One, tough raccoon..

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - One, tough raccoon..

Posted: 11/6/2014 7:22:26 PM EDT

We had been losing chickens to coons so I set out some conibear 220s in some Bucky sets. Well, that was three weeks ago. I wired them solidly to fence posts but somehow something ran off with one.

Fast forward to today, I was walking the west fence line about 100 yards from that missing set and I found it, tangled in the fence

, just the head and cervical vertebrae still in the trap. Large raccoon that SURVIVED the initial snap and crawled 100 yards through the horse pen and over rocks with a 220 snapped over its head.

Tough bastard. We have now killed six.

Posted: 11/6/2014 8:29:21 PM EDT

[#1]

It might have been taken by a yote, big fox, bobcat, etc after getting pinched...they could have broken the wire...any chance of that?

Although most other animals refuse to eat coons.

Posted: 11/7/2014 12:41:42 AM EDT

[#2]

Would have had to cross two fences, 2x4 woven wire fences topped with electric.

Posted: 11/7/2014 1:05:13 AM EDT

[#3]

Any chance it dug under them to get in?

Posted: 11/7/2014 11:13:39 AM EDT

[#4]

Yes, he dug. But the trap was outside the chicken pen, on the rail fence that is covered by wire fence.

I thought conibear would kill any raccoon with that kind of trip but this one made it 100 yards. I'll get pictures of the skull and trap.

Posted: 11/7/2014 4:26:38 PM EDT

[#5]

Man, if that was around his neck, I can't imagine it busting the wire and going that far...it is usually so devastating that it's automatic game over really quick. Wow

Posted: 11/7/2014 4:56:48 PM EDT

[#6]

Coons are tough little critters. We were doing a training burn at work several years back on an abandoned house.

We did our revolutions inside and then set it to burn all the way down. Once the house was about 3/4 fully involved, a flaming raccoon came out of one of the eve's of the attic. He fell directly down on the slab front porch and I hit him with some water to extinguish him ( I hate to see anything burn to death).

Figured he was dead anyways because he laid right there within 2 feet of a fully involved house for about 2 to 3 mins and then all of a sudden he flipped over and scampered off..... if you've never seen a raccoon with no hair, it is a funny looking creature.

Posted: 11/8/2014 12:08:43 PM EDT

[#7]

My confidence is restored, mostly because we lost another chicken. When the trap went missing, I thought a bobcat had gotten it. So I stopped using it, doing extermination the hard way with a .22 and got 5. Now the traps will be baited with cat food. No, there are no cats around.

Posted: 11/9/2014 8:48:58 AM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
Man, if that was around his neck, I can't imagine it busting the wire and going that far...it is usually so devastating that it's automatic game over really quick. Wow

View Quote

I've had some odd things happen.
MOST are DRT, appear to have not moved a muscle, but sometimes a front leg in trap, alongside head, sometimes they must LUNGE in and get too deep, etc

I always add a swivel to the short chain, and sometimes use a cable extension with another swivel, instead of wire to tie off. (Esp when targeting otters)
(And I ALWAYS double check to make SURE both safeties are released, but yet, at least once a year, one or both are still set!)

If one isn't DRT, they can twist of the wire and go a ways.

I also set with triggers on bottom

Posted: 11/9/2014 12:26:07 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
My confidence is restored, mostly because we lost another chicken. When the trap went missing, I thought a bobcat had gotten it. So I stopped using it, doing extermination the hard way with a .22 and got 5. Now the traps will be baited with cat food. No, there are no cats around.

View Quote

I have done some nuisance animal trapping, I held a state permit when I lived up in Kansas.

99% of the time I used box traps! since I was trapping in town. The absolute best bait to target coons is peanut butter. You'll catch the occasional possum, but coons love peanut butter and other critters don't mess with it.

Might help, especially if you decide to try box traps.

Posted: 11/9/2014 12:28:01 PM EDT

[#10]

tag for pics

Posted: 11/9/2014 10:26:05 PM EDT

[#11]

Box traps do not work. We are close enough to the big city that we get releases from the big city, many are experienced and wary of box traps. Somehow a bucket set is very effective.

Trust me, we have two box traps, open both ends and all that jazz. Peanut butter covered marshmallows don't work, not even cat food. They know something is up. Put the bait in a bucket set conibear and bam, dead coon. Until this fall.

We lost another rooster the other night, we got revenge on a 15 pound silverback. Dead stiff in the trap this morning.

Posted: 11/9/2014 10:48:38 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Box traps do not work. We are close enough to the big city that we get releases from the big city, many are experienced and wary of box traps. Somehow a bucket set is very effective.

Trust me, we have two box traps, open both ends and all that jazz. Peanut butter covered marshmallows don't work, not even cat food. They know something is up. Put the bait in a bucket set conibear and bam, dead coon. Until this fall.

We lost another rooster the other night, we got revenge on a 15 pound silverback. Dead stiff in the trap this morning.

View Quote

I never could use conibear traps for fear of catching and killing pets. Sometimes I had to get creative in setting the box traps, but I had to find a way. I even caught a bobcat in a big homemade box trap once. Build it with a trap door on one end and a cage on the other. Put a live chicken in the cage and had a kitty the next morning, and one scared chicken!

One thing about coons, they will destroy all but the most heavily built box traps. It's best to stake them down and check the trap often.

Posted: 11/11/2014 9:17:41 AM EDT

[#13]

No fear of "pets", feral cats will get caught along with open range cat rancher strays but these will also kill chickens. The chicken pens have canine perimeter guards that also have killed feral felines.

If a cat wants to snack on marshmallows, it has some messed up DNA and needs its mortal coil shaken off.

Posted: 11/18/2014 7:18:21 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:

I never could use conibear traps for fear of catching and killing pets. Sometimes I had to get creative in setting the box traps, but I had to find a way. I even caught a bobcat in a big homemade box trap once. Build it with a trap door on one end and a cage on the other. Put a live chicken in the cage and had a kitty the next morning, and one scared chicken!

One thing about coons, they will destroy all but the most heavily built box traps. It's best to stake them down and check the trap often.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Box traps do not work. We are close enough to the big city that we get releases from the big city, many are experienced and wary of box traps. Somehow a bucket set is very effective.

Trust me, we have two box traps, open both ends and all that jazz. Peanut butter covered marshmallows don't work, not even cat food. They know something is up. Put the bait in a bucket set conibear and bam, dead coon. Until this fall.

We lost another rooster the other night, we got revenge on a 15 pound silverback. Dead stiff in the trap this morning.

I never could use conibear traps for fear of catching and killing pets. Sometimes I had to get creative in setting the box traps, but I had to find a way. I even caught a bobcat in a big homemade box trap once. Build it with a trap door on one end and a cage on the other. Put a live chicken in the cage and had a kitty the next morning, and one scared chicken!

One thing about coons, they will destroy all but the most heavily built box traps. It's best to stake them down and check the trap often.

LOL.

Posted: 11/20/2014 9:40:10 PM EDT

[#15]

lost all my turkeys and one goose until I saw it was a great horned owl on a game cam.

Posted: 11/22/2014 8:53:24 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
lost all my turkeys and one goose until I saw it was a great horned owl on a game cam.

View Quote

Wife was having guineas disappear, well looked more like they exploded, a few years back.
Was GH owls.

Posted: 11/22/2014 8:58:34 AM EDT

[#17]

Keep going, there are still some left.

I've lost way too many chickens, turkeys and corn patches to those bastards.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - One, tough raccoon..

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