Dispatched a racoon this morning. Been after him for two weeks. He has ate or killed 5 or 6 chickens. I had a little foot hold trap that apperently wasn't big enough to catch him. I set it for him once and I think he found it amusing and played with it. A few days later I stopped at a roadside flea market and found some bigger foothold traps. I baited them up for two or three nights and he would trip them and then eat the bait. Finally one night I managed to catch him in one but apperantly the trap still isn't big enough to hold him. I could tell he struggled to get out. I thought well maybe this time it will teach him a lesson and he won't be back, especially since he now has a sore foot. "WRONG" He came back night before last and managed to kill and half eat two more chickens.

Well I thought to myself that I am going to have to do something or he is going to keep eating until I have no more chickens. So I rigged up a booby-trap. Maybe illegal to do something like this so I will not tell you how I done it. So anyway I fixed up this trap using one of the dead chickens he left behind and had it suspended about 4 ft. up in the air right next to my chicken truck. Come about 4:30 a.m. the racoon came for his early morning breakfast and seen a easy meal hanging there waiting for him. He reached up and grabbed the chicken and made one pull and "BOOM". Blowed half of his neck off and part of his shoulder. He ran about 50 ft. and died in his tracks. One dead racoon. I'm just hoping he was the only one that has been coming over for breakfast.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 04, 2001

Answers

Good job RH!

So what did you do with the coon carcass? I would have thrown it back into the chicken pen and let them have at him for breakfast! Turn about is fair play, you know?!?

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 05, 2001.

Probably too late now, but coon meat is mighty tasty. Good as the best roast beef.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), October 05, 2001.

Did ya make a hat outta him yet?

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 05, 2001.

OK, you got rid of ONE raccoon, doesn't make more sense to make your chicken house predator proof, what will you do against the weasels, fox, coyotes, and thousand other raccoons out there that can also get in your chicken house?

You have to outsmart Mother Nature, not kill all her predators, you will never win that battle.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 05, 2001.

RH i know how you feel. I lost 13 chicken about a month ago to raccoons. But i put out moth balls around the outside of the chicken pen and have not seen or heard of any since. gail in okla.

-- myra gail akins (dakins@cottoninternet.net), October 05, 2001.

I just went out to shut my chickens up because I have lost several to coons. We were tired from putting up post for a new chicken yard and I forgot they had not been shut up for the night. Husband asked if I was going to shut them up so I went out to do so but I was too late. Beautiful barred cochin bantam gone except for some feathers. I feel bad because it is my fault. Bet I don't forget again. Hope to get the yard finished tomorrow. Then I have to build a chicken house. Not sure just what kind yet. It can't be to elaborate due to money, or rather a lack of it. Take care.

-- Faye in lower Bama (rcart@millry.net), October 05, 2001.

Cheryl- I placed the coon carcass in the freezer that I keep animals in. I will probably skin it out and use the hair for fishing lures.

Sandrs- I've only eatin racoon one time in my life. And it tasted very good until I found out what it was. After that I couldn't get it to go down my throat.

Alison- it is too early in the fall for the hide to be any good to make any hats. It is what they call a blue hide, which means the hair will shed easily even after being tanned.

Myra- I'll have to try that with the moth balls. It might save me a lot of sleepless nights.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 05, 2001.

Annie- Sorry I stepped on your sore toe. Maybe you could send me your plans on how to make a portable truck pen fully critter proof. I have small chicken wire around mine and then on top of that I have 2"X4" welded wire. But even with that it doesn't stop determined critters from digging under or keep some from reaching through. Besides sometimes I need a few good hides to tack on my living room wall.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 05, 2001.

Someone on the forum a while back suggest 'inviting' raccoons or similar critters into the pen by giving them what seems to be easy access. At one corner cut out a hole smaller than a live-trap. Then secure a live trap in such a way it can be easily lifted out. The critter apparently thinks it has found an access into the pen only to find out otherwise. A bit of bait in the livetrap probably wouldn't hurt. While just setting out by the shed, mine has caught the neighborhood stray cat, a raccoon and a possum in five nights. I know I have one big **s shunk in the neighborhood but am not particularly looking forward to catching him or her.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 06, 2001.

Ken, I've used that method with my chicken coop where I keep my laying hens. I used it one time and caught a skunk that had gotten in the night before. Boy did I have fun carrying that trap out of there. Done it with a 10' pole. One thing that saved me was that the live trap that I used was a small one. It wasn't big enough for the skunk to be able to raise his tail up. I still have that same small live trap and I figured a big ole' coon probably wouldn't fit in it.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 06, 2001.

We kept losing poultry to racoons even though they were latched up in pens because the little buggers knew how to open the latches. Once they even decapatated some new chicks in one of the small coups and closed the door back up when they were through! We added spring-locks to the coups and they have never figured them out. We tried some "home-made" live traps made of wood, wire, etc. but they would chew the wood away over night, pull the wire apart; it was so frustrating! We finally used a heavy wire live trap and it worked. Hope this is helpful.

-- bj (ourfarm@earthlink.net), January 01, 2002.