Raccoons, continued
- Thread starter Von Jones
- Start date
And so it begins.
Faye Fox
Well-known member
Sorry to hear you are still battling with the raccoons, a battle you can't win. Best you can hope for is a stalemate.
Sorry to hear you are still battling with the raccoons, a battle you can't win. Best you can hope for is a stalemate.
Hey, hey Faye!!!
Jake Smith
Well-known member
We have plenty of raccoons here; and as Marie posted, a few posts back. We found one laying flat out on the ground dead, not sure what killed it, but was getting pretty stiff, so don't think it had been dead very long. I hear them fighting each other, every so often and figure he may have been pushed out of the tall trees, and land flat on the stomach. I buried him, and it wasn't real old, but a real "pretty" one. Night photo of a couple raccoons "here' , below.
Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
"Her name was McGill, and she called herself Lil. But everyone knew her as Nancy." Now I'll have that stuck in my head all evening.
Mary Stetler
Well-known member
I'll trade you your raccoon for my weasel in my barn.There was no activity through the night or this morning. There was a tornado warning around 4 AM maybe that's why or maybe the job was completed yesterday morning.
Raccoons are easy, my war
I'll trade you your raccoon for my weasel in my barn.
Raccoons are easy, my war
You might want to retract what you said because you are lucky to deal with one weasel than to deal with raccoonS.
Speaking of raccoons, This morning I decided to take a look outside 6AM to check the temperature at 58 degrees. I disarmed the security, unlocked the front door, unlocked the screen door and stepped outside onto the front porch. It was nice until...yep, you guessed it. I must have stepped outside just as it passed the porch reaching what I consider a blind spot at this point in the direction of the street. Then it stop moving, as did I. Neither of us making that first move. Its head was peering back in my direction as I stood quiet and still. The porch light beaming down on me as I thought, 'What are you going to do?' At that moment its body aligned with the direction of its head and creep-ed back (Like I wouldn't see it) passing the porch to the vacant house next door. Oh, before I forget, it was raining.
Faye Fox
Well-known member
Ok, Ladies, @Von Jones and @Mary Stetler, I will see your racoon and weasel, and raise you, one male packrat, two opossums and one woodchuck.
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No thank you, Faye. I've done enough research on raccoons that I'm considering myself an authority on the subject.Ok, Ladies, @Von Jones and @Mary Stetler, I will see your raccoon and weasel, and raise you, one male packrat, two opossums and one woodchuck.
Don Alaska
Well-known member
I have found weasels to be the toughest to deal with, as conventional traps don't work well. I have trapped raccoons, and rats, and shot possums and woodchucks, but the little ermine give me a lot of frustration. I am not as kind to raccoons as you are @Von Jones. When I had to deal with them, elimination, not transfer was my answer. Ermine don't do nearly the damage that raccoons do though.
Faye Fox
Well-known member
I don't question that for a second! I consider you an expert because of first hand experience, not research. Raccoons defy textbook definition. As you already know, you have to be more crafty than a raccoon, to beat it. That craft comes from experience. At least raccoons are cute, not ugly like an opossum. Those things are just big rats!No thank you, Faye. I've done enough research on raccoons that I'm considering myself an authority on the subject.
Faye Fox
Well-known member
I was lucky to have a barn cat that caught and killed ermines or weasels. I only lost one chicken to them before I buried hardware cloth 2' deep around their pen. Worst was the packrats. They were difficult to trap and would fight a cat. Raccoons never gave me much trouble. I had a couple of creeks they hung out in and around.I have found weasels to be the toughest to deal with, as conventional traps don't work well. I have trapped raccoons, and rats, and shot possums and woodchucks, but the little ermine give me a lot of frustration. I am not as kind to raccoons as you are @Von Jones. When I had to deal with them, elimination, not transfer was my answer. Ermine don't do nearly the damage that raccoons do though.
Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
Some of you might recall that our biggest problem with raccoons was them pooping on the steps of our swimming pool. 
That was several years ago but we (meaning my husband) successfully live trapped the pair of them and relocated them about 10 miles away. If we weren't in a residental subdivision we would not have been so kind, either.
That was several years ago but we (meaning my husband) successfully live trapped the pair of them and relocated them about 10 miles away. If we weren't in a residental subdivision we would not have been so kind, either.Mary Stetler
Well-known member
I can deal with and have eaten raccoon, woodchuck, squirrel etc. Trapping is not a problem but I am not the shot I once was.I have found weasels to be the toughest to deal with, as conventional traps don't work well. I have trapped raccoons, and rats, and shot possums and woodchucks, but the little ermine give me a lot of frustration. I am not as kind to raccoons as you are @Von Jones. When I had to deal with them, elimination, not transfer was my answer. Ermine don't do nearly the damage that raccoons do though.
Apparently, I actually caught the weasel last night. But the trap had been thrashed around and somehow it got away. I will have to build a wooden trap with a spring rat trap in it I guess. It just has to be chicken proof because they like the bait too.
Don Alaska
Well-known member
I built an ermine trap, but they are sly devils here. It has to be totally dark apparently because their night vision is so keen, and they can work around the traps. Here we have to build a box and have a rat trap inside it. The bait has to be on the other side of the trap or they will just steal the bait and avoid the trap even in the dark. Of course, nothing, including most grizzly bears, will mess with a wolverine. Bears will destroy buildings, and wolverines tear them apart from the inside if they can get in.