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Thread: Need help catching a raccoon

  1. #1

    Need help catching a raccoon

    I've got a raccoon that's clearly has a higher IQ than me. I've been trying to catch him for a couple of weeks now, using a trap. On the trap instructions, it said they like crisp bacon, marshmallows, cat food, sardines, and a few other things. So I get the trap, I head to the grocery store and buy some bacon. While I'm cooking it (it said "crisp bacon"), I'm thinking "how come this thing has me cooking for it, and cooking bacon that was $6?".

    Didn't touch the bacon.

    It rains a couple of days, so I dump the bacon out.

    I can't do all the fish and cat food options because there are a couple of neighbors cats that roam around and last thing I want is to catch a cat at 3:00 in the morning and listen to it screaming for help, only to tear me up when I try to open the door on the trap. So no cat food or cat friendly items for me

    I've been trying for about 2 weeks now and I'm getting no where. I know he's there, he jumps on my roof and wakes me up (he's trying to get into gable vents).

    Any ideas on how to catch this thing without catching the cats?

    I did catch a squirrel today, eating marshmallows. He was happy for me to let him go and he didn't like the marshmallows after all. I think he was just curious.

    I don't want to hurt it, I'll relocate it, I just want to catch it and get it out of here.
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    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  2. #2
    Peanut butter works pretty well for them around here.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Don't do like my brother and I back when we were about 12 and 13. We trapped one in a culvert under the driveway. I chased him by yelling at one end and he was ready to get it with a broom, of all things at the other. He got in one or two blows but it didn't bother the raccoon. We were after him because he ate the big goldfish in our pond. You might try buying some of those cheap 20 cent feeders at the pet shop and put them in a shallow bowl in the trap.



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  4. #4
    they seem to like getting into trash cans, how about beanie wienie cans, empty but do not wash out

  5. #5
    I would recomend Kentucky Fried Chicken-- load the trap up with chicken, wipe down the outside with gravy, and wait. If that doesn't get it, nothing will. Normal chicken won't work, Kenny Rogers used to be great, but you can't get that anymore.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Don't ask me why. Crazy, but had one that would get in my trash can and only take the empty bread wrapper. Kept them up in a tree.
    Last edited by Dave Lehnert; 02-16-2012 at 10:11 PM.
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen Cherry View Post
    I would recomend Kentucky Fried Chicken-- load the trap up with chicken, wipe down the outside with gravy, and wait. If that doesn't get it, nothing will. Normal chicken won't work, Kenny Rogers used to be great, but you can't get that anymore.
    Original or extra crispy?

    How do you keep the squirrels out if you use peanut butter, or the cats out if you use fish?
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  8. #8
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    He (she) is not up there looking for food - she is probably scouting for a nest. Just make certain that there is no way to get in. Also check out a recent PBS Nature show for some ideas as to how to keep raccoons from climbing your house http://video.pbs.org/video/2192070266/
    Good luck with this.

  9. #9
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    I've been trying for about 2 weeks now and I'm getting no where. I know he's there, he jumps on my roof and wakes me up (he's trying to get into gable vents).

    I did catch a squirrel today, eating marshmallows. He was happy for me to let him go and he didn't like the marshmallows after all. I think he was just curious.
    Have you seen the raccoon? Are you sure it isn't the squirrel trying to get into your gable vents?

    If it is a raccoon, then the live feeder fish idea someone else suggested might be your best bet at getting the raccoon and not the other animals.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
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  10. #10
    Another not quite so useful video on raccoons

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WmIo1eRaaM

  11. #11
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    Thats a tough one! Cats and racoons have very similar tastes when it comes to food. Just for the record, I'd be much more concerned about getting torn up by a coon than any puddy tat when you release them from the trap. Maybe after spending a night or two in the trap, you'll get lucky and the cats won't come back either!

    My wife and I moved into our current home in rural Northern Minnesota back in 1992. Unknown by us, the previous owners had fed the racoons table scraps on the back deck for a number of years. When the first crew of the entitled little buggars showed up, we thought they were the cutest little critters, but resisted the temptation to feed them. All went well until a couple weeks later when we hung up two bird feeders on the deck. In the middle of that very night we were awakened with a start by what sounded like several ferociously crazed Tazmanian Devils battling it out back there. When I flipped on the deck lights, I was astonished to see at least 15 to 20 of them lined up on the handrail of the deck, all battling for position on the pole that held the feeders. We love the wildlife, but we quickly realized that the racoon population must have been artificially high because of the previous owners. I bought a live trap that next day and baited it with sardines. That was early July. By the end of September I had uhhh... relocated over 50 racoons. They get trap-smart real quick, but there are lots of little tricks you can use to out-smart them. Let me know when you're ready to try the sardines.

  12. #12
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    Load it up with the sardines and bacon, then stick the trap on the roof. If a cat gets caught up on your roof (I doubt the cat will go up there on purpose, whereas the 'coon will), he deserves to have a few uncomfortable hours in a cage.
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  13. #13
    Thanks for the tips. Yes, I know it's looking to nest, that's how this all started I woke up in the middle of the night to something moving in my house, in my attic. It had pried open the gable vent louvers and gotten inside. I took a broomstick and tapped it on the ceiling and finally chased it back out. We battle it out about once every few days. I've got it out of the attic, but it doesn't stop it from trying repeatedly to get it. I can here it hit the roof, from jumping off a tall limb that's out of my reach with a pole saw, from my roof top.

    I had to release a squirrel last night when I got home, but I noticed one thing that I didn't like, and that was the thought of how crazy complicated it was going to be to open the door of the thing with a raccoon in it. Not something I'm looking forward to.

    I'd love to put it on my roof, but the entire roof has a pitch to it and I'm not sure how to put a big trap on a pitched roof.

    I guess I'll have to break down and try the sardines soon. I need him to leave me alone

    Oh, and yes, I have seen it several times. I heard some noise one night, I ran outside with a flashlight, only to shine it on the thing, and watch it freak out and rip my gable vent open in a panic to get inside
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  14. #14
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    NOTHING like a honey bun to catch a raccoon.

  15. #15
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    Just for the record, I'd be much more concerned about getting torn up by a coon than any puddy tat when you release them from the trap
    +1 to that.

    A guy I worked with once told a great story about his neighboor, the neighboor's Black Lab and the time the neighboor trapped a racoon in the garage.
    Long story short - the Lab wanted no part of going into the closed garage, but, the neighboor tossed it in there anyhow.
    After 30 seconds of "the world coming to an end",,,,the neighboor opened the garage door.
    The Lab came out running at 90MPH and knocked him head over heels.....and...looking right into the face of one really annoyed racoon.

    Walt (the guy I worked with) was from West Virginia and had a Southern drawl & would really embelish the story a lot when he told it .
    It was a real gut buster to hear him tell it and watch all the facial expressions he added .

    P.S....I always wondered, since Walt knew so many details,,,if there really was a "neighboor"

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