Raccoons

[ddyke]

We got raccoon #15 today -- I thought we were doing well but a guy at my neighbor's church has nailed over 50. It must be a plague in Cincinnati.

[FootScoot]

Sounds to me like very prolific breeding period. There has been quite a bit of rain this summer, which in turn provides plenty of food for the li'l buggers. They will tear everything up if you let them. They are very hard to discourage once they get settled in. Death seems to be the only solution. :mrgreen:

[ddyke]

Their end comes totally in accord with Ohio State law.

[buspor63]

[TsgtRet]

They are more "prolific" this year in NE Indiana. On my way home from work late Friday night, once I got on the secondary roads leading back to our place I must have scared 4 "family groups" off the road. We haven't had much trouble around our place but we have the horse and an "outside" dog and that seems to work to keep most of the varmints away.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I have the plague of ground hogs again. To think I once considered them too much fun to watch to kill. It took me all summer last year to get all 5 of the family members. They are back under my barn again, blast it. Time to get the guns back out. By the way, for those of you with some open area around your place, the .17 Hornady Rimfire Magnum is amazing. It goes about 100 yards perfectly flat and fast, then just drops. I used to worry a lot about my .22 going too far and causing problems.

[ddyke]

Ohio allows shooting (Cinti does not) gassing, drowning, clubbing but not trapping, poisoning or moving. When I asked what to do they said I could release them on another part of my property - Gee I will go to the other side of a quarter of an acre. I wonder if they can find their way back?

[ddyke]

I do have a neighbor who feeds them. The other neighbor counted 22 (?) in her yard at once.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Jeremy you have the right idea. I go back 1000 feet in the direction of my barn, so effective range is the big thing for me. I used to really worry about the 1.5 mile range of "hot" .22s, since I would have to use the hot ones to reach the ground hogs. With the .17, there's no need for "lift" compensation on long shots. It really is amazing. Powerful little fart.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

[DAVE]

The Mannlicher is also the gun that killed JFK.

Raccoons are a pain it the patoot, but they are fun to watch. I saw a 'coon remove the lid of a
peanut butter jar with one hand. I once left a stringer of fish on the front porch of our cottage
in Wisconsin while I took the fishing gear inside. I was gone less than 10 minutes, and when I went
to retrieve the stringer there was nothing left but fish heads.

[ddyke]

Two raccoons ago (#13) figured out how the trap's door worked and positioned himself to open it, but he could get to the latch. We have two cages out tonight. Hopefully they will be full in the AM. #15 was the largest and meanest. #4-6 were the smallest. We found a nest of babies.

[dreinecke]

We have two that come around if I've forgotten to bring in the bird feeder at night. Of course they have to fight the bear and the porcupines for it. I like watching them, and they've never messed with anything.

Funniest story I ever heard was David E. Davis of Automobile Magazine...one got into his Ferrari. It ended with his entire family having coon skin hats.

[Abarth Mike]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

There was a family of albino raccoons that lived in the old district of Midtown Memphis when I lived there. They were huge, waddling along the alleys, occasionally getting into garbage cans, but usually they stayed out of trouble. They were around for years and years.