# Racoons and Foxes - problems!



## happy appy (Jun 28, 2013)

How does everyone get rid of their unwanted visitors? I seem to be having a run on racoons this year. I have been able to catch them on tape through my barn cam. I have 3 different mature racoons and 6 babies to one of the mature ones. I also have 1 young fox. He is scared of the racoon and will run when he seems one. I have a live trap set out but no one is even going near it. It has cat food in it and I know they all love that. I only have the barn cat food out during the day now because the racoons were coming in over night and eating the food. They can't access any other food in the barn.


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## little lady (Jun 28, 2013)

happy appy said:


> How does everyone get rid of their unwanted visitors? I seem to be having a run on racoons this year. I have been able to catch them on tape through my barn cam. I have 3 different mature racoons and 6 babies to one of the mature ones. I also have 1 young fox. He is scared of the racoon and will run when he seems one. I have a live trap set out but no one is even going near it. It has cat food in it and I know they all love that. I only have the barn cat food out during the day now because the racoons were coming in over night and eating the food. They can't access any other food in the barn.


I feel your pain as I am having raccoon issues just starting back up this past week. Around here a few years back this guy had these traps(gonna have to ask hubby if they have a name and person who made them) any way you dig a small hole in the ground and drop cat food down and when the raccoon reaches down it gets caught. Supposedly it will only catch raccoons but guess what we caught...a skunk was not good!!! So we are putting up one of these tonight.

I found a similar trap on line called the lil griz raccoon trap it is a foot trap. As far as foxes we have had no problems with them yet.


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## donna123 (Jun 28, 2013)

Try baiting your traps with marshmellows.............that is something that cats won't eat but Coons love.


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## vickie gee (Jun 28, 2013)

High fence and guard dogs for the pasture. Ready, aim, fire for outside the fence. And then there was the raccoon that got caught red-handed on the big trash cans I keep horse feed in...a handy 2 x 4 settled that. The fox that kept snatching the trash bag out of my hands during the drought was actually shown mercy. Now the giant rat that Po Kitty caught this week got a pitch fork from me when he tried to escape.


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## Marsha Cassada (Jun 29, 2013)

We bait our raccoon traps with an egg. Opossums and skunks like eggs also, however. Doesn't matter how long the egg is in the trap. We have not had any coon trouble in a few years, but our neighbor a mile away had to put an electric fence around his corn patch. The coons do not even wait for the corn to fully ear out. And they don't just eat one ear and move on. They strip off every ear and mutilate it.

We enjoy wildlife and one of the pleasures of living rurally is the connection with nature. But we have domestic animals and they rely on us to protect them.

A professional was called in at a facility where my husband worked. They were having a terrible time with skunks under the building. The professional used Cheetos to trap the skunks. Nothing else bothers the bait, but skunks cannot resist Cheetos. He caught over 20 skunks. The facility was so desperate they paid the pro $2000 for the service. Now the employees bait the traps with Cheetos and don't bother calling the pro in any more.


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## happy appy (Jun 29, 2013)

Finally got my first racoon! first of 8


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## paintponylvr (Jun 30, 2013)

AWESOME! It's a start, anyway.

So what do you do with a live 'Coon?



happy appy said:


> Finally got my first racoon! first of 8


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## happy appy (Jun 30, 2013)

My husband took care of him. Lets just say he wont be coming around any time soon!


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## atotton (Jul 1, 2013)

Thes DNR takes care of our fox anf raccoon pests. For some reason many of the foxes around here get the mange and have to be euthanized. We had a fox this past year with the mange attack one of our dogs, it would stalk the horses as well. it was put down as it was not in its right mind.


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## shorthorsemom (Jul 3, 2013)

Gonna try marshmellos. I have a huge coon coming in and eating my cats food outside. 
Hmmmmm cheetos.. What do you do once you catch a skunk??? We have a bunch under my mother in laws porch. Dont know what to do if we catch them.


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## happy appy (Jul 4, 2013)

Finally caught #2 racoon! We now have 3 babies that are not traveling with their mother anymore. We haven't caught a mom yet so no sure if she left them or was hit by a car. We are no farther a head with the fox though. He is here every day and isn't bothering anything but does this god awful cry that sounds like it's dying. It's not or al least it hasn't yet. He is too quick for me to catch yet but his luck is going to run out too.


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## Minimor (Jul 4, 2013)

You need to dispatch the fox ASAP especially if you have outside cats. Small fixes aren't such a problem but the bigger ones will certainly steal cats, even rather large cats. Any fox that comes around here is very soon a dead fox.

Skunks--do not believe anyone who tells you that if you catch one in a live trap you should cover it with a towel and then it will not spray when you transport it... Neighbor of mine can certify that this is a complete myth!!


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## bevann (Jul 4, 2013)

Learned from Karl that skunks have to have back feet on ground to spray.He is a master at getting them out of box traps without being sprayed.When he was growing up on the farm he and brothers often caught them.Even had a pet 1 under the porch step.I just get away quickly.We have foxes here and it is illegal to shoot them in DE but several have just walked in front of a gun as it went off.


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## happy appy (Jul 7, 2013)

3 more to the caught list!


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## dangerranger (Jul 7, 2013)

Minimor said:


> You need to dispatch the fox ASAP especially if you have outside cats. Small fixes aren't such a problem but the bigger ones will certainly steal cats, even rather large cats. Any fox that comes around here is very soon a dead fox.
> 
> Skunks--do not believe anyone who tells you that if you catch one in a live trap you should cover it with a towel and then it will not spray when you transport it... Neighbor of mine can certify that this is a complete myth!!



Ive had good luck covering skunks while carrying the cages. But Im sure when my luck runs out Ill pay big time! the foxxes we have here are Kit Foxxes, and are smaller than our cats. I dont bother much with them but the coons have to go! Good luck with yours DR


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## horsefeather (Jul 8, 2013)

Best thing is guard dogs. We have Great Pry. and NOTHING comes in our pastures. We have goats, sheep, horses, geese, dogs (which the GP doesn't even allow in the pastures. You need at least 2, we have 4.

Pam


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## mickeymoto (Jul 8, 2013)

No problem with foxes or racoons, but do get a lot of squirrels. We use a live trap and than release them in the riverbed. We have been having a lot of problems with coyotoes though. Normally our chow keeps them away, but the other morning early (4am), my chow was at the back of our property hunting a squirrel. I put my 6 chihuahua's out for a potty break. They ran to the opposite end of our property and immediately started going crazy barking. I ran after them with the spotlight. Saw the coyote at our back fence trying to climb over. All the chiwi's ran back to our house except for Chester (chi/pug mix). The coyote grabbed him through the fence. I screamed and ran at the fence. Just than our Chow decided to do her job and raced at the fence. Coyote let go of Chester and took off. He has 2 puncture wounds. Luckily a good friend of mine is a vet tech. She shaved and helped me clean the punctures. Also gave him antibiotic shots and pain pills. Here is a pic of when he first got wounded and a second pic of now. He was very very lucky. Since than the coyote keeps coming back, but Holly, our chow has kept him away. He comes early morning and runs up and down outside our property on the horsetrail.


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## happy appy (Jul 8, 2013)

Well its been 5 nights and no visitors.


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## Marsha Cassada (Jul 8, 2013)

shorthorsemom said:


> Gonna try marshmellos. I have a huge coon coming in and eating my cats food outside.
> 
> Hmmmmm cheetos.. What do you do once you catch a skunk??? We have a bunch under my mother in laws porch. Dont know what to do if we catch them.


Wrap the trap with black garbage bags. Small trap, so he can't maneuver inside the trap. The pro guy had a rack on top of his truck and loaded the traps on the top of his vehicle to haul them off.

If you have to put a trap under the porch, tie a rope or chain to the trap so you can drag it out if you have to.

Killed a little rattlesnake in the corral two nights ago. I went out to check on the horses and heard him rattling. I have a hoe near there to chop weeds, so I got him with the hoe. Having had two horses bitten in the past, I show rattlesnakes no mercy.


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## happy appy (Jul 9, 2013)

Another racoon was in last night, I didn't have the trap set but I will tonight. I did see the fox up the hill in the back pasture this morning but he isn't coming down to the barn yard anymore. Or at least not for a week. I ended up getting one shot off towards him, I know it didn't hit but it was very close. I thought it might of scared him to stay away. for years I have had a fox live in the back pastures without bothering us in the farm yard. He was great at keeping the rodent population down in the pastures.


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## happy appy (Jul 10, 2013)

another one down! There were 2 of them and the second one tried to open the live trap and let his friend out.


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## Debby - LB (Jul 11, 2013)

mickeymoto I'm so glad you were there to see that OMG I bet you were scared. The poor little dog! I hope it's OK. happy appy glad you've took out some more they are a nuisance. Down here we don't have a problem at all with what to do with nuisance critters since people eat them, coon, possum, rabbit and squirrels....glad we don't have a skunk problem around here but we do have a big problem with the darn armadillos. Fox are plentiful as are coyotes those we shoot trap and/or relocate.


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