Raccoon Problem - new to us

PrincessFerf · #1 07/12/09, 08:13 PM

Earlier last week, I woke up around 1am to a strange noise outside of our bedroom window. It was somewhat like a cooing, not too different from a pigeon. I listened to it for awhile and after a couple of minutes and it went away.

The next night I heard the noise again, around 4am. This time it was louder and went on longer. I got out of bed and looked out our window to see a mommy raccoon and about 4 babies. The babies themselves were not much smaller than my cats. I yelled out the window at them and they ran off into the fields.

The next two nights were quiet... until last night. I woke up suddenly to the sound of one of my cats squealing/hissing in anger (thankfully not out of pain). I then hear our kitty door that leads into our garage (where we feed our cats). I realize that our coonhound was already up and pacing in the house.

My husband quickly gets up and heads for the garage. As soon as he opened the garage door, they ran out and into the night.

Now that these raccoons have found our house, visited a few times and got into our garage (and finding the cat food, no doubt), I expect they will be back.

My concerns are several. 1. I don't want my cats getting mixed up with raccoons. 2. I don't want the raccoons trying to get into our chicken coop (thankfully the coop is secure). 3. I don't want raccoons around our house, period!

We're borrowing a live trap from one of our neighbors tonight and I'll go buy one tomorrow. Our neighbor recommended letting them go at the marsh that's just over a mile from our house. I don't mind using the SSS method, just as long as they don't come back.

What do you do in this type of case?

ericjeeper · #2 07/12/09, 08:23 PM

Golden malrin and some soda in a dish.. DO NOT let a pet get near it.. very deadly stuff

PrincessFerf · #3 07/12/09, 08:42 PM

Is that mixture something cats or dogs would drink/eat? If so, I can't use it.

wyld thang · #4 07/12/09, 08:46 PM

ha, back in the burbs we had a couple of raccoons figure out the kitty door(the kind the cat wears a magnet or something on the collar to ttrip the door), and had two raccoons, a furious cat and a psyco barking poodle in the family room in the basement! whee! luckily the coons found the kitty door, and hubby shot one out of the tree outside, the other ran away forever. I thought for sure someone would call the cops on us(he used a shotgun), but, uh, we got away with it.

around here if the coons come up close to the house and are a prob/discover food, they get shot.

PrincessFerf · #5 07/12/09, 09:10 PM

I'm ok with shooting them, too... assuming my husband could actually hit the coon.

Coons are fine in the woods, but we can't have that at the house!

cowcreekgeeks · #6 07/12/09, 10:18 PM

Get a live trap and bait with honeybuns or marshmallows. Stake down the trap. Put the bait UNDER the the trap so the coon stands on the trigger working at the bait. Wake up the next morning and SHOOT it in the head.

Bear · #7 07/13/09, 07:01 AM

Shoot the robbing buggers.

nocleantoes · #8 07/13/09, 07:28 AM

Definitely take care of it. If you relocate it, it will only come back. Best to shoot it--if it's in a trap, you can't miss!! And since you have chickens, you can bet on always having predators. Great job on planning to buy a trap...you'll definitely need it! You'll be amazed at how many things you catch the first 2 weeks!

Allen W · #9 07/13/09, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrincessFerf

Is that mixture something cats or dogs would drink/eat? If so, I can't use it.

It could kill anything that eats it, besides being illegal.

arachyd · #10 07/13/09, 08:15 AM

I'm wondering why it is even a question of what do do because you have a coonhound. Don't risk going out at night to your garage unprotected if you know there is a momma coon with babies prowling around. You could get hurt. If the dog won't take care of it for you or isn't experienced then use a trap and dispose of it and the babies or contact the nearest hunting club and ask if they could recommend someone of good reputation to take care of it for you.

English Oliver · #11 07/13/09, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericjeeper

Golden malrin and some soda in a dish.. DO NOT let a pet get near it.. very deadly stuff

Soda, as in cola???

"O"

Beeman · #12 07/13/09, 08:40 AM

Live trap, can of tuna with holes punched in it to allow the smell out and you'll catch the coons. Then shoot them while in the trap and dump in a hole.

PrincessFerf · #13 07/13/09, 08:54 AM

Well last night was interesting. By 11:15pm the momma coon was in the live trap (we baited it with marshmallows. My neighbor recommended using cat food in the trap, but I didn't want my cats going in there!).

We moved the trap further away from the house and my husband released her in the marsh on his way into work.

I'm buying a trap for ourselves tonight after work.

Unfortunately our coonhound isn't trained. (kind of a long story, but we didn't know she was a coonhound until we had had her for a year... we adopted her from a shelter when she was just 9 weeks old and they didn't know what breed she was other than "part Beagle, part something else... she'll probably be about 40 pounds". She's full Red Tick Coonhound and about 70lbs.) We aren't hunters so she's been just a pet to us... this is our first hound-owning experience. We've generally owned labs.

On top of catching the momma.... around 7pm last night my daughter and I took 2 of our dogs for a walk. (She was walking the Coonhound and I had the St. Bernard) We were less than 1/4 mile from our house when a group of 5 young raccoons walked out onto the road in front of us! I said "oh crap" because I figured where there were young... there would be a momma... and other than 2 big dogs, we didn't have any other protection.

The coonhound went NUTS. A part of me was so tempted to let her off leash to tear off after them, but I didn't want her getting hurt since she's not trained and would be on her own. The St. Bernard was pulling real hard, but not with the passion that the hound had. The 5 coons high-tailed it back into the woods and scurried up a tree real quick. We kept moving... and the St. Bernard lost interest pretty fast, but the hound REALLY, REALLY wanted to go back. I actually felt a little bad for her!

In the 4 years that we've lived at this place, we've only seen a raccoon ONCE before all of this

English Oliver · #14 07/13/09, 09:14 AM

I took trapped coons about seven miles away and after marking them, released them. I have caught two of the released coons a second time. Shoot them.

"O"

wildhorse · #15 07/13/09, 10:19 AM

Please make sure that your cat and dogs are up to date on there rabies shots.

Harry Chickpea · #16 07/13/09, 10:52 AM

IIRC, around here is is illegal to release coons into a different area. Once you trap 'em, you have to dispatch them.

ronbre · #17 07/13/09, 11:24 AM

bring your animals in..bait the trap with cat food just inside the door they came in (cat door right)..and live trap them..you won't get all at one time..they will each trip the trap..but if you can set up more than one..you'll get more than one coon.

did you count them? borrow that many traps..set them up about 8 to 10 feet apart baited with cat food.

PrincessFerf · #18 07/13/09, 01:02 PM

When I saw them a few nights ago, there was a mom and 4 babies. On Saturday night, we only saw the one that got in the garage. I'm assuming its the same one we caught last night.

I have a feeling that we didn't release the raccoon far enough away (it was only about a mile or so), so I'm sure it will come back.

So we'll have to dispatch it to ensure we don't have more problems.

DYngbld · #19 07/13/09, 01:22 PM

Do they taste like chicken?

DYngbld · #20 07/13/09, 01:26 PM

We had a coon get 8 of our four month old chicks. It came back the next night, and got one more. The babies are well secured now and I havent seen the coon back. I ask a couple of park rangers, one said to take to the park and let it go, the other said to shoot it.