Meth Head Raccoon: 7; Me: 0

"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78) 06/25/2019 at 11:06 • Filed to: None

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I spent over a week trying to find a way to secure the bait so the raccoon couldn’t just sneak in and take it (without triggering the door closure). Every night it was the same story — food gone, trap wide open. Last night, I finally figured it out — use metal wire to fix the food to the floor so she* would have to work harder for it, thus triggering the door in the struggle.

That’s the locking mechanism, bent beyond usefulness. Raccoons must be deadlifting in their free time.

Nope. She managed to rip her way out of a specifically raccoon-rated trap AND completely destroy one of our decorative plants in the process. I had placed the trap like this because on previous nights, she was able to reach through the gates and take it without entering the trap.

That plant is so thoroughly destroyed, it’s like targeted revenge.

*She: Raccoon dudes would be like “f*ck it, not worth it” so I’m assuming some babies might have been involved in the food gathering efforts and enthusiasm.

benn454 > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:14

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 This is why I have a big dog.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:18

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That’s impressive...it may be time for extreme measures

Censored > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:22

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Time to get your self a nice glass of sweet tea, stay up late on the porch atop the stairs, sit real quite with your Gamo, and fix the problem. Just make sure to make the first one count, as pissed off raccoons are nothing to fool with.

On a raccoon related story, I had a good friend have one sneak in his garage and scare the piss out of him while he was working on his bike. He proceded to try and get it out and it wouldn’t leave without a fight, without thinking he grabbed his bird gun and blew it away. P roblem was he also blew a good portion of his garage away as well. His tool box looks like a golf ball now.

Ash78, voting early and often > Censored 06/25/2019 at 11:28

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I’ve got a decent .177 and some 10-grain pellets (subsonic with a good punch) but like you said, I need to make it count. Anything besides a perfect headshot will just piss it off.

This has been going on for months, on and off, so I know the right time of night. I just need the patience. It actually goes in the cat door to my garage looking for food (which we don’t leave out anymore) so I can be waiting on the other side pretty easily.

I have seen it with my own eyes, but couldn’t get a clean shot — it climbed up on my fence, so the neighbors’ house was behind it.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:30

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Have you tried a box with a stick?

Future next gen S2000 owner > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 06/25/2019 at 11:31

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His Stigness > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:31

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I couldn’t believe it when I saw a rac coon walk past my garage door one night.

There I was, sitting at my desk, and to my left I see this MASSIVE animal on the security camera. I live in the flipping city in California! They shouldn't exist here! 

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:38

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Sounds like you need to put a nice plate of obvious food out in the middle of the yard so you have a nice clean shot.

Ash78, voting early and often > Future next gen S2000 owner 06/25/2019 at 11:40

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That’s basically my cat. And he keeps a VERY wide berth at night when the raccoon is around. I can’t even imagine how he watched the thing struggle out of the trap last night...

He does a good job keeping squirrels and chipmunks at bay, but that’s about it.

vicali > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:40

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Maybe it’s a wolverine?

Ash78, voting early and often > His Stigness 06/25/2019 at 11:41

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They’re like rats and cats -- anywhere people are throwing food away, there they are.

Tripper > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:44

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Damn! After seeing that, I’m thinking that it was probably a raccoon   that killed one of our ducks before we had a safe enclosure for them. Their were two ducks in a dog crate locked shut and surrounded by chicken wire on their second night outside. One duck remained the following day with a bunch of blood and feathers. The dog crate was bent just enough to get one of the ducks out but not another animal in.

I always thought it was a fox as that is what always tries to get into the coop where there are now 6 chickens and 1 duck. However, the fox just tires to dig under the coop, when it his the metal mesh we have buried , it shits in the hole it dug. The foxes have never caused a bunch of mayhem.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:44

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MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Future next gen S2000 owner 06/25/2019 at 11:45

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Also acceptable, but you have to stay up and catch it in the act

gettingoldercarguy > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:49

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Weight triggered shotgun shell blank similar to this.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 11:59

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I suspect that raccoons are tougher than opossums. Given that, a 0.177 isn’t going to drop her like you think . When I was a kid, we had a problem with an opossum eating the cat food at night. I was tasked with getting rid of it. I had a C rossman variable-pump 0.177 pellet rifle, so I thought I was up to the task.

I was wrong.

Each shot was 10 pumps. After seven shots, I gave up. The ‘possum made its way under the house where it eventually died. Granted, I didn’t get in a solid headshot, but I thought one or two shots to the chest should have killed it pretty quickly. It didn’t.

When it came time to crawl under the house to retrieve the body, I was more concerned about containing the smell than checking out the damage. I wrapped it up quickly and got it to the garbage can. Now I wish I had checked to see why the pellet gun was so ineffective.

Raccoons can move a lot faster than a ‘possum. I’d be wary of it coming after you after the first shot.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 12:06

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My dad dispatches city squirrels with bird shot in a .22. He told me has has downed 27 this year alone.

PartyPooper2012 > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 12:07

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could it be a young mustang?

Unstoppable

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 12:10

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I am pretty sure a .177 air rifle would take a raccoon . I’ve killed lots of gophers with my .177 air rifle.

Ash78, voting early and often > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/25/2019 at 12:15

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My book depository master bedroom overlooks the entire porch. That’s always a possibility if I can wait long enough...

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Censored 06/25/2019 at 12:20

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My step dad tried to soot a rat in our house with a .22. That wasn’t going to end well. I gave him the pellet gun for less damage to home.

Fuckkinja > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 12:24

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Not my favorite method but very effective. Google fly bait and coca-cola. They don’t take two steps and cats don’t bother it. 

LongbowMkII > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 12:30

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Leave the trash panda alone

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > Censored 06/25/2019 at 12:38

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In our old place they’d walk right in through the open sliding glass door and proce ed to sit in the kitchen and help themselves to the cat food. The cats were not amused. One of my roomates at the time had a big cat of similar color. I had to do a dou ble take more than once.

They never put up a fight though. They left quickly when asked.

facw > His Stigness 06/25/2019 at 12:40

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When I used to bike at night in Central Park I saw dozens every night. NYC Parks collects the trash from paths and dumps it along the main park road for pickup by a bigger truck, and in the meanwhile it’s a feast for the park’s raccoon population.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 13:58

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Are you going to clobber it with the knowledge contained in a book?

TysMagic > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 16:23

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that’s impressive work. We’ve caught and released several raccoons over the years and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the trap turn out like this. Your next step better be a heavy duty one, as many have said, a pissed ‘coon ain’t nothin’ to screw with.

A t least it’s not an opossum ? I really don’t like those. 

Ash78, voting early and often > TysMagic 06/25/2019 at 16:25

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At $50, I was surprised it didn’t hold up...reviews were good and nobody had similar incidents. But you’d better believe this is going on Amazon — with pics.

I think I’m going with the poison route. I’ve narrowed it down to a 1-2 hour window, so the odds of hurting another animal are very slim.

TysMagic > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 17:23

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gets the job done! Good luck 

My bird IS the word > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 21:41

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I got a .22 pellet rifle for the large pest eradication and wouldnt you know it? All the local raccoons decided to fuck off.

I guess it worked ;)

DasWauto > Ash78, voting early and often 06/25/2019 at 21:58

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Trash pandas are some destructive SOBs. We had one break it s way into the attic of a barn. I caught it outside one day and it scurried up a feed bin.

I would recommend doing the same. Chase it to the top - it will try to fight you and fall off the other side. Problem solved.

/ fly bait and cola works great too

Ash78, voting early and often > My bird IS the word 06/25/2019 at 22:40

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Funny — my 20+ squirrel kills last fall and this spring led to...a HUGE surge in oak saplings. I mean, I don’t think I had ever seen a single one before. This year I’ve had over 100 sprout in the yard.

Strange what happens when nobody dares eat your acorns!