raccoon problem HELP!

[fowlweather]

so just to give you a background, we live in the city in a sleepy neighbourhood. so we have a pool and pool cover that goes on it whenever the pool isn't in use. But late on some nights we are visited by a family of raccoons that think running on the pool cover and tearing it up is fun. well for the past couple months we have been patching up the holes thinking each time would be the last.

well that hasn't really been working so i need to think of more permanent solutions. i own a live trap that might capture one of them but i need other ideas too. i think i hit one of them tonight with my pellet gun (but it was a shot in the dark... literally)

the family consists of 2 kits (which are pretty damn big) a big viscous mom and occasionally a 4th.

an update of my last encounter which was tonight. So there is a slit where the pool cover comes out and can roll back in, tonight i saw them out there so i went and grabbed the airgun, a flashlight, knife, hockey stick and my brother and walked out once i fired my shot the mom bolted off to a hedge and the two kits (which i shouldn't even call kits... more like the equivalent of 16 year old humans size-wise) well the kits ran into the slit and sat there, i ran my hockey stick along the slit and they both ran out, one went to the hedge while the other ran inside my house! long story short he got out again and now relieved i write this.

what i really need help with is if i should put out the trap and risk having to either relocate the damn things or dispose of them (my preference).

so does anybody have any tips tricks or anything that could help me? and please don't pester me about not disposing of the kits when i had the chance, (i was in flip flops and underwear and running off instinct)

AND ONE LAST THING! do you know if they scream when they are captured or dying? (i dont want to cause attention to my self SSHHHH!

thanks guys any help is GREATLY appreciated!

[hunter1947]

Get a nuisance registered trapper from within your area to come and set live caged traps out in order to catch these pests it will coast you $100.00 for each raccoon that the trapper catches..

[7mm]

hot sauce they love to clean there feet

[Steeleco]

They cry like a baby with it's finger in a vice in my experience. Once caught one in a trap here in WG, yup the whole neighborhood knew it, but thankfully they wanted it gone too.

Since we got a dog, the other coons won't come down off the fence, not even if the dogs inside. Must be a smell thing??

[Mr. Dean]

You can't relocate; it's a legal thing.

- Phone the local CO, they'll give you the options of capturing these coons and may even send in one of their own specialists after hearing about one in the house. They don't like to hear about animals acting 'weird' (constant growling/hissing, walking in circles acting as though they're drunk, slobbering like a bull dog, stalking people/kids....)

I've talked with the CO about nuisance animals in the past; they were a great help in me finding solutions.

They will put up a ferocious fight if threatened and cornered, and will not hesitate in jumping on one's head while digging their rear claws into the throat and sinking teeth into the back of a neck (no shit).... Fight or Flight is of the tenth degree.

[mijinkal]

I've heard that these work pretty well if you have a small area. http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10314071⟨=en-CA (http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10314071&lang=en-CA)

Video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5D3GKlTkpY

I used to have racoons come up on my deck at night and they crapped all over the place once. The next time I saw them, I dumped a large bucket of water on em from the floor above and haven't seen em since.

[sawmill]

440 Conibear in front of a bait box.They don`t scream when they are damn near cut in half.

[walks with deer]

My wifes grandma has a coon problem no shit last weekend my son and I were playing at her place and this coon comes up I through a 6 inch boulder at it at 15 yards as hard as i could.

No shit it dropped dead.
then i hit another one with a jagged rock right behind the front shoulder it dropped and i followed up with one to the head upon examing i had torn its hard hitem with something heavy they will go down.

I would baitem with a dead fish head to a strategic spot and thump the *******.

[lovemywinchester]

Go to integrated pest supply in new west and buy a Hav-a-hart live trap. Put some eggs or a can of tuna in there. Take the coon to your mother in laws and let it go. Problem solved and you have the trap for the next time.

[Crimson Viking]

Pee around the yard , especially where they like to hang out in the bushes. You are marking your territory and scent should send them where there are no dominant predators. it's a free option

[timberhunter]

Call a trapper.
You cannot legally use kill traps within or around residential properties.
You cannot legally transport live animals, unless you are a registered nuisance trapper.
Check your local city bylaws about discharging a single projectile within city limits, before you post that you have already have shot at them. On a very public forum that the CO's regularily read.
And yes they scream like banshees when hurt.
If you do decide to ever live trap. Use eggs in the shell. If you use tuna around the house you will end up catching more cats than coons.

[000buck]

chicken or stucco wire about 24"x24", a small rubber disk ( puck), stainless steel bowl and an extension cord. white to the chicken wire black to the bowl and bowl on the puck - puck on the wire and put in tasty raccon morsels plug it in and let BC Hydro do the dirty work

[Big Lew]

Call a trapper.
You cannot legally use kill traps within or around residential properties.
You cannot legally transport live animals, unless you are a registered nuisance trapper.
Check your local city bylaws about discharging a single projectile within city limits, before you post that you have already have shot at them. On a very public forum that the CO's regularily read.
And yes they scream like banshees when hurt.
If you do decide to ever live trap. Use eggs in the shell. If you use tuna around the house you will end up catching more cats than coons.

Totally agree "timberhunter" and I would add that shooting an animal with a pellet gun at supposedly close range is cruel and asinine as it most likely will pierce the skin and wound it.

[Black Lab]

You can't relocate; it's a legal thing.

- Phone the local CO, they'll give you the options of capturing these coons and may even send in one of their own specialists after hearing about one in the house. They don't like to hear about animals acting 'weird' (constant growling/hissing, walking in circles acting as though they're drunk, slobbering like a bull dog, stalking people/kids....)

I've talked with the CO about nuisance animals in the past; they were a great help in me finding solutions.

They will put up a ferocious fight if threatened and cornered, and will not hesitate in jumping on one's head while digging their rear claws into the throat and sinking teeth into the back of a neck (no shit).... Fight or Flight is of the tenth degree.

Mr. Dean is right on. A number of years ago they were killing a bunch of ducks and chickens on my hobby farm. I had a bunch of muskrat traps that a old trapper left at my place so I baited my chicken house and when I got home that night around midnight I checked the chicken coop and let me tell you, that thing sounded like a Pissed Off Cougar. Literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. End result BOOM 410 makes a bit of noise at Midnight.

[BCLongshot]

I punt'em all the time with my ol' gutless .177 air rifle right in the eyeball. They go "OUCH" !!! and they go to 'coon heaven.

Why overthink it ?

Last time I dealt with 4 while I was havin' my coffe at 0400 before work. Trying to open my patio screen door was crossing the boundary.


I live in a quiet sub-division and nobody has ever heard.

[Surrey Boy]

Drowning animals don't make any noise. Don't be like that guy who clubbed three of them to death in front of his neighbours - while there was nothing wrong with that, it was a hassle for him.

[Peter Pepper]

Drowning animals don't make any noise. Don't be like that guy who clubbed three of them to death in front of his neighbours - while there was nothing wrong with that, it was a hassle for him.

X2
Live trap, garbage can, water

[hunter1947]

It is illegal to drown any fur bearing animal in a cage even trappers are not allowed to do this..

[hunter1947]

You are not allowed to shot a raccoon in the head without using a pellet gun over 500 FPS and if you do use a pellet pistol or rifle over the 500 FPS then you are breaking the law discharging this gun in a residential area..

[hunter1947]

Only thing i can see regarding this thread in order to rid this raccoon and to do it legal is a registered trapper has to be involved ether that or do it what you have to illegal and keep it to yourself..

[Surrey Boy]

It is illegal to drown any fur bearing animal in a cage even trappers are not allowed to do this..

You're right there, trappers are limited to certain rules of trapping furbearing animals. But for a non-trapper who is killing under Schedule B regulations, are there regulations regarding the method of killing? I stomp small mammals with my boots, impale them on pitchforks, feed them all sorts of poisons which cause indescribable pain (warfarin chiefly), squash them with shovels, and leave sticky pads (miniature leg-hold traps) which don't often get checked. Since the crueller of these methods are supplied by Canadian Tire, I don't think they're regulated for pest control purposes.

[steve62]

Check with your CO you maybe able to use a shotgun 410 with #6 shot should do the trick.

[bandit]

Check with your CO you maybe able to use a shotgun 410 with #6 shot should do the trick.

I asked the CO in Surrey this very question. They said they were not allowed to make a call on what is an isnt defined as cruelty and referred me to the animal welfare department at the MOE. They specifically said not to use a knife / sharp object out of safety to myself rather than cruelty to a 'coon. A pellet gun is not powerful enough to do the job in their opinion. Best bet is a 22 or something a bit stiffer according to them.

[islandboy]

Has anyone tried bear spray? As a way of applying capsican to a trail the raccoon use as an access point?

[Geronimo]

Living in a high population area, my neighbor came over one day scared &*&*less, saying a family of raccoons were living under their sundeck. I told them to try spraying the area with a high ammonia concentration and see what happens. They did this for an evening or two, and came over to thank me for the suggestion. the ammonia was too strong for the 'coons noses (I think) and they( the raccoons) vacated the area. Might, or might not work, but it is cheap enough to try. Good luck with whatever you try

[fowlweather]

to clear up the confusions the (pellet gun) worded wrong is an airsoft gun (correct term), which are legal they shoot plastic bbs and arent lethal, i still agree that shooting at an animal is arguably illegal, but this would definitely not injure or kill any animal. i just hope it gave the mom a scare. i havent seen any sign of them recently

[Peter Pepper]

It is illegal to drown any fur bearing animal in a cage even trappers are not allowed to do this..

skin it first

[adamgarbett]

chicken or stucco wire about 24"x24", a small rubber disk ( puck), stainless steel bowl and an extension cord. white to the chicken wire black to the bowl and bowl on the puck - puck on the wire and put in tasty raccon morsels plug it in and let BC Hydro do the dirty work

LOL i dont wanna know how u came to this procedure haha, i would think a couple of curious neighbourhood cats would probably go down in the process

[The Dude]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbkLjjlMV8 Works for cats.......