I treat them like the weeds they are. Even if they're beautiful and intelligent weeds.

I trap them in live traps and put a single pellet between the eyes (1,000 fps) for a very quick death. These animals are anthro-opportunistic (made that one up) and multiply based on easily obtained food provided by humans and a lack of predators which is also due to humans.

I consider it an act of duty to destroy as many of these hungry bird-nest raiders as I can to at least create a more balanced ecology in my neighborhood. Of course I'd kill them to protect my fruit alone.

If you haven't the stomach for destroying them you can also use alluminum flashing to form a tube around the trunk. You need at least 4' of branch-free trunk from the ground. It will take at least a 24" high tube which I staple just a bit loosely onto trunks directly, starting about 18" above the ground. Occassionally a really big tom will require up to 32".

Pump em full of lead.

I hate to say it but they are right. Here in the south we hunt them as a sport & some people eat them.
You can make a chicken coop with a door & a chicken wire roof. Bet it can get costly.

If they steal my fruit they also break some branches. If all my fruit is gone over night with no tree damage it is rats that have taken it. If I look around in the woods I can find where they have hidden half eaten fruit in wood piles. Al

I shoot them, too. They cause very real economic loss and carry rabies in addition to just being a nuisance.

If you live in an area where firearms discharge is not permitted you can use a pellet gun or a trap.

What do you guys do, sit out at night and wait for them? I just set up the traps and kill them in the morning. Dawn to dusk is enough work for me.

Usually they wake me up with their shenanigans or start in just after sunset while I am still up. On one occasion I waited up for them when their indiscretions had been particularly egregious.

I agree with harvestman, kill them all. They kill local bug eating birds by destroying nests, and will not stop raiding your tree until they stop breathing.

You may have to shoot them... now that they have a taste for pears. If you intend to trap them you have to use bait they like more than pears or start before the fruit is ripe next year. If you do not remove them they will strip the tree next year, they are not so good at sharing

I have treefulls of ripe peaches, plums, pears, nectarines and apples with drops all around and the coons here go for marshmellows every single time. More sugar- more better! And in 20 years trapping and moving and then trapping and shooting (when I stopped being irresponsible) I've never encountered a trap-shy coon. This, while on occassions I have failed to properly secure a back-door or used traps that they could turn over and escape, and had coons confined and then escape. These coons also come back for the marshmellows to be trapped another day.

Harvestman talked about trapping and moving.

Is the Havahart trap a good one to get and just take them to a park or up in the hills to let out?

Havahart traps are fine, but kill them. Moving them just gives someone else your problem, and can be illegal. If you had no tree damage, also consider possums as possible culprits. I lost my peaches this year to several small possums. Same traps work for both possums and coons, but coons are smarter and will get out if there is a way. For instance, I have one Havahart look alike trap I bought cheap at Harbor Freight. It has a catch that coons seem able to slip, but I regularly catch possums with it. Instead of the solid sheet metal inside door of the Havahart, it has wire mesh, and I think coons just reach up through the mesh and push the catch wire up so the door will open.

I use dry cat food as bait because all the local critters eat my cat's food and apparently love it. As Harvestman says, nice sweet and perhaps smelly stuff will also probably work fine. A smart coon will sometimes turn the cage over and get my cat food that way, but fortunately the really smart coons are rare. I once got a mother and baby in the same trap at once, and yes the baby was cute. I still dispatched both.

Chuck

I feel I am doing an environmental service by reducing an overpopulated nuisance. Coons not only damage crops, but also buildings, machinery, houses, livestock, etc. Golden Maldrin fly bait mixed with honey or eggs does the trick for me. They seldom travel 10 feet before they expire.

Brook

I have my coon trap anchored down so it can't turn over. I do this mainly so the neigborhood dogs won't turn over the trap and eat the dog food (bait) in the trap.

This summer we had one get up on the back deck to eat the dog food. Dog goin' crazy in the middle of the night. When we switched the light on, the coon was up on the back railing, hissing and all arched up ready for a fight. He got away before I could get the gun.

Brook, I haven't heard of Golden Malrin for quite a while. I remember a story about it.

I was on a hog farm in AR. The farmer had a pet pig (about 150 lbs.) that followed him around. One day, as the farmer and I were walking outside on the concrete walks, he was putting down some Golden Malrin for fly control. We walked for some distance and looked back and the pig had followed us, and was eating the trail of Golden Malrin, as fast as the farmer was putting it down. It was comical, the pig looked up and had this stupid look on its face with a foamy "yellow" beard. I went back for several more visits to the farm, and the pig never did suffer any ill affects. I suppose they've got more of an iron constitution than coons. I still laugh when I think of the farmer's irritation at that pig vacuuming up the Malrin and giving us that stupid look.

Oh, forgot to mention. I agree with Chuck, by trapping and releasing, not only do you risk dumping your problem on someone else, but unless you drive them at least an hour away, they will probably find their way back. I used to hunt them. I know.

I coonhunted for years and thoroughly loved it. Now, deer hunting has taken over Illinois and it's hard to find a place anywhere to hunt. If fur prices were better, we wouldn't have the problems we're having. It is a real shame to waste such a wonderful renewable resource like fur. In re to the Golden Maldrin, I've NEVER had collateral damage to other critters, but it sure does a number on coons and possums, which are wreaking havoc everywhere this year. Old Pea, you're right, dumping them does not solve the problem. They come right back. By the way, Golden Maldrin is now blue--go figure!!

Brook

I'm sure if you take them far enough you could stop their return- I used to control them with that approach but it is false mercy and only salves the conscience of fools. Anywhere coons can find an honest living there is already an existing population that will drive out an invading coon forcing them to keep moving until they either starve or become someone elses pest. Do the research and don't lie to yourself.

I do recommend the rear-door traps sold by Gemplers with a spring closure that coons cannot open even if they turn it over. The rear-door makes it easier to dispose of the dead animal and clean.

I am always amazed at the timing the raccoons picking up the fruits from the tree. You have been watching the fruit during the ripening process and one day you believe the fruit is ripe enough and you decide to harvest the nnext day or soon after. You find the next day that the raccoon(s) have beaten you to it.

ottawan,

Boy, are you ever right on that!!! We had half a dozen beautiful peaches on a two-year-old tree this summer. The wife brought one out to me while I was mowing to try. I said "One more day." The next day there nothing left but pits. I guess you should always listen to your wife.

Brook

Caught a 'coon this morning in my Havahart trap. My dogs let me know about this success way too early in the morning. I had used a half-cored apple stuffed with peanut butter as bait because smaller animals were stealing the smaller bait that I had used previously.

I called Animal Control who said they'd come and take care of it, and when I returned at noon, sure enough, it was gone. But for all I know, they may've taken care of it the easy way - just opened the trap and set it loose!

"I am always amazed at the timing the raccoons picking up the fruits from the tree. You have been watching the fruit during the ripening process and one day you believe the fruit is ripe enough and you decide to harvest the nnext day or soon after. You find the next day that the raccoon(s) have beaten you to it."

Yep, exactly how it is.

"Golden Maldrin fly bait mixed with honey or eggs does the trick for me."

We have some cats in the area, will they eat this mix?

Check the label, I believe it will make you too nervous to use around the house. Google the name and it will be one of the first entries.

I know my cat wouldn't be interested in a honey or egg mixture. I plan on trying the Golden Malrin at some point. I was using the spring leg-hold traps to catch coons until someone told me they were illegal in my area. The leg-hold traps worked like a champ but they had to be buried if they were going to fool a coon. And I had to keep the cat locked up in the house when I had it set. It just made me nervous. So I switched to a box trap. Now I just have to catch a coon in it. I set it for the first time a few nights ago and caught this little critter.
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Possums are one animal that it might not be completely irresponsible to release elsewhere. My vet sister says that they are pretty much gypsies anyway. Of course that doesn't mean that it isn't illegal and there is the danger of spreading rabies and other disease.

I hate having to shoot them with my pellet gun- I can't seem to easily get a fatal shot like I do with raccoons and the affair can be gruesome and a bit cruel. I still struggle through it (poor, cute, little possums).

Harvestman,

I've seen possums with their entire head essentially gone that just keep on walking. I suspect that they are a bit like chickens in that regard. A shot to the head probably means they aren't "feeling" much even if the body keeps keeping on. Does get kinda gruesome though.

Chuck

Thanks, I'll tell myself that I'm just finishing off a zombie after the first shot.

Thanks for the marshmallow bait tip harvestman. I usually have some difficulty luring them away from ripe fruit. I use fish heads or sardinesÂ..works well before the fruit ripens.

Now that I know about their sweet tooth, it will be much easier.

You boys with the guns are overdoing it. Trap the critters and take them waaaaaaaaay out to the wilds and turn them loose. I've got a pair under my house, and have on my To Do list to call the Agriculture department (apparently trapping needs a permit here, and shooting is a no-no in town).

Rainfall, I suggest you do a bit of research before suggesting the transportation of wildlife. It is generally a very bad idea according to the people who actually know what the potential results are. That is why it is illegal in enlightened states such as my own.

Raccoons, for instance, are a pest species who's populations are completely obscene by any ecological standard. Humans provide them with unnatural and easy to obtain food and have eliminated all functional predators.

Some years I can trap 30 on my 3 acres! I can actually keep them from climbing my trees with flashing but my property would soon smell like a stockyard from all the coons coming for my drops (I know, I tried that one season). Their feces is actually a health threat as it often carries a disease that can cause blindness in humans.

There are few places to move them where coon populations don't already exist who will drive them out. The experts say the animals usually starve. You can humanely and responsibly kill them or pass on the problem, salving your foolish conscience (or weak stomach).

Now Harvestman, Oregon may simply have a raccoon shortage, the way Missouri once had a deer shortage. If that's the case I bet you and I together could supply them with all they would need. I'd be happy to trap mine and send them to Oregon for a nominal fee....say $250@ plus shipping.

Chuck

In California they have made a law preventing you from moving them more than a half mile from the point of capture. This will allow them to get home before you do. The "reason" for this law is that they are already "established" in their territory and moving them could cause a "conflict" with other wildlife. I must admit at least some of what you heard about California is TRUE. Al

No thanks rain2fall, they are overpopulated here and spread rabies. And as stated in the article below they prefer to live in suburban areas. Which for me, means that if I release them at the edge of vast forest, they will wonder back towards the garbage cans and fruit trees of civilization. Effectively passing my problems and possibly rabies onto other people or pets. I cannot justify that.

http://www.ur.umich.edu/9798/May06_98/raccoon.htm

"Before 1991, no rabid animals had been identified in Connecticut for more than a decade," Wilson says. "Over the next four years, Connecticut officials reported 2,612 rabies-positive animals--most of which were raccoons. More than 80 percent of these animals were found in property owner's yards. During this same period, 939 people were exposed to the virus usually by handling a pet that had just fought with a rabies-positive animal."

Here's a paragraph taken from the above mentioned article. "One of the biggest dangers to the success of any baiting program is people's tendency to trap nuisance raccoons and release them many miles away in another area. "All it will take is one infected raccoon transported past the baited perimeter to blow everything," Wilson says. "We saw this happen in Connecticut when the leading edge of the epidemic suddenly jumped 60 miles from the last known point of infection. The most likely explanation was that infected raccoons were unintentional stowaways on garbage trucks making deliveries to a large landfill in the area."

I would question that theory, a raccoon would not stand still if it was inside a garbage can and it was dumped in back of a truck. That's completely a nuts theory. The coon would hightail it before the sanitary worker reached the can. The can would be open and the sanitary worker wouldn't come close to it if a coon was on top anyway. I think maybe Wilson has the right kind of smarts to be a succesful bureacrat and not a succesful gardener.

Speaking of coons hightailing it. Last year, I was cleaning fish at one of those fish cleaning stations at a state park when out popped one very wet and disconcerted coon from the hole where the fish scraps go. Good thing I hadn't turned the grinder on yet!!! Sure gave me a surprise.

Brook

Harvestman, while it is possibleÂ.your right, it does not sound plausible. I guess they could hitch a ride in a twenty yard dumpster, but one from a house hmm uh ..Ânot likely.
I do not think he was referring to the latter, as he is an associate professor of biology and epidemiology. And while he ran a skew as to some of the aspects of the spreading rabiesÂÂÂ...I think most of the trapping and releasing info was spot on.
As far as him successful bureaucrat, well yea, he did go to Yale lol.

Mr. Ed, I work for plenty of Yale and Harvard grads- an Ivy League education may be an indicatiion of great focus, organization and memory but I haven't noticed that strong powers of analytical deduction are an absolute pre-requisite for great academic success.

That said, I realized when I made my little joke that there was likely a logical explanation- but thanks for spoiling my fun. Ha Ha.