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Anyone with experience getting rid of raccons?

Discussion in 'The Watercooler' started by Blast Furnace, Dec 9, 2014.

  1. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    I have 1 living under my kitchen floor! Maybe more. Though I was having a mouse problem, there's an odor in the house and found fleas last week. Today I heard a noise too big for a mouse, went to the basement where I can look under the kitchen floor because the basement wall doesn't go all the way to the ceiling, I can peak in, so I'm scanning the area with my flash light when suddenly it comes across the raccoon, like 3 feet from my face, holy crap.

    I got some of those ultra sound repellent things, not holding out too much hope for that but try the easiest thing first. Have to wait until he goes out tonight though, sitting too close to the opening for me to put this thing up there. He may even be sick, little surprised he didn't scurry off when my flashlight fell on him, bright light is supposed to scare them.

    Any suggestions? Called a pest removal place, 600 bucks, I'l bite the bullet on that soon enough I suppose.
     
  2. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    LOL!!!! I can't help it!!! That's just funny! Ok...Now that I was mean to you, my really good friend, I can try to help you. LOL! I used to coon hunt all the time and to train dogs I would catch coons in a trap and put them in a "roll cage" and let the dogs learn to chase them and then let them go. They are actually considered a nuisance animal because they destroy people's crops down here. I will tell you what kind of food they REALLY like and it is sardines. They also like peanut butter as well. If you take some and put them in a cage and set the trap they will go in for it and you can trap them without hurting them at all. Do NOT try and get under there with them to scare them off. They are EXTREMELY mean and they will absolutely tear you up! I almost had to get a rabies shot because my stupid buddy got scared by one that we were switching between cages and he was supposed to be holding it with a tobacco or "backer" stick and it got a hold of my finger and tore the hide off the end of it! It was trying to bite me and I jerked away and its claws brought the blood big time. It turned out to be a female and she had babies while I had her actually. Also that thing about light is not true. When you are coon hunting and the dogs tree one the coon will actually look right at the light and then you shoot it in the foot with a .22 and it will jump out and the dogs will fight it. They are really tough animals. Just try and lure them out with sardines in a trap and take them and let them go. If you can't find a cage around there look them up online. They shouldn't be too expensive. I might even have one I can send you. I hope this helps.
     
  3. SteelinOhio

    SteelinOhio

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    My grandfather was a big raccoon hunter. He used to get invited to people's property who had raccoons in their barns or living in the woods on their property to help get rid of them, sometimes.

    I've never had to get rid of any, but the tips I've heard are to first of all, try to find where the raccoon got in so that you can seal it off once you get it out.

    They're supposed to have an aversion to the smell of ammonia. I've read that keeping an ammonia soaked rag in a bowl in the area they're inhabiting can help to drive them off.
     
  4. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    Do you know what kind of dogs your papaw liked to use? We always liked to use walkers. I've not been coon hunting in a long time but I really did enjoy it.
     
  5. SteelinOhio

    SteelinOhio

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    I used to go with him once in awhile. He almost always had redbone dogs, and generally took 2 with him when we'd go hunting.

    I believe he even used to enter hunting contests regularly. I know it was one of his favorite things, and I always enjoyed going with him.
     
  6. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    Yeah I used to have a "coon hunters club" just right down the road. Those tournaments could win people a lot of money. My papaw loved it too. When he got to where he couldn't do it anymore he would just go and park and listen to the race from the road. Some people will spend THOUSANDS on just ONE dog! I know some people that still do it. I'd love to go again some time. It's just really hard for me to find the time to.
     
  7. darcrav

    darcrav Well-Known Member

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    I could help you if it was a squirrel
    to catch them
    you just act like a nut



    for the raccoon

    try on your
    Zorro the gayblade costume
    or don your best bat man mask
    or
    try this guy

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    I knew you were going to laugh! :lolol:

    Dude, it scared the **** out of me, I'm looking for at most, a rat and I see a big ass coon staring at me, really freaking close, only time I have been closer than that was a dead one I found on my deck. After finding this one today, I bet you the dead one was living in there too.

    I picked up a raccoon trap tonight, it's basically just a long cage that has a trap door swing down when they enter it. Let you know if I catch the sucker tomorrow.

    I read that today as well when reading up on how to get rid of them, also cayenne pepper is supposed to drive them off, make it into a spray and apply it to the area.

    :roflmao:

    My last resort.
     
  9. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    I can't wait to find out about this. I'm telling you if you put some sardines in there dude he will feast on those things. They don't have salival glands and they need their food to be moist when they eat it and since sardines are moist they can eat them right there on the spot and they take advantage of it. I'm honestly surprised it didn't come at you but I suppose where you live in such a highly populated area they are more used to people than they are down here. They also probably don't have as many natural predators up there as well. I'm not sure if you know this but not only do coons live under people's kitchen floors in New York but there are actually four turtles and a rat that live in your sewers and are awesome at karate. Just keep that between us but I know it for a fact.
     
  10. fanforlife

    fanforlife

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    Lots of people will tell you all about coons without really understanding or knowing much about them. The easy and best way to remove them is simply by using a live trap and put a little cat food or dog food in the trap. I've done it for a lot of years and it always works. In all the years I've been around them they have never attacked. They are more scared of you then you of them. I've been in close quarters with them and never had a problem. Now if your doing something stupid like hunting them they will and should try to rip you up.
     
  11. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    I think they left the sewers and are under my floor too.

    I used cat food, didn't catch anything yet, I'll try the trap in a different spot tonight. I had it narrowed down to one of two places he may be getting in, it's tough to tell because I have a low lying deck, like a foot of clearance, I can't get in there to look closely.

    I still think he may be sick, I was very surprised he was so close to the entrance in my basement, if he's been in there for a while like I think he has been, I've never seen him all the previous times I looked, then yesterday hes camped out right by the opening, you'd think he'd scamper away from the opening when the light goes on and hears me coming down the steps.
     
  12. pjgruden

    pjgruden

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    I have no additional advice to add to your post about getting rid of Coons, but best of luck.

    While I don't hunt, two of my five dogs are hounds. I have a beagle/hound mix, and a bluetick. My bluetick is a killer. I don't get wildlife in my backyard at all. And if I do, they don't last long. This year alone she caught 5 groundhogs. In the past she's gotten chipmunks, a garter snake, squirrels and rabbits. It's actually quite fascinating to watch her stalk prey. She'll sit still in the yard for hours waiting for the right moment to strike.
     
  13. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    I don't think you understand what hunting them is. You don't walk around looking for them and then go wild west on them. You just pull up in a field on the edge of a woodline and turn dogs loose and they start sniffing for them and if they get on their scent they will track it to them and the coon will run up a tree and you follow the bark of the dogs and shine a light up in there and shoot it in the foot and it will fall out and the dogs fight it. It's not like deer hunting or fishing where you wait for them to come to you. Out of curiosity, do you live in sort of an urban area where they are more used to people and don't have a lot of natural predators? Maybe that's why their not as aggressive in close quarters. I can tell you that down here I don't know ANYbody that would want to be in close quarters with one. They carry rabies too but I don't think I've ever seen an actual "rabid" one ya know?
     
  14. darcrav

    darcrav Well-Known Member

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    If the coon happens to be unique
    the best way to catch it is
    "unique" up on it

    A tame raccoon can be caught
    The tame way,unique up on it.

    Please keep us informed of the progress
    I see a lot of fun with this thread

    dis ear tread is appropriate with me being down ear in da bayou n dall at dis time

    I'll have to ask a coonass ear in NAWLINS they should be able to help
     
  15. fanforlife

    fanforlife

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    I understand what hunting them is, I just thing it is very stupid to do. I live in more of a rural area. I know they have rabies, so do wild cats. What's the point? As far as close quarters goes if you and your friends are scared to do that fine, that has no effect on me and the way I react with and to them. This is probably a topic that should end between the two of us. We will never agree on this subject so why bother to discuss it.
     
  16. TerribleTowelFlying

    TerribleTowelFlying Staff Member Site Admin Mod Team

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    This is what I was going to suggest, but it sounds like you're already using it. I have a similar one, and I've caught a few critters in it in the past (including the neighbor's cat on accident). I've never caught a raccoon, but I'd get a can of wet cat food or a can or two of sardines/salmon from the grocery store. The stinkier the better.

    http://www.amazon.com/Havahart-1079-Professional-Style-One-Door-Groundhog

    [​IMG]
     
  17. strummerfan

    strummerfan Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully this has already been said , don't eff with a raccoon. They will tear you up if they get a hold of you.
     
  18. knab70

    knab70 Well-Known Member

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    Oct 23, 2012
  19. Blast Furnace

    Blast Furnace Staff Member Mod Team

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    Yep, thats the one I got but mine sits empty, presently :facepalm:

    Still haven't seen him yet today, maybe those sound things really do work. Did find a dead mouse today though, found him in my Christmas decorations I was taking out for my tree. Rodents have been having a party under my kitchen floor apparently.

    Thanks for all the advice everyone, stay tuned :thumbs_up:
     
  20. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    That's fine. I wasn't trying to offend you and hope I didn't. They are actually allowed to be hunted during their season because they destroy a lot of crops down here and it is a form of population control. You can't just kill them anytime you want to. But that's fine if it's something you're passionate about. I understand and respect that. There are many that agree with you. No disrespect or offense intended.
     
  21. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    That's what I said but someone else was telling him they won't actually hurt him. Apparently us southern people have a different breed down here. LOL!
     
  22. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    I figure that he will just check back in his room only to find Gideon's Bible.
     
  23. blountforcetrauma

    blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

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    What's the craziest animal you've caught? What if you caught a skunk? That would be a dilemma! LOL! Do you have bobcats where you live? We do but until a few months ago I had never seen one but on the way home from church on a wednesday night a bobcat jumped right out in front of me and was literally probably 2ft from my bumper! It made it across the road like a bolt of lightning dude! I would say a bobcat could fit in a cage like that if they were a on the young side. That's the kind of cages I used to.
     
  24. fanforlife

    fanforlife

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    Non taken. I just feel strong about animal rights and do a lot to defend and support those right. As far as the raccoons interacting with people I don't think they are different between Minnesota and where you live. I think it is more based on circumstances, My wife when she was alive used to go to a park near our home every night to run. She noticed a few raccoons around where she parked her car and started to feed them nightly, This went on for years and she got to the point when she pulled into the parking lot they would come out to meet her because they knew they would be fed. It got to the point that she and I could sit in the middle of 20 to 30 raccoons and they would peacefully eat some of the would eat right from her or my hand. Not all of them would and we would always wear heavy gloves in case one of them got scared. Sense that was one of my last memories of her, the raccoons have a special place in my heart and I have continued to feed them and some at my house without any problems. With the work I do with dogs, cats raccoons I've been bitten, clawed and scratched many time. I guess I always place the blame on myself for not handling the situation properly and having scared or threatened the animal. Beside I heal pretty quick.
     
  25. TerribleTowelFlying

    TerribleTowelFlying Staff Member Site Admin Mod Team

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    Aside from the neighbor's cat, probably a muskrat. I was not expecting that to be the critter under our porch.

    My husky used to find the most creative ways to get free and run all over the country side. He would come home with carcasses of just about everything. I mean everything. Fish and turtles from the neighbors pond. Deer antlers (I have no idea). He got sprayed by a skunk a number of times.

    Late one night maybe 14 years ago after I had gotten home from work, he slipped out of his collar and somehow got a possum in under a minute. I have no idea how he knew where to get it...maybe it was just dumb luck. I pulled him away from it and got him in the house, and being the nice guy that I am, I went to see if the possum was alright. This was like 2 in the morning. It had a little blood on it's face after the thrashing my dog gave it, and it looked dead as a doornail.

    I poked it with a shovel a bunch of times, and it was just lifeless. I didn't want the kids to see it in the morning, and it was so big that I couldn't get it scooped onto the shovel, so I got some work gloves on and picked it up to dispose of it in the woods nearby. You probably know where this is going, but the damn thing wasn't dead afterall.

    While I was picking it up it turned around and hissed at me with it's giant, hideous mouth. It was trying to get at me and I was face to face with the evil thing. I ended up throwing it and it resumed "playing possum". I hate possums to this day.

    Oddly enough, a couple years later he got a hold of another possum while I was walking him on the leash. I got him away from it and it layed on our doorstep for a while. My wife said, "you should take care of that" and I was like "uhh, hell no." :lolol:
     

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