I picked up like you do with dog poo and then hosed the rest off, detergent included. The netting worked last night, nothing there, just a couple of racoon prints on the fender. Will keep this up for a couple of days and then we see. I think the critter is from last years crop, trying to establish his territory. Janis, I had it much easier than you. Did you manage to get rid of that family? The only real problem I ever had with racoons was when I still worked (midnight shift). Somebody forgot to shut the door from the back parking lot (adjoining about 10 000 of woods) and when I heard odd noises I opened the door of the office to that storage and found a dozen or so racoons cleaning up file boxes. What a mess. On the other hand, I rescued at the same place racoons, especially young ones, forever out of the big trash containers. People at the motel dropped stuff in them and forgot to close the doors. The racoons got in them, but if the containers had been emptied that day, there was not enough in it so they could climb out again. I had a board hidden to use as ladder for them and checked every morning. Those and the skunks all knew me and never bothered me. I rather dealed with them than some of our customers.

Wednesday night, mom thought she had left the water running so late in the night she went out to double check (thankfully I have lights everywhere and it was not far from the door) She heard a loud horrible dog noise and thought her tenant must have found a howling puppy and had it hidden in his place. Next day she asked, it was a Coyote, probably on the other side of a low fence, but still far too close. Hope coyotes do not eat roses! Bears, ugh! Before we go to Yosemite, we do a through wash down of the interior of the car. Making sure no forgotten tube of chapstick is forgotten in the glovebox etc. Once we get to our camp our food/stove etc goes in the bear locker. I check, double check and then check one last time to make sure that locker is closed But yet, one year we were woken up by the sound of pots and pans flying and deep grunts. The dog, cocker spaniel in the tent with us, had giant eyes but was too scared to make a sound. The bear raided our locker, ate everything from peanut butter to deodorant, with his hairs often brushing out tent. Other campers were yelling trying to scare him off...the only thing he left was the dry dog food! and it was a good $$$ brand. I learned bear proof lockers might not be bear proof. Bring a lock to lock the locker! Rangers said they were supposed to not know how to open, but a few they had figured out. Lucky us.

Its simple. You buy the cheapest .22 caliber semi auto rifle thats worth a damn, a Savage Model 64. Then you buy a box or two of CCI Stinger hyper-velocity 22 LR rounds. Take them home and practice and set your iron sights to be dead on at 15 yards or less… you wll need to adjust the rear sight all the way down (have the dovetail sititng on the last ”step” of the elevation blade towards you.. this will set your rounds for very close range shots. If your shot pattern is too far left then move the front sight to the right. adjust both until you are placing rounds in a half dollar size circle consistently at 20 yards. Watch for him at night until you identify the path he takes through your property. He will always follow the same pattern… once you found it set up in a line of fire away from anything that your common sense tells you wont hit someone or something if you miss… but you wont. Not at that range and not with the practice youve had. I suggest attaching a small ”tactical light” or securing a small bright flashlight with easy on/off button not a twist on/off type to the lower left hand side of the barrel.. at about your 7 o clock. far enough forward on the barrel as to not block out front sight visibility in the barrell shadow. remain quiet and still until you see him. He will normally keep to the same schedule so if you can figure that out then get to your ambush spot a half hour earlier. When he appears slowly slowly raise rifle and set your shot up. control your breathing. pop your light on, make a small tisk tisk sound and he will freeze and look right into the light and wont move until he can figure out what that blinding light is. He wont see you behind the light. Aim for the neck. if your shot goes a little high its a headshot, a little low… the vitals, lungs, heart. If your dead on and hit him in the neck… same result as either one of the other shots… dead. a hyper velocity round with a hollowpoint lead nose will hit him like a freight train at that range. It will mushroom upon entry and dump its kinetic energy into him. Thats the importance of hollowpoint rounds. a regular 22 LR round will also kill in any of the three hit zones before mentioned… the problem is a 22 round is a penetrator by nature… like a laser it will punch all the way straight through and come out the other side still retaining its shape, mass, and a lot of its energy if you dont hit in the exact right spot ie heart, lungs, neck, brain. anywhere else and hes taking off like you never hit him and unless you hit an artery hes not gonna bleed out from the tiny entry and exit wound. He may die eventually.. maybe… in a bad way. You dont deserve to take the shot if you arent confident you can make the kill quick and clean. If he bolts after you shoot dont freak out… only shot you are gonna get that will drop him instantly is a brain shot. the neck and vitals are guaranteed death within 30 seconds.

Chris I'd let nature take its course without tampering too much. In theory that's what the wells are there for - to collect litter, dirt and dead insects for nutrients. I would not be chucking raw organic material on mine but can't see that a bit of possum poo would be too harmful. Still, I don;t expect it's ever been tested. We will see as our baby re-emerged from the bush land last night into the trees above my broms.