• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Racoons. Are they getting smarter?

They might be smart, but canned cat food dumbs them up. They seem to be unable to resist and will stroll right into my live traps.

I've got a few rental properties and have to occasionally set live traps to catch skunks or racoons that get under the houses or become nuisances. The canned cat food works every time. As a matter of coincidence, I had to set the traps at one of the houses yesterday. The tenenant called me this morning to tell me I had a coon in the trap on the back porch. I brought it home (I live in the country and don't have any problem with them) and let it loose. They are always pissed off when they're in the cage. Open the cage and they're like fur covered cannon balls shooting out. Kinda fun to watch!
 
Raccoons are the same. We're different. We're more urban. We let them paw through our garbage. We won't stop them. We won't throw a rock at them. They're the boss.
 
On a kayak overnight, a racoon got into our food drybag hanging on a limb from a 10' length of 550, undid the fastex buckles, unrolled the bag, left us with nothing but bagel crumbs and empty oatmeal packs. Oh... and lots of fur and stink. :confused: Still haven't figured out that Houdini move.

Jeff
 
They kept stealing my bait until, I built this, trap trips when electric eye beam is broken, have not had bait stolen once since. This season 32 coons tried as well as 6 opposums. Score me 38, coons and opossums 0.
IMG_1010.jpg
Side of cage (not top)
IMG_1009.jpg

IMG_1007.jpg
This Coon was a big one, my cage is 15'' tall
 
Just posted on Drudge, or noticed,

Sheriff describes raccoon "gang attack" on Lakeland woman

Lakeland, Florida-- A Lakeland woman is recovering from serious injuries in the hospital after sheriff's investigators say she was "gang attacked" by five raccoons Saturday afternoon.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says 74-year-old Gretchen Whitted was trying to shoo the animals away from her front door when they suddenly attacked.

"When she fell down, they enveloped her," said Sheriff Judd in a news conference called Sunday to warn the public of the aggressive raccoons.

"She's literally bitten and scratched from face and the chest all the way down through the legs."

Raccoons are known to be aggressive when going after food, but the sheriff called Saturday's attack very unusual.

"Not in all my years in Florida have I known of a gang attack by raccoons on an individual," Sheriff Judd said.

Christy Steinmetz lives next door to Whitted and ran across the street when she heard her neighbor's screams.

"I've never seen anything like it," Steinmetz said of the attack and her neighbors deep wounds. "They were deep lacerations. You could see flesh."

Sheriff Judd called a news conferenceSunday to warn parents in the Lakeland neighborhood about the potential danger.

"They've attacked once. If someone frightens them, will they attack again?" Judd asked.

Polk County Animal Control officers fanned out, placing traps across the neighborhood, in hopes of finding the raccoons involved.

"Even if we capture a lot of raccoons [Sunday night], we can't be sure they are our suspect raccoons," Sheriff Judd said.

If caught, the animals will be killed to see whether they are rabid.
 
We have about five guard cats up here around my office at work that we have to feed because of some crazy cat lady whose husband is on the board that pays us. :rolleyes:

I sit here at night and watch coons come up and try to avoid being seen as they swipe the cat food. They even appear to have worked out a way to scare off the much larger tom cat so that the lil ones can eat.
 
dougo83 said:
We have about five guard cats up here around my office at work that we have to feed because of some crazy cat lady whose husband is on the board that pays us. :rolleyes:

I sit here at night and watch coons come up and try to avoid being seen as they swipe the cat food. They even appear to have worked out a way to scare off the much larger tom cat so that the lil ones can eat.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to hone those slingshot skills.;)
 
If you're in the city or somewhere you can't use regular loads, .22 CB caps in single shot .22 rifles are your friend. Gotta go for the head shot though.
 
My great-grandfather always referred to racoons as "outlaws"
 
mymindisamob said:
Sounds like the perfect opportunity to hone those slingshot skills.;)
Click to expand...

If I wasn't on camera every second of my shift, that would be great...I actually would rather have the coons around than those furry little spawn of Satan...
 
RickJ said:
When I was stationed at Fort Drum, NY Racoons were all over the place up there, They would come in about the crack of dawn where we were racking out, they would open Rucks and get into MRE's. I saw 4 come in like a fire Team one time they had a team leader and were in the Fire Team Wedge Formation.

RickJ
Click to expand...

I believe this. A similar precision attack happened in Orlando a few days ago.

When Raccoons Attack!

To paraphrase, the lady went outside to chase away 5 raccoons. They surrounded her, attacked her legs, severed one of her achilies tendons, bringing her to the ground. Then they attacked her in the face and neck. When some neighbors came, they E&E'd in a single file line, down the side of the house, and into a storm drain.
 
The only super cool trick I've ever seen racoons do is catch my 410 rounds. I have the deepest hatred for them. Every one that I see is considered a primary target. I had a couple of those things come at me all pissed when I was a kid. They ganged up on me. As far as I'm concerned, that was the day they declared war.

"They drew first blood, not me!"
-John R.
 
OK, sorry for the repeated story. I'm guilty of posting before reading the whole thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top