For those that like to see raccoons

105437

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I had a single raccoon destroy my back yard digging for worms. I now have two dedicated raccoon cams that send me a critical alert if anything moves on the ground in my yard. First time he came back he got a .22 pellet. Ran off and hasn't come back since.
 

Ssayer

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That's where we differ. Don't get me wrong, Raccoons and Groundhogs are NOT my friends as they are way too destructive. But... as much as I dislike them, I have no desire to have them suffering because of me. I prefer they get one shot to the kill zone and if necessary, one shot to the head to end it quickly. From there? Landfill...
 

105437

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That's where we differ. Don't get me wrong, Raccoons and Groundhogs are NOT my friends as they are way too destructive. But... as much as I dislike them, I have no desire to have them suffering because of me. I prefer they get one shot to the kill zone and if necessary, one shot to the head to end it quickly. From there? Landfill...
It was an air rifle from ~50 yards meant to chase him away and hopefully remember not to come back. If he did come back, plan is to get a trap and do exactly what you said.
 

Ssayer

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Hey! I wonder if they have anything inside that I can pilfer! Oh wait, is there anything on that table? FWIW, this is one of 5 offspring from one raccoon this year. His/her/it's mama ended up in one of my traps about 20 minutes later just off of the deck. Still 5 to go from that gaze...

View attachment DeckSVC3.20220810_020014_1.mp4
 

Mike A.

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They used to come in through the cat door to get to the food dish. (Pardon the crappy old cams that I had at the time... pitiful. lol) Wouldn't even slow down coming in. They knew it was there and how it worked from other houses I suppose.

Used to see a lot but haven't seen any around lately. Seems to have been a inverse relationship between the populations of rabbits and raccoons and the big increases in fox around here in more recent years.


Raccoon1.PNGRaccoon2.PNGRaccoon3.PNG
 
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I use to have a pair that never caused any problems, and would just run around my yard and play. Haven't seen them in a while. What does damage where I live is the damn possums. I can't have flowers, because the little turds eat them! But I live with it because I haven't seen ONE copperhead, centipede or tarantula in my yard since we have lived here. And there are LOTS of copperheads in my area. So its a form of detente between us! :)
 

Timokreon

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I have several opossums as well. My neighbors try to trap them etc.. I'm like, are you guys idiots? They eat all kinds of pests and other crap you don't want in your yards and you're trying to kill them?
Most of my neighbors think that any wild animal needs to be immediately removed or killed. They have zero idea that most of these animals HELP us.
 

Smilingreen

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When I was building my house, I had one big Coon that would climb up on my tractor at night and take a big ol crap, right in the middle of the seat. I finally caught him after a couple of months, in the cross hairs of the scope mounted on my old Marlin 60. Never had any more coon turds, after that.
 

Smilingreen

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I have several opossums as well. My neighbors try to trap them etc.. I'm like, are you guys idiots? They eat all kinds of pests and other crap you don't want in your yards and you're trying to kill them?
Most of my neighbors think that any wild animal needs to be immediately removed or killed. They have zero idea that most of these animals HELP us.
I have several possums that roam my farm and come up to the house. They, like coons, are scavengers. We have one that is missing his tail completely. We nick named him stubby. He is a beta possum. There are some alpha possums running around that he is scared of and will retreat and leave the food he was eating when the alphas approach. My wife dumps all the food scraps out in the front yard. About dusk, they make their daily trot up through the yard to see what kind of treats they can find for the evening. We have several large coons that roam, too. As long as they don't bother anything around my house or out buildings, I leave them alone and let them do their thing.

Now, Squirrels, on the other hand, I have a total hate/hate relationship with those bastards. They chew on anything and everything, from steering wheels on equipment, to fuel lines, any type of plastic body panels to siding on the barns and anything else they decide looks like something they can hone their teeth on. Living in 25+ acres of mature woods, there is a never ending supply of moving targets.
 
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