My sister has had a farm for 15-20 years. Occasionally, a raccoon shows up and I think she’s being trapping and releasing it far away. Now she’s being overrun by them. She has cats she feeds and the raccoons are getting into everything. They’ve pulled out the small cans of cat food and punctured them, gotten into fly attractant bags (the kind you put in a container of water). They’re rummaging around the barn and making a big nuisance of themselves. She tried trapping them. They set off the trap, but no raccoon. She put another trap that was 6 inches longer and now that trap is missing. Any ideas about whether it could be a different animal or what she should do? Thanks in advance!
apparently there are no natural predators around… we have the complete list here and rarely see a raccoon… domestic dog might be her answer
Raccoon predators include cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and domestic dogs. Large owls and eagles will prey on young raccoons
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The food … any type has to be put away in metal containers …only out when cats are eating …during daylight hours WHEN people are around !
Remove the food source and add ‘people’ NOISE … leave ‘talk’ radio on overnight til the sun comes up then loud music.
Takes time but if you remove the ‘easy’ food source they will look elsewhere …they are opportunists. Good luck they are destructive ,dangerous and relentless … you must be more relentless…can be done …really !
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I also have periodic raccoon invasions, usually when a Momma is introducing her babies to the world. My technique for trapping has been a large Hav-a-Heart trap baited with peanut butter (smooth seems to be the preferred taste here). I then set the trap inside a wooden box that is open at both ends. The sides of the box stop the coons from reaching through the trap to grab the bait, as well as stopping them from tipping it or dragging if off. Patience is also part of the program. Coons are smart and it can take several days to catch a single coon. I had one that took three weeks of consist trap baiting and setting to finally catch. And then there was “Bevis and Butthead”, two young coons who ended up in one trap together - someone clearly couldn’t wait to get to the peanut butter.
star
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Raccoons are nasty fighters.
I would not want any dog of mine to tangle with one. :no:
I boarded at a place that had a huge - 12#+ - barncat.
We found him drowned in the pond.
Most likely the work of a coon :mad:
I have found the easiest solution is live trap and shoot. Making sure you eliminate the things that lured them to the farm in the first place. Attach the trap to something stationary with a chain.
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It is pretty simple with most of these wildlife issues that if you remove the food source, the critters will move on. Feeding cats outside is a great way to attract all sorts of unwanted animals. Bird feeders are also a big attractant. Garbage and compost is another common attractant. We will occasionally get a group of raccoons visiting to raid our garden when the raspberries start coming on – setting up a motion sensing sprinkler puts a stop to that, and provides for some amusing videos on the trail cams. Trapping and removing does nothing as there is always another to take its place.
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Trapping and relocating is illegal in many places- and close to 100% of relocated animals, in strange surroundings do not make it. Most starve. It is actually better to either lock up the food so they move on, or trap and shoot.
I like raccoons, in fact I have two who seem to want to live in my garage, who I will be encouraging to move along.
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She needs to go on Craigslist and find 1-2 dead chest freezers and store ANYTHING attractive in them. That’s how I store my horse feed and supplements, and my cat feed for the barn cats. When we finish at the barn each night, any uneaten cat food gets put back in the freezer. I leave my feed room window open for the cats to come and go, and never, ever had I had any coon issues and yes, I have them, I see their little muddy prints on the freezer lids from time to time- but zero issues.
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the presence of a predator is normally that is required to deter … no need to go to war just have a well thought out defense .
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This.
If cats can get in/out of the barn to eat at night, so can racoons, opossums, other feral cats, etc. You can’t have it both ways. Either you allow a variety of animals in the barn to eat the very smelly and easily found cat food, or you don’t allow any.
My guess is that the readily available food source of cat food is bringing them in, and while there they check out things like stinky fly traps, spilled grain, mineral blocks, etc. I doubt most animals will make a regular visit to a barn just to lick a mineral block…but a can of cat food - definitely.
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Anyone who thinks of dogs as a deterrent to raccoons hasn’t spent a long hot summer caring for a 75 lb
dog laid flat out by coonhound paralysis.
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She puts all of her feed in those truck bed boxes. She’s left cases of cat food out and the raccoons haven’t bothered them before, but they sure did this time. She said she must have a huge raccoon up there. There’s really nothing else foodwise for them to get into. The dry cat food is in the truck bed box also. It’s just really bad this year. Thanks for all the advice!
@sing Wow! I hope your dog is better!
It takes big, tough dogs to deter raccoons. The best option is to trap and shoot, in addition to removing food sources.
Several solutions, raccoons are terrible disease vectors.
Contact the Georgia Trappers Association: http://www.gatrappersassoc.com
They’ll be able to make a recommendation for people who professionally trap raccoons.
Do you know someone you would trust shooting on your property. Many people use a modern version of a BB gun (pellet rifles, almost no noise) that have a short range but are an excellent way to keep raccoons in check.
There are the Hav-a-Hart traps, but raccoons are pretty bright and what do you do once you catch them (if you catch them)…and what about when you catch a skunk?
Good luck.
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Is she sure it is raccoons?
Has she put a game camera there to make sure she is trying to catch what she thinks she is trying to catch?
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She hasn’t used a game camera. She’s had the property about 15 years (?) and has had them before, just never this bad. They seem to want to get into everything, just not food and obviously they climb.
IME, raccoons time their appearances for when no one is around. It would be very time consuming to wait around all night to shoot them. You’d have to stay up a bunch of nights. Who has that kind of time/energy on their hands? Plus, I wouldn’t want anyone shooting in my barn. But, raccoons are ridiculously easy to trap. You don’t need to visit any websites or read any directions—you just buy cat food and set the trap. Yes, you then have to shoot them, but it’s a humane end.
If you inadvertently trap a skunk, throw a large dark blanket over the trap, relocate the trap outside of your barn and then release the skunk and either let it go (skunks love to eat grubs) or shoot it. I do not recommend shooting a skunk inside of a trap for obvious logistical reasons.
(Obviously releasing raccoons or skunks elsewhere is the wrong thing to do.)
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