Raccoons

Hey guys, long-time reader, first time poster.

I've had my trail cam up for about 3 weeks now and I seem to have a problem. About 1/4 of the camera pics I have are of raccoons chowing down on my feed pile. Plenty of deer are enjoying it as well but I'm thinking the piles are disappearing a lot quicker than they need to due to the 4-8 raccoons feasting every night.

Should I even be worrying about this? If I manage to trap or poison 5-6 before bow season starts, who is to say that 5-6 wouldn't take their places in a short period of time.

What would you guys do? Trap, poison or not worry about it?

 

Don't worry about them and use them as target practice during the season

 

Duke Dp traps. How I thin out the little theives.

 

Duke dp traps and marshmallows will clear them out in a hurry! And fill the fur shed while your at it. I don't recommend poison ever.

 

Choot em

 

I wait till Sept 15th here in michigan thats when small game season starts and I go out with my 12 ga shotgun and a bunch of 4 shot and see how many I can kill with one shot.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Especially the tip on the DP traps, going to look into selling carcasses in my area tomorrow. If there's any type of money to be made from these pesky critters, I think I'll take the plunge and buy a few DP traps. Judging by all the pics I have like the one below, it should be fun at the very least.

 

Yep, I used to trap them around my old feeder. Took out about 10-15 and then hardly ever saw any on the cam. I would put a piece of sardine in mustard sauce on the plate, saran wrap over that and 2-3 rubber bands wrapped around that. Gets them 95% of the time.

 

You might have to explain that one a little further. Sounds fun...and cheap!

 

You will never get them all. You get the ones in the picture and couple of weeks there will be more.

 

I just happen to have the exact same problem and haven't found a solution yet, so if you do happen to find one that works please let me know.

 

duke dogproofs best trap, coil springs will get em but with a dog proof you dont need to make a dirt hole so much easier.

 

I have a simple solution for your Raccoon problem. Remove the bait pile, and you will stop getting the coons on camera. If you make a mineral lick instead, you will still get plenty of pictures of deer. I get between 700 and 1200 pictures a week from my mineral lick. It's a lot cheaper too.

I used to get hundreds of pictures of coons gorging on my corn piles, but haven't had a single coon on cam this season, and I have plenty of coons.

 

DO NOT shoot them during the season. I have done it one time from my stand, and never again. If you arrow one, he will drag himself around and scream one of the loudest squeals ever. I didnt see any deer the rest of the night, as I shouldnt have because this coon was making his presence known for miles.

 

A quick fix to this problem.... Head shot!

 

Quick update to my coon problem. I bought a couple of Duke DP traps off eBay for $25 and while I know I can't get em all, I'm hoping to at least dwindle the population on my property.

They're up. Ready and waiting. I will hopefully post some captured pics tomorrow.

 

Iv not seen this mentioned before, so you might want to check your states game laws. I think that most trapping seasons are still a pretty good ways away. Just something to think about

 

live trap and release is almost always legal anytime of year. However, foothold traps....that might not be.

 

I would definitely just wait until the season starts and start plinking them off with a 22 or a bow whenever you see them! Good luck!

 

Fly bait and grape soda mixture. Make the deer can't get to it. The coons won't make it 10 feet.