Racoons Again, Need Quick Solution for City

[st.marys]

OK, I think my recent post on the Air Gun thread jinxed me! I still take care of and pay for my ex-wife's house ( a whole nother story) and she called me at 1:00 AM last night to come over to the house. We only live a few blocks apart, and I show up and there are 8, yea 8 racoons on the deck tearing apart the garbage from the can they tipped over. She had tried to chase them away by banging on the door and yelling at them, but they are fearless. I opened the door, and kicked it with my foot as if I were walking out and they slowly walked off the deck, two of them hissing at me. Most of them were small, I'm assuming this years litter.

Now, many of you know I do not have a good track record with coons, and I do live in the city where shooting a .22 is not an option. The live traps have had less than great success in the past.

I don't care about humane vs. inhumane solution as these damn things have crossed the line as far as I'm concerned. I've thought of the following, and would like your opinions, thoughts, criticisms.

1. Leg Traps: I could buy several leg traps at Gander Mtn tomorrow and chum them with anything I can find in the trash.

2. (Don't laugh at this one, my ex-wife laughed her ass off but my dumb ass wonders if it would work). Go to my local Home Dep0t type store, and buy a nice 4' x 4' piece of steel fencing. Take an extension cord, and cut the female end off. Strip the wires, and twist them onto the steel fencing type material. Run the male end into the house (it would fit under the loose door jamb) and into the kitchen (just off the deck). Chum the area, and when the coons are standing on it....my ex-wife plugs it in and zzzzzzttttt, ZAP! Would that actually work???

3. Colibri Rounds (the ones that shoot off a .22 primer only).

4. Any other ideas?





Recent post, I know...many of you will post your replys with what an idiotic, redneck, blah, blah, blah....I've heard it all. It's ok, I can't deny the truth.

I live near the city, and any kind of firearm discharge is illegal, except for legal hunting. Plus, I have a bunch of gun hating neighbors. I had the same problem, racoons. So, I bought some fancy air gun at the gun store, but the darn thing was as loud as a .22.
Well, I was so pissed off at them one night and my wife was out of town, so I thought I had a great kick ass plan. I put some bologna on the back deck, and had dreams in my head of getting the big fat one that always seems to be flipping me off with it's paw. I live in a 2 story house with big windows on the second floor. Just before dark, I took the screen out in the window just above the deck. My idea was to use my bow, with a broadhead...and a redneck setup of a mag-light attached with duct tape. I know...I'm such an idiot redneck. I kept checking the bologna, and soon enough...in the big one came. My heart was pounding like it was a trophy buck. I twist the mag lite on inside the house, knock the arrow...lean out the window and go to full draw. Keep in mind, in my head I'm thinking rambo is a pussy compared to me right now. I release the arrow for right behind it's neck...and thwap! The arrow hits behind it's neck, direct hit! Problem was, it didn't kill it immediately, but did pin it right into my deck as the broadhead had sunk in the deckboard with authority.

Now, I have a very pissed off, screaming and whaling racoon stuck on my deck. I'm now in an panic cause my neighbors would freak out if they knew what I just did. So, I run downstairs, hitting maybe 2 or 3 stairs with my feet, head to the basement to find something like a shovel for it. I'm running around like a crazy man, so I grab one of the irons out of my golf bag. I go out, in the dark and hit this thing in the head twice...and blood splatters backward all over me, and my face. It's dead for sure. I run back in the house, turn some of the lights out and I'm waiting for the police to show up cause a neighbor called 911 and said "I heard screaming, and other strange noises and they saw me swinging a golf club and blood splatter on me." Well, the rest of the night was calm and I cleaned up about an hour later.

I hope you don't have a similar story....I use live traps now.

[matty70]

Full Auto Paint ball gun! I think they run something like 300 rpm! I don't know-none of mine are full auto but they hurt like hell on a person-I wouldn't be surprised if you rolled one of those raccoons over with it! They'll never come back! The wire idea won't work the way you decribed it - you're creating a direct short and will pop your breaker the second you plug it in, on the other hand if you run one wire to the "fence" and ground the other it will shock them but you'll probably set your deck on fire too!

[nijwnfi]

Easiest solution is secure the trash can. Strap the top down, whatever it takes. Close the diner, and the little suckers will go elsewhere. If your ex is calling you at 1AM to take care of her problems, you have bigger problems than a few Raccoons.

[larrymeyer]

223 and a scope should do it

[st.marys]

Easiest solution is secure the trash can. Strap the top down, whatever it takes. Close the diner, and the little suckers will go elsewhere. If your ex is calling you at 1AM to take care of her problems, you have bigger problems than a few Raccoons.

OMG...I am laughing my friggin ass off!! What a profound quote that is. I have to put it in my signature. That just motivated me to figure out how to rep someone, and it's coming your way.

[Vig]

223 and a scope should do it

Sounds like its time to spring for a tax stamp and supressor.

[st.marys]

I like that idea Vig. I have a Remington 7615, .223 with an 18" barrel that would be perfect for that. I need to start doing some homework.

[CarolinaGuy]

Easiest solution is secure the trash can. Strap the top down, whatever it takes. Close the diner, and the little suckers will go elsewhere. If your ex is calling you at 1AM to take care of her problems, you have bigger problems than a few Raccoons.

Lol...

I had a gaggle of 5 coons coming up on my deck nightly and tearing up my compost bin. I could walk right out there and they'd just casually saunter off.

So I took 10 minutes and built a little cage of 2x4's around my bins, lined it with hardware cloth via staple gun, and set a concrete block on the cage's "lid".

Cost maybe 5$, and that was that.

[OrionBricks]

You could always just pick up the phone and call the cities pest controll number

Now having said that, I would opt for some bear spray mace, works wonders!!

https://store.udap.com/merchant.mvc?...tegory_Code=BS

[riverpirate]

i like the fence idea , lol that would be so funny to watch!