. Start up engine, walk away and let GM and Arco do it's job.
One problem not considered is that after running through the catalytic converter the exhaust is close to 450 degrees. Mr Coon is now screaming bloody murder about this and sounds like a woman being horse whipped. Neighbors are opening doors wondering what all the racket is about. Run out of shop and turn off engine, coon is now silent, look into bag and coon is dead.
Dump body into bag and place in back of van. Decide to dump bag at work, because the dumpster will be picked up next day.
Now here comes the fun part.
While driving to work on I-84, Mr Coon comes back alive. Proceeds to tear the bag to shreds, and comes looking for the clown who gave him the massive headache.
I veer over to the side of I-84 as fast as possible, jump out of van and open every door. Mr.Coon now decided to play hide and seek under my tool racks.
Grab broom handle and start jabbing Mr Coon out the back door. Finally he jumps out and proceeds to cross the freeway, but instead of running in a straight line, he can't seem to focus on any one direction and wants to head back to my van (any port in a storm I guess). Luckily for him, the traffic is pretty slow and all the cars manage to miss him.
I slam all my doors and proceed down the freeway. Traffic is very light now, due to some obstruction on I-84 West the radio announces.

 

[JackFrost]

How not to get rid of problem coon. True story.
Set Have-a-Hart, check. Place bait inside, check. Place in optimum location near shop where coon is residing, check. Come back next day, trap is sprung with problem coon inside, check.
Grab shop .22, check. Look for ammo, all out, what to do.
Decide the most humane way of dispatching this pest is to stuff cage with coon into heavy duty black plastic bag and funnel exhaust from work van into bag. Sounds good so far doesn't it. Start up engine, walk away and let GM and Arco do it's job.
One problem not considered is that after running through the catalytic converter the exhaust is close to 450 degrees. Mr Coon is now screaming bloody murder about this and sounds like a woman being horse whipped. Neighbors are opening doors wondering what all the racket is about. Run out of shop and turn off engine, coon is now silent, look into bag and coon is dead.
Dump body into bag and place in back of van. Decide to dump bag at work, because the dumpster will be picked up next day.
Now here comes the fun part.
While driving to work on I-84, Mr Coon comes back alive. Proceeds to tear the bag to shreds, and comes looking for the clown who gave him the massive headache.
I veer over to the side of I-84 as fast as possible, jump out of van and open every door. Mr.Coon now decided to play hide and seek under my tool racks.
Grab broom handle and start jabbing Mr Coon out the back door. Finally he jumps out and proceeds to cross the freeway, but instead of running in a straight line, he can't seem to focus on any one direction and wants to head back to my van (any port in a storm I guess). Luckily for him, the traffic is pretty slow and all the cars manage to miss him.
I slam all my doors and proceed down the freeway. Traffic is very light now, due to some obstruction on I-84 West the radio announces.

That was probably one of the funniest things I have ever heard! Holy crap, that was awesome! Thanks for the laughs!

 

[Redcap]

Thanks for all the good info. I think I have an ambush worked out. I moved my motorhome into a position where I can hang the .22 out the dinette window while I set in relative comfort with the catalytic heater on and have a perfect line of fire toward the deck. I'll set a dish of cat food out and wait. With any luck I'll be posting pics of the kill soon.

If you get lucky, you might get an aggressive one. They really hate axe handles and the Cold Steel Sjambok, both of which make short work of a charging raccoon. Sometimes it takes a full mag from my 10/22 to dispatch a raccoon, they can be pretty tough.

 

[Fumes]

They're highly opposed to 00 buck to the face but only for a second. Don't let them get under your house hey will cause thousands of dollars of damage.

 

[PBinWA]

jbett98 - that is too funny. They are ornery critters and some of them are pretty big too.

I usually just use whatever .410 shot I have lying around. I just ram the barrel in the cage and the always try to bite the end of it - boom. Usually silenced too.