Ok so my local municipality is rural. Not farm rural but our county is a mix of farm land and small towns.

I just took my hunters safety course and I'm now aware of game laws. Apparently the fish and game commission essentially owns every single animal that's not registered with the courthouse.

Well we seem to have a really bad raccoon problem in down. I've got a decent sized yard with an appropriate backstop for any critter control. 100% safe.
Raccoons attacked my neighbors dog in broad daylight and now the poor thing has to be put in quarantine until they find out if it had rabies.
The darn raccoons rip up every garbage bag in the neighborhood. They are becoming a big problem.
Cops told us to keep it quiet, and they don't care how we take care of them, as long as there's no noise ordinance laws broken.
I'm not interested in fur or meat or anything else. We just want them all gone.
However the game commission seems to only allow you to kill them with a firearm during hunting season?

What gives? Do I listen to the cops or do I have to wait until hunting season, and kill them in the woods

Thanks in advance.

The cops can't give you the okay to shoot an animal covered by the Game Commission.

The cops are basically saying, keep it quiet and we don't care.

This. Raccoon version of SSS.

pop them with a 22LR.  scoop up with a shovel and bury them in the woods behind your house.

game commission isn't/shouldn't be a problem unless your neighbors get cranked up.

My neighbors are always asking me to shoot ferrel cats, coons, ground hogs that tear up the yards.

Only ones I stay away from are the skunks.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I bought a Hav-a-heart trap for a similar problem.  Catch em and dispose.

I may or may not Hav-a-heart.



 

No one ever 'splain the SSS??

SSS?

Thanks for all the comments!

Shoot
Shovel
Shut up

Remington .22 long hollow point subsonics are very quiet out of a  rifle.

Be discrete.

For a long time porcupines were "protected". (they weren't fur bearers and they weren't game animals. The Game commission finally wised up a little over those horrid pests.

My local cops have told me to SSS on several wild animals (raccoons in particular).  Had a sick one that was wandering between my yard and a few other neighbors.

When my nephew was bit by a feral cat at my place years ago his mother called the police (because animal control wasn't coming out).  Cops basically said shoot it in the body so they can check the brain for rabies.


Last year someone shot a deer with a bow and it died on my property; game commission didn't even care when I called to report it; their bigger concern was ensuring I disposed of it instead of harvesting the meat.


SSS with raccoons and that's about all that needs to be said.

Some people would set out a have a heart trap with some tuna in it.  Then SSS.  Emphasis on the last S.

Nuisance Raccoons on your property are fair game.  Hunting seasons and regulations including safety zones do not apply

Thanks - good to know and will help with my squirrel problems...

I have them on the catch and release system when I can. I catch them and many miles away, release them

I also pop them when I can using .22 CB's. In a rifle they are quitter than an air rifle. 25 yards is about max for minute-of-squirrel accuracy. I have done some rabbits with head shots but their heads are bigger.