How far?

[Gregor 4,846]

In the last 11 days I have caught 7 raccoons.  I catch them in a live trap, and relocate them to the country. I take them about 2 miles out, as the crow flies, and drop them off. I'm really starting to think they are coming back.

Will a coon travel 2 miles back to get home again? How far is far enough?

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

Spray paint the tails.    Then you'll know .     My guess is they will travel 2 mile to return.     You may want to check with wildlife officials.  It may not be legal to trap any wild animal  in the spring after the breeding season.

[oldlineman 1,481]

I would say that 2 miles is not nearly enough more like 8 or 10 and that might not enough if the critter has a good reason to com back. Bob

[Gregor 4,846]

48 minutes ago, oldlineman said:

if the critter has a good reason to com back. Bob

Apparently they really really like marshmallows.

[Pullstart 62,912]

 maybe you should see how well they like lead?

[lynnmor 7,308]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

Spray paint the tails.    Then you'll know .     My guess is they will travel 2 mile to return.     You may want to check with wildlife officials.  It may not be legal to trap any wild animal  in the spring after the breeding season.

 

Would you please apply for a consulting job with the Dept. of Homeland Security? 

[Gregor 4,846]

2 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Spray paint the tails

I did paint the last 2

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

1 hour ago, pullstart said:

 maybe you should see how well they like lead?

 

Or how long they can hold their breath underwater?

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Reminds me of an old anecdote from my police days.

We had a guy on our patch who had a brain disease, made him appear drunk and confused all the time. He couldn't speak and communicated via a series of grunts and arm waving semaphore to get his point across. He was harmless enough but not very hygienic and so he was barred from every shop, pub or restaurant in the area (he would wander in and upset the patrons and was usually propelled out the door with free a sandwich or drink).

He also used to drink a lot and so pubs were his natural environment,  somehow his fuddled brain would try to get him a pint usually without success because he was well known in the area.

One day our sergeant was out on patrol in a tiny village about 5 miles from this guys usual haunts, he spies said vagrant wobbling toward a very up market village inn, full of the gentry. 

"Hello Dennis old lad  what are you doing all the way out here?" Quoth the venerable sergeant as he gently guided Dennis into the back of his patrol car.

"I'll give you a lift back home cock, you must be knackered walking all this way."

Dennis waved his arms and grunted in protest but our hero simply fastened his seat belt and drove him back to more familiar surroundings, all windows open.

Dennis had somehow recalled this village pub and reasoned that he was probably not barred from it, it had taken him all day to shamble his way there and he was halted yards from his goal by our stalwart stripey. 

On the dark winter evenings he would cause traffic carnage by wandering into the road, forcing drivers to avoid him. There were car wrecks all round but Dennis never got a scratch. One day a gang of road workers who had seen the chaos he wrought in their work area decided to act. They captured Dennis and despite stiff resistance they managed to get a hi-viz yellow vest on him which they superglued the zip shut on.

There were no more road accidents now that a reflective Dennis could be identified at a distance. 

And you think you have problems with Raccoons lol.

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Jeff. We had a few people prosecuted for cruelty over here on that kind of thing.

One drowned a squirrel in a live trap by dropping it in a bin full of water. Got done by the law.

Another despatched a fox I think with a baseball bat and was similarly in the sh1t. 

And my great gran used to sit drowning unwanted pups in a bucket while the kids watched, saying the bubbles were their little souls going to heaven. Charming.

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

4 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

prosecuted for cruelty

 

I know... Probably not the most humane activity and while in general I consider myself to be an animal lover,  there are a few instances where one must do what one must do.

 

Certain critters are destructive and/or carry and transmit diseases and have no business on my property and are dealt with by any means necessary.

 

My pop used to say, "You know how a fish gets caught?  It opens it's mouth!" 

[Gregor 4,846]

I must be a woos. I don't think I have ever killed anything bigger than a spider, except for fish, and I eat them. But I REALLY DO hate spiders.!

[Stormin 9,981]

  When it comes to wild life, you have to strike a balance. Over here we have people who don't want badgers culled. Dirty, vicious, flea ridden things. They carry TB which infects dairy cattle. They'll also kill new born lambs given the chance. Ripping the insides out to eat the innards. Carrion crows, Magpies will go with lambs eyes and tongues. A blind lamb can survive but with out a tongue they cant suckle so die. Also people have got birds of prey protected. Buzzards, Red Kites etc. The population of such is now increasing.

  The problem is, badges, foxes, birds of prey go with the ground nesting birds, young rabbits and hares. But you try telling them that, when they complain about the scarcity of ground nesting birds etc. They'll deny it and blame farmers.

  We've even got clueless idiots wanting to reintroduce wild cats and wolves. Madness!

Edited June 5, 2021 by Stormin

[lynnmor 7,308]

44 minutes ago, Stormin said:

  We've even got clueless idiots wanting to reintroduce wild cats and wolves. Madness!

 

We already did the wolf thing.  There are certain types that want wolves in Yellowstone National Park and most of the people out, and they are getting their way.

[Pullstart 62,912]

I’m for culling like Jeff... I am protecting my flock from harm and don’t feel a bit bad.  I make a clean and quick shot, just like hunting... and give it a resting place to feed picking birds of the sky.  

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

I have started my Woodchuck control program.    Paid for in sweet corn by my Amish truck farmer neighbor.    I have been removing 15-20  every year around the 36 acre farm.  They are really are destructive to the newly planted cantaloupe seedlings, walking down the plastic covered row and nipping off every plant.

And a burrow in an area where a horse may step in a hole....

 

Oh, They do not get relocated to become some other farmers problem,  they become food for the predators and scavengers.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Ed Kennell

[oliver2-44 9,759]

I'm on my 2nd year of my squirrel relocation program.  I've live trapped a very very large number of them and amazingly  have not made a dent in the neighborhood population.  I think part of my success is I continually change baits.  I think I will try some marshmallows as mentioned above.  Sesame seeds work good, but also attract birds, so I stopped using them.   I actually got some pecans for myself last year.   I relocate them to a large green rectangular plastic container and pay a business to pick them up once a week from me along with other items that get picked up.  I just don't  tell certain  "neighbors"  how or where I relocate them to.  But they don't become someone eases problem!  

[Achto 27,603]

31 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

I relocate them to a large green rectangular plastic container

 

May be fatten them up and try a different container.

https://georgiawildlife.blog/2018/08/26/5-squirrel-recipes-youll-ever-taste/

[oliver2-44 9,759]

5 hours ago, Achto said:

 

May be fatten them up and try a different container.

https://georgiawildlife.blog/2018/08/26/5-squirrel-recipes-youll-ever-taste/

 

I do BBQ a few from time to time!

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

5 hours ago, Achto said:

 

May be fatten them up and try a different container.

 

Pot pie with home made noodles.      

[Gregor 4,846]

Make that 8 raccoons in 12 days

 

[Gregor 4,846]

9 for 16

[seuadr 488]

man, we only have a couple. they are the smart ones, learned that if you mess with the garbage cans or the chickens, you disappear. for a few years we had one BIG one that was too sneaky for it's own good. took forever to get that one in a life trap, and then he was so big he barely fit. since exterminating him, things have been real quiet

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

Anyone have trouble with skunks?

 

Last year I saw a mama with her brood of at least 6 'skunklets' chasing behind her out at the bird feeders.  It was actually very cute ...

 

Except for the smell, skunks don't bother me.

 

[lynnmor 7,308]

Years ago I rented a duplex in town.  The brilliant tenant in the other half decided to keep a wild coon in the basement for a pet.  Since there was a number of ways for the coon to travel to my side, I took action and trapped the filthy thing and got rid of it.  Now I had to fix the serious flea infestation and no commercial products would work, so I needed to move but my furniture and everything need to be fumigated.  I bought a few pounds of sulfur and made two sulfur burners out of coffee cans and placed one on each side of the duplex basement and lit them off without even telling the idiot.  Man does that stuff work, when I came back a day later there was all kinds of dead insects lying about.