Raccoons

Well, as I was typing away on my computer a few minutes ago I suddenly heard some screetching and bumping around on the front porch. Took a look out and there were three raccoons fighting over the bird feeder out there. One was actually hanging upside down off the eavestrough eating and spilling birdseed out of the feeder onto the porch where the other two were eating it up. Seems the varmints are awake again and hungry....

I see I'm going to have to make my new backyard rabbit housing raccoon proof. It's also possible that a nice raccoon skin cap might mysteriously appear from time to time....

yep, a whole family lived in the neighbors' trees and ate cat food all last summer next door to my house.

I could catch a coon in a live trap, but how would one dispatch it? I wouldn't have the guts to try to bop it! And you can't shoot a gun in town...Luckily in my case, the construction in the neghbors' yard may have disturbed them enough to send them to someone else's yard.

Mostly I like watching them, but I worried about my chickens.

In town can't you call animal control to dispose of any wild critter you catch? In the bigger towns here that's what you'd do but then I think anywhere here that would allow chickens would allow a gun to be fired. There aren't too many urban chicken keepers. There isn't too much urban anything in iowa.... Most places don't have animal control because most places don't have gun restrictions and have plenty of farmers and hunters so you just mention it to your neighbor who knows someone that will come shoot it for free target practice. Or when I first moved here, knew no one, and did not have a gun I called the local police who came out and put down a feral dog I'd caught after it returned a second time to get my chickens.

Slow-cooked raccoon is good eating. 8)

Trap the coon, drown it-- bows and arrows are nice and quiet, too.

Slow-cooked raccoon is good eating.

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Reeeally?

Ironically enough, animal control got cut in the last round of buget cuts, you can have chickens as of about 3 months ago, and if you fire so much as a paintball gun you are in deep doo-doo. It is a very conflicted sort of small town! :lol:

I don't actually think I could drown anything...I could see taking it up in the mountians and releasing it--or shooting it if it were legal and I really had to. Drowning is just too slow and I am just too squeamish.

When it comes to a Raccoon
or your livestock [Rabbits/Chickens].
Practice the three S's!
Shoot, Shovel and Shut-Up! :twisted:
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

eco2pia":3rghollr said:

Slow-cooked raccoon is good eating.

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Reeeally?

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Yep! The closest thing I could relate the flavor and texture to is ham, sort of.

I actually have one in my freezer, right now! I'd cook it, but I told my brother I'd give it to him. We'll have to see whether he gets it or not... :twisted:

Racoons are wild animals,i called the game commission. its a state agency.they came and trapped a fox eating my ducks.I was told not too release raccons on account of rabies.

In most states, racocons can only be released where they were caught!!! The general rule is " a caught coon is a dead coon' In Ohio- wildlife rehabbers are NOT permitted to rehab a coon- not even to raise orphaned babies...

You can try to find a 'nuisance animal" trapper, and let him deal wit the legalities of removing the live animal from your property.

How you deal with raccoons varies from area to area. Be sure of your ground before taking action.

I've eaten raccoon. The young ones are good but older ones can be rank. I'd hesitate to do it again because of all the parasite issues I've read about since.

Truckinguy, you do not want these critters around. Remove your birdfeeders temporarily and any other sources of food. Or just put out the feeders in the daytime.

The worst thing about raccoons is that they can reach through very small gaps and grab the livestock inside. They pull it to the bars and eat it live through the wire. Had this happen with chicks once and it isn't pretty. We built our summer rabbitry of chain link - even over the top - and have never lost a rabbit to them yet. We have had raccoons climb all over the outside of it, looking for a way in!

Here, raccoons are at their worst in July. I assume it is when the youngsters are making their rounds with momma and learning all about how to be a nuisance. We have found that a solar light outside the rabbitry is a bit of a deterrent. Or at least, it makes them a little less bold.

Raccoons can be charming to watch, but if you have small livetock of any kind, it is a pleasure you might be best to forgo. They are also intelligent and resourceful predators.

I will trap them and then we'll see. I have a .22 pellet gun that I use on the rabbits but I would suppose that raccoons are a lot tougher than rabbits. Maybe I'll look into getting my FAC and a real gun. I live out in farm country and I hear hunters all the time so I don't think I"ll have a problem with shooting out here. Probably a law about discharging a gun within a certain distance from a roadway. I don't think I could drown them, I have a fear of drowning myself so I don't think I could do that to another creature.

I'm open to eating them but it's a big psychological step for me. I have also been under the impression that they carry parasites and/or bacteria and it's recommended that you use gloves to skin them so you don't come into contact with the meat. I could be wrong.... happened before.... once...

I don't want to get animal control or any government agency involved, the less people who know about my rabbits, the better! Don't need any wacko's getting involved!

Funny thing, I typed this post a couple of hours ago but forgot to send it. While reading through the new posts on the thread I realized this post wasn't there and used the back button on my browser to go back and find it. That must have been before I had my coffee! :evil:

we had one two nights ago, our dog chased it up a tree, and then DH hit it with a basketball so that Elway, the dog, could get him... but he didnt. he just ran up another one, we left the dog out most of the night. im scared the coon is gunna come back. will it go for the bunnies??

Yes, it will try to get the rabbits, Dogwoodrabbits. What kind of housing do you have for them? A good dog running loose can be a deterrent to raccoons, but make sure his shots are up to date! Also be aware that some raccoons can seriously harm a dog if cornered.

Hey, his shots are up to date! he needs to get new ones in july, he is a black lab and about 100 pounds. so hes pretty large, a year old. they got into it, untill the coon jumped over some of the kids toys outside and it slowed Elway down... so would he come back?? the coon that is??

the cages out side are very sturdy, i might want to wire them shut tho, im sure they could open up the tops. we have four cages we got from tractor supply, not sure what kind they are... not so sturdy. we plan on making 4 new ones for those.

and they will go after the big rabbits or just babies??

Raccoons carry a parasite- BP- from the roundworm family. It causes neurological issues, you can eat the thoroughly cooked meat, but the burn the hide, as fire is the only way to destroy the BP eggs. The eggs lay dormant in soil for decades!!! Coons wil grab anything they can, sometimes just for the pleasure of the kill. Do not count on a 100 pound dog being able to defeat a 35 pound coon- the coon usually wins... there is a reason why hunters use dogs to tree the coons--not even those who use Pit Bulls set the dogs on the coon---

A raccoon will eat just about anything it can get its paws on. If the cage wire has even one inch mesh, he will reach in it, grab a rabbit and eat parts of it through the wire.

And yes, he will be back. Not every night, they know enough to vary their pattern, but he will be back again and again until he is convinced he cannot get the rabbits.

You need to put them in a secure shed or else erect a secondary barrier between the raccoon and the rabbit cages. Chain link works well for this. Just make sure that the two layers of wire are separated by several inches of space so that the raccoon cannot reach into the cage itself. The chain link needs to go over the top as well. A chain-link dog kennel with the cages inside, well back from the wire, works well, provided the top and doorway are also secure. Raccoons are strong and flexible and can squeeze through quite small spaces compared to their bulk.

The reason you are seeing problems right now is that they are just out of semi-hibernation and are hungry. Wild foods are scarce and they are very bold out of necessity. Please take these warnings seriously and secure your rabbitry against them.

Are the parasites killed during the tanning process? I use the salt/alum process. Raccoon fur is used for a lot of things so it must be safe but maybe another tanning process is usually used.

I wonder if composting the body in a hot compost pile would kill the parasites.

Thanks Maggie. I will be sure to build a sturdy area for the bunnies. Still working on some ideas.

so right now, we have half the bunnies in a shed, and the others are out in the carport... so... pretty easy targets. ill have to get chain link and fix it. how do ou trap them? it could be tricky b/c we have a barn cat... so we could easly just trap her.. uggg i so knew this was going to be an issue...

Use a live trap with a bait that raccoons love but a barn cat would not be interested in. First year we were here, long before we had livestock or even had time to get mud on our boots, we had a charming raccoon that visited us every evening. I used to toss a Fig Newton cookie out to him... He loved them. So I suggest something sweet... cookies with a good aroma of fruit, dried fruit, marshmallows. A cat is not going to go after things like that.