NF: Family of Raccons Living Under Deck... sugguestions?

[MJIG]

Speaking from past experience, I can tell you that:

- taking steps to exclude your place is the ONLY way to permanently get rid of the problem (the right-angle buried screening and one way door, fixing up or repairing whatever has allowed them entry, etc.)

- Forget the mothballs as raccoons have absolutely no reservations in picking them up and getting rid of the foul smelling things just as you would. Skunks aren't as adept at that kind of thing, so they are probably more effective with them. Also, you'll have to put up with the smell of the mothballs too if you go that route, and you will get tired of it it is close to your house.

 

Just eliminating the particular raccoons that are currently there (fatally or other means) is ineffective in the long term. Why? Because the next wandering raccoon will move in using the same technique as the one you just got rid of, and he/she knows it's a good spot because he/she can smell the den of the former occupant (industrial strength deodorizers can help a little there).

 

Use the exclusion approach always. If you want to add in your eradication method of choice as others have suggested, go ahead, but always combine it with a way of sealing off and excluding the entrance to their den.

 

Each female usually has at least three youngsters each summer, and each of them will heading out on their own before next spring to find their own den sites too. Do the math and shudder.

 

I sincerely wish you luck.

 

--

[craigdritchie]

Are they really that bad? I've never seen a wild racoon.

They're bad enough under a deck. I had one rip a hole in my shed over the winter and destroy a $400 solar blanket for the pool. Plus, I had to fix a hole in the wall big enough you could pass a toaster through it.

 

If they get into your attic, the damage can run into the thousands.

[mercman]

Well, there are a couple of really good ideas already posted. Depending on where you live a few solutions might be in order. Here, a .22 and about 5 or 6 shells (depending on the size of the family) would probably be the prefered solution. We don't like to pass our problems on to our neighbours. (if you don't have a .22, then a mini G2G would work, BYOG!)

 

However, if you have a neighbour you don't like, a couple of cans of sardines dumped under their deck and a live trap for relocating your problem would probably work (not that I would ever do that, just saying).

 

The moth balls would work to keep them from staying around under your deck and be a lot less expensive and a lot less work than trying to put in a wire barrier. Try the esaiest solution first.

 

Let us know if you want to try the G2G thing, what was the name of that show? "have gun will travel"!

 

Cliff !!! Sounds like BB is turning you into a Redneck !!!

[CanadianShark]

An easy way to get rid of racoons that have taken up residents under your deck is

 

take a boom box or any other cd player or radio and put it near the side of the deck or under it , turn it on and leave it for a few days or turn it on at night your choice.

 

you will piss off your neighbours but your scavenger friends will leave. racoons wont like the constant noise and

they will leave.

 

Hope this helps

[ChrisK]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet but when I had skunks under my shed I simply put a getto blaster through a hole I made in the floor and cranked heavy metal at them for a couple days until they couldn't take it any longer and left. Like raccoons they have sensitive ears and if your neighbors can take it for a day or two without calling the cops its a great way of making them move on to live under someone else's deck

[ChrisK]

An easy way to get rid of racoons that have taken up residents under your deck is

 

take a boom box or any other cd player or radio and put it near the side of the deck or under it , turn it on and leave it for a few days or turn it on at night your choice.

 

you will piss off your neighbours but your scavenger friends will leave. racoons wont like the constant noise and

they will leave.

 

Hope this helps

You must of been typing this out at the same time I was. Great minds......

[mercman]

Are they really that bad? I've never seen a wild racoon.

 

 

Dan, a wild Racoon, will tear your boys off, faster than you can say "I just saw them a minute ago"!!!

Vicious, bad temperd fur balls.

[mercman]

Musta smelled real bad everytime the siren went off .

Skunks try to avoid humans as much as possible.I put a radio in my shed. Tuned it to an all news radio station, and the voices from the radio keeps them away now, 24 hours a day.

 

 

ha ha...beat ya both.

[ChrisK]

Dan, a wild Racoon, will tear your boys off, faster than you can say "I just saw them a minute ago"!!!

Vicious, bad temperd fur balls.

I had one come at me when I was rabbit hunting one year. To bad for him I only had small game shot loaded in my 870 at the time...

[CanadianShark]

Dan, a wild Racoon, will tear your boys off, faster than you can say "I just saw them a minute ago"!!!

Vicious, bad temperd fur balls.

 

 

I think people should get them they would make a good alternative to guard dogs ...Guard Coons

 

 

[SRT8 smoker craft]

 

 

My dad had a problem as well and resorted to trapping them.

 

He would actually spray their butts with orange spray paint so he'd know if the same ones made their way back to his property.

 

One day he trapped a big old gnarly one and put it in the back of his truck meaning to release it enroute to work. 'Course he forgot about it and it just so happened he was working in downtown Toronto that day.

 

Upon arriving he let the beast go in a parking lot behind a high end mens wear store then went inside the back entrance.

 

About 5 minutes later there was a huge commotion out front. Apparantly the coon (painted butt and all) was running up and down the sidewalk terrorizing the local yuppies.

 

My dad loves telling that story.

 

 

Now thats funny right there

[smally21]

my father in law did the orange paint thing for critters clearing out his fish pond night after night. a live release in the country at a distance of several kilos - resulted in the orange striped raccoon back in less than 24 hours. must have taken a bus to get back that fast.............

[craigdritchie]

The only problem with the boom box idea is that as soon as you shut the music off, the raccoons will come right back.

[Squid]

go with the moth balls!

[Danubian]

Live trapping works excellent, but only if you toss the trap in the nearby pond. Discard drowned raccoon and repeat trapping.

[jedimaster]

funny story about a racoon

A few years ago my neighbor came over one day asking me if I still had my highpowered bb gun. I said yah. He asked if he could borrow it cause a racoon was trapped in his attic above his kitchen and he wanted to kill it. So of course I went to his house with him. He crawls up and started to unload at it.Plink plink plink and all of a sudden I heard a screem and crash. He fell through the drywall ceiling and landed on the kitchen table on his back smashing it to pieces. The racoon jumped down through the hole and ran out the back door. He said he didn't even hit it once as he cold see very good. When he was shooting at it he hit a stud bracket and it ricocheyed back and hit him square in the middle of his forehead. He had a red dot and a bruise there for weeks.

His also couldn't sit down for a week as his wife beat his ass when she got home and saw the mess and desctruction. I helped him put up a new sheet of drywall, and his wife got a trip to the brick for a new table and chairs.

[smally21]

id say jedi master has a winner here, raccoon story wise.

 

[Big Cliff]

True story:! Just after I got out of the army a friend in Toronto invited me to go deer hunting with him up in French River. We loaded up the car and headed out for the weekend.

 

He was from the area and knew everyone (those from the area will probably remember Bill Ouimette). Anyway that night we needed a place to stay so he took me to some friends house. (the Mines Family on Hartley Bay Rd.)(Saddly the farm is now gone)

 

Now, this was all strange to me, there were about 9 kids running around, but the whole family made me feel like I was just part of the family. There was always enough food somehow to feed anyone that was hungry.

 

That night I got to sleep on the couch in the living room (there were a few couches and all ended up occupied, (one even had this cute red head, unfortunatly her boyfriend was sleeping on the other couch) everyone was welcome! So, everything is pitch dark, it is the middle of the night, and I wake up to feel a little hand going into my pocket.

 

Now, I think to myself, "one of the kids is trying to steal my change". So, I decide to scare the crap out of the kid and I grab the hand! I have no words to describe the next few minutes other than " I grabbed, the hand had fir on it, it jumped, I jumped (about 3' straight up in the air)and screamed like a little girl, the whole house woke up!

 

They laughed about it for years after that. Turned out that they had rescued two baby racoons, Sam and Curosity (christ, they would rescue anyone and anything) which were supposedly kept in a pen in the basement.

 

Unfortunatly for me, they occasionally escaped and loved finding anything shiny and had figured out that shiny things came from peoples pockets. I just happened to be the first one they came to that night!

 

Oh, BTW, I later married that cute little red head and we had two wonderful children. Unfortunatly after 13 years together we ended up parting company but we are still to this day good friends and she'll still rescue anything that needs help!

 

I have many more stories about that time up in the French River but I'll save them for a later day LOL. Suffice to say it is a part of my life I'll never forget!

 

Next time you want a good laugh ask me about the night I stood out on the back porch in my underware in feb. with my rifle in hand and the wolves howling. Or the day I got home and my wife announced she'd shot a bear (with a .22)because it had one of her cats and it was in the bush across the road. ....... a lot of stories all true but some hard to believe!

[mercman]

Cliff, i cant wait for the day we meet. I'm sure you could keep me entertained for a long time.

Thanks for the chuckle

 

 

[Teressa]

I do not say much in here as I was taught "speak if you have something to say & not just to hear yourself speak". I am in here almost daily reading though.

With that being said, here goes.

 

First off...Dad, yes the story of Sam & Curiosity raiding your pockets still gets told & laughed at LOL, Mom actually told Tara not that long ago when going through pictures, she found one of them!

 

My Mom does still rescue &/or feed the wild animals. At present she has about 5 racoons that come to her kitchen window and patiently wait for a slice of bread with margarine or some other goodie. They have not done any damage to anything since she started putting food out for them. Before she started putting food out, they did do some damage.

 

It's just the way she is, she will never change. My daughter has been helping her grandmother feed & hand feed racoons and fox ever since she was about 2 years old. My daughter will be the first to tell you how a fox loves Mr. Freezies and Racoons love marshmallows. We have never in all the years my mom has been feeding them, EVER had any fox, racoon, fisher, martin, skunk...you name it...bite or attack anyone of us. You can say we got lucky, and sure, maybe with one or 2 we did, but not with all of them.

 

This isn't a matter of running up to the first animal you see and shoving your hand in its face, the trust that has been built between humans and the animals was built over time.

 

As my Dad said, my Mom is a hunter, but just because she hunts doesn't mean she kills everything she sees for the hell of it.

 

Before some of you start ranting and raving about my post, let me just say this. Reading people tell others to "accidentally slip and have a caged animal land in a lake or river"...now that I have calmed down...I will be polite and just say, you better hope I never come across any of you doing that as YOU may end up being the ones put in the cage and I "slip" and let the cage go into a body of water.

 

One of the first things I was taught growing up & hunting was you never let ANY animal suffer and you need to respect not only your firearm, but also the animals.

 

Either trap it, fence it out....hell even shoot it as others have said, but dont let ANY animal suffer. It isn't right! Just because it isn't a domestic animal (dog, cat or whatever) doesn't mean you have the right to torture, poison or drown it.

 

Teressa

Edited June 30, 2011 by Teressa

[solopaddler]

I do not say much in here as I was taught "speak if you have something to say & not just to hear yourself speak". I am in here almost daily reading though.

With that being said, here goes.

 

First off...Dad, yes the story of Sam & Curiosity raiding your pockets still gets told & laughed at LOL, Mom actually told Tara not that long ago when going through pictures, she found one of them!

 

My Mom does still rescue &/or feed the wild animals. At present she has about 5 racoons that come to her kitchen window and patiently wait for a slice of bread with margarine or some other goodie. They have not done any damage to anything since she started putting food out for them. Before she started putting food out, they did do some damage.

 

It's just the way she is, she will never change. My daughter has been helping her grandmother feed & hand feed racoons and fox ever since she was about 2 years old. My daughter will be the first to tell you how a fox loves Mr. Freezies and Racoons love marshmallows. We have never in all the years my mom has been feeding them, EVER had any fox, racoon, fisher, martin, skunk...you name it...bite or attack anyone of us. You can say we got lucky, and sure, maybe with one or 2 we did, but not with all of them.

 

This isn't a matter of running up to the first animal you see and shoving your hand in its face, the trust that has been built between humans and the animals was built over time.

 

As my Dad said, my Mom is a hunter, but just because she hunts doesn't mean she kills everything she sees for the hell of it.

 

Before some of you start ranting and raving about my post, let me just say this. Reading people tell others to "accidentally slip and have a caged animal land in a lake or river"...now that I have calmed down...I will be polite and just say, you better hope I never come across any of you doing that as YOU may end up being the ones put in the cage and I "slip" and let the cage go into a body of water.

 

One of the first things I was taught growing up & hunting was you never let ANY animal suffer and you need to respect not only your firearm, but also the animals.

 

Either trap it, fence it out....hell even shoot it as others have said, but dont let ANY animal suffer. It isn't right! Just because it isn't a domestic animal (dog, cat or whatever) doesn't mean you have the right to torture, poison or drown it.

 

Teressa

 

Teressa that's a truly beautiful story, your mother sounds like quite a woman.

 

What you have to realize though is not everyone is interested is "Dancing With Racoons".

 

In many urban evironments they're incredibly destructive and filthy animals. In my case (and I happen to be a huge animal lover) they drove me and my family around the bend 'till the problem was solved.

[Big Cliff]

That's my girl! And believe me you sure don't want to piss her mother off! LOL. truth be told, my kids were brought up to respect every living thing, human or otherwise.

 

There are still pictures of my ex with a great horned owl sitting on her sholder, no leather pads or anything, no teather on the owl, just a wild animal and a human living in peace and respecting each other. Too bad more people can't respect others that way.

[Big Cliff]

Teressa that's a truly beautiful story, your mother sounds like quite a woman.

 

What you have to realize though is not everyone is interested is "Dancing With Racoons".

 

In many urban evironments they're incredibly destructive and filthy animals. In my case (and I happen to be a huge animal lover) they drove me and my family around the bend 'till the problem was solved.

 

She isn't saying you should have to love it, just that if you do have to get rid of it don't make it suffer! Sticking it in a cage and drowning it is not the most humane way of dispatching it. Can you imagine what it would be like to be put in a cage then submurged and fighting to try to get a breath? Not something I would do to my worst enemy.