Our chickens are being killed by coons, and I've set the live trap with a piece of raw chicken in it, and they haven't touched it! I've seen them nosing around the trap at night, it's a ways from the house, but they won't go in. Any ideas would be appreciated!

-- michelle schmidt (thepieplace@techline.com), May 31, 2000

Answers

Have no personal experience with racoons (other than road kill), but try some fried chicken. It smells better. Since coons often rummage through trash cans maybe "people food" would attrach them.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), May 31, 2000.

Michelle: When I was an animal control officer, many moons ago, we had to trap and relocate some racoons from an attic. We baited the trap with ears of raw corn, tuna, left in a can, and peanut butter. Don't remember which was successful, it was a LONG time ago, but I seem to think any of these might work. What are you going to do when you catch one? They are territorial, and will return unless you take them a LONG way away, or dispose of them. In some states, they are protected, so you aren't allowed to kill them. Be careful, as they can also carry rabies. Good Luck! Jan

-- Jan B (Janice12@aol.com), May 31, 2000.

I find peanut butter to be the univeral predator bait. It works for mice and rodents and bear and deer also. I would think coons love it also. Might be worth a try. GL

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), June 01, 2000.

Thanks, I'll try the peanut butter asap, and let y'all know what happens. :-)

-- Michelle (thepieplace@techline.com), June 01, 2000.

I trap them here in MICH, I use chicken bones and/or honey. You can catch almost anything with a honey bait, you can even bury it for the smart ones, they'll try to dig it up. Good luck

-- STAN (sopal@net-port.com), June 01, 2000.

MARSHMALLOWS!! They love marshmallows! We've caught two so far with 'em and NOT the cats! Try it!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 01, 2000.

I have had success with canned cat food. I have a rogue skunk at the moment and have made a HAV-A-HART set for him 3 times with cat food but he springs the trap every time by reaching through the mesh, I think.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), June 01, 2000.

Michelle,

I've had success with raw bacon and sardines in a live trap.

Two raccoons got into my barn and killed three ducklings last year. It wasn't raccoon hunting season, so I called the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation for advice. Moving them to another location was, of course, offerred as a solution. When asked, they also said I could kill them, which I did.

It wasn't a pleasant outcome, but I had hatched out those ducklings in an incubator after they had ripped their mother apart a few weeks before.

Good luck to you.

-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), June 01, 2000.

Michelle.

When I was a kid, we had two pet 'coons. Their favorite snack was graham crackers. We raised them on baby bottles and they slept outside with my dad's black and tan coon hound pup. The older dog that Dad hunted with would have nothing to do with them. He knew he couldn't chase them because they "belonged" with us, but he sure didn't like it! The pup didn't know any better yet and needless to say, he never made a good hunter. Dad had a friend who bird hunted near the house. Said it was the dangdest thing he'd ever seen, that coon and the hound pup trailing through the woods together.

One of my favorite memories from childhood is of a full moon autumn night when we all decided to follow "Scamp" on his nightly outing. We trailed him through the still woods and along the creek till we couldn't keep up any more and went home to bed.

Every kid should have such memories........

Mona

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), June 01, 2000.

I had a pet 'coon when I was a kid. They are pretty nice pets actually. Mine slept woth me and rode in my bike basket. But I didn't nueter him and when he was four and it was mating season, he disappeared.

His absolute most favorite food was bananas.

-- Doreen (livinginskin@yahoo.com), June 02, 2000.

This 'coon is smart! It has been getting the bait w/out springing the trap! I saw him last night, he's pretty good size. I am going to hang his skin on the wall after I catch him! I tried the marshmallows; he liked that, and a hamburger, but tonight I'm going to tie the bait up in cheesecloth and tie it to the cage. Hopefully while he's working at it he'll spring the thing.

-- Michelle (thepieplace@techline.com), June 02, 2000.

I use a can of sardines, the cheaper the better. Kippers work too, but are costlier. Don't open the can, just punch several (nail) holes in it to get the aroma out there. 'Coon gets involved with the puzzle of gettin' the fish and gets careless! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), June 02, 2000.

Has anyone read "Where the Red Fern Grows"?

Is'nt that where they made the coon trap with a hollow log? Made a hole just big enough for him to get his hand into and baited it with some shiny bits of foil. The coon would reach in to grab the foil, but could not get hand out as a fist and would not let go of the foil to get loose. It worked in the book........

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), June 03, 2000.

Yes, but that trap was rather cruel, as it involved driving two spikes in the side of the hole at an angle, so the raccoon would reach in, grab the shiny "treasure", make a fist, and refuse to let go. Ouch. :-) I think my raccoon is too darn big for the trap, because it ate the bait out of the cheesecloth. The trap was sprung, but empty. I'm going to try the sardine can idea, and put an extension on the trap to make it longer, so it can full close behind the 'coon.

-- Michelle (thepieplace@techline.com), June 03, 2000.

Sardines, but you might catch a skunk. Eagle

-- eagle (eagle@alpha1.net), June 04, 2000.

We trapped 3 'coons this past week after they tore open the goose coop and shredded one our mama geese. Our local DNR officer said to go ahead and shoot them (which we did) as they would just find their way back to our place. The best bait we've found is a tin of cat food with holes poked in the top to let the smell out. The tin was shiney, which helped keep their attention long enough to spring the trap. Really detest racoons after seeing what kind of damage they can do to your poultry.

-- Kathleen (kalfy53@hotmail.com), June 05, 2000.

Hey, We have a wild coon that has been around here for a couple of years. We feed it bread that we get for 3 dollars a sack from the local bread store. We just throw about six pieces out a day and it comes up around dusk and eats and we have even fed it out of our hands. But we stoppedjust incase it may bite or something.We also have chickens,rabbits and a pig and it has never bothered any of them.We watched last year as the coon ( a female ) raised her babies and they also were around for a few months and then went out on there own. It enjoys playing with our manx cat Rascal and is out there every time we build a campfire at night.I think you should just feed it and enjoy watching it as we do.It will probably leave your animals alone then. Just my opinion.

-- Jimmy Holiday (jholiday@charter.net), May 05, 2001.

Pickled eggs, works everytime. I trap(live) for a living, it keeps away the cats and draws in the raccoons. good luck. Often if you wire the door open for a feeding or two they will realize the trap poses no threat, then remove the wire and collect your prize.

-- David (davidonthedock@icqmail.com), July 17, 2001.

I know that corn doesn't work... I'm going to try peanut butter tonight! Does anyone know if I can kill racoons in Vancouver, BC, Canada?

-- Raymond (rayoun@softhome.net), September 07, 2001.

Thanks guys. I tried all the suggestions; peanut butter and honey did the trick. Cat food caught a rat (ugh!). Fried chicken caught the neighbor's cat, but the peanut butter-honey combination finally caught the coon. He tripped the trap one night, second night I rearranged things (since I knew I had his attention) and caught him. He now has a new home many miles from mine.

-- Pamela Sanders (psanders3@houston.rr.com), November 15, 2001.