Coons!

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

We have been having raccoon problems, first time I"ve had raccoons in my back yard in the 24 years I've been here (that I know of anyway). They have been fighting with the neighbors cats, eating the fish, etc. I found piles of pooh in the back yard that were WAY too big for the Princess to have made...I have a solid almost 6 foot fence so I knew it wasn't dogs sneaking in (I am ultra neurotic about my fence being solid). Then one morning the bird netting around Hallie's blueberry bush had been strung across the back yard.

I have been a nervous wreck to let Hallie out in her own back yard, the raccoons wouldnt' come out during the day but I worry about the diseases they might be leaving in her yard! So I have been going out with her when I let her out there, the other night we were out doing her last potty of the night and three raccoons crawled up on top of the fence! Thank goodness Hallie's mind was on getting inside to get her treat so she didn't see them, if they had been in the yard already and she had ran up to them it would not have been pretty! So since then I have been taking her out in her own yard with a darn leash.

I called a trapper and we have had three traps set up in my back yard and two in the front. I caught a possum and two cats but no raccoons. The trapper says he has a place he will take them and let them go, I didn't want them hurt.

It's been 5 days and no coons so i've about given up on us catching them and moving to a high rise somewhere! :) But I just now went out to check the traps for the last time tonight and in the back yard, there is one in one of the traps and THREE in another trap!  Whent he trapper was here the first day he had a trap with one in one and two in the other he had just picked up and he said he'd never caught two adult males in one trap before in his 27 yrs of doing this. The three in the trap here look pretty much full grown. He's going to flip!

I hope there aren't more running around out there but I'm keeping traps out a while longer just in case. It really sucks I haven't been able to let Hallie out alone these last several days we're having such nice weather for once and she loves laying in the garden. I will take paperwork and sit out there with her while she snoozes in the sun. Yesterday we had a close call with a german shepherd, so that put me even more over the edge. So I was sitting today in the garden with Hallie, letting her sleep, thinking well I can relax with her for a bit anyway, no raccoons out this time of day, no dogs can get back here, I am right with her. When I look over and a dang yellow jacket just torpedoed right to her and was trying to sting her!! So I panic and whack her a good one on the side, which of course woke her up with a yelp, and we both ran to the house with that dang yellow jacket chasing us (I HATE THOSE THINGS).

Maybe I am looking forward to winter after all!!!

[Doxherding Karen]

I'll tell ya Auntie Karen's personal camping motto -

"I'll take rain and mud over heat and bugs on any camping trip!"
Merlin the Magician      :thumb:

[cheryl186]

Wow, the trapper will be thrilled...way to go   It sure sounds like you have had lots of trouble with the Raccoons and they can be very scarey and vicious!!  We had trouble here this year with a baby Raccoon living under the small home-made utility trailer that myself and hubby made.  It was driving the dogs crazy....so we finally chased it away and ended up taking the utility trailer apart (it was very old) and are planning on using it for firewood in our firepit this Fall....hahaha...oh well...I think Traps are a better idea...WAY TO GO Dee Dee and Hallie!!!  And be careful...remember, as "Monk" Sez....."It's a jungle out there!"

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Karen my camping motto is "stay at home in my own bed". LOL.

Yikes. Cheryl good thing you got rid of the baby. It's hard to not feel sorry for them, they are just trying to survive but our dogs have to come first. Raccoons carry so many diseases that dogs (and humans) can get. Want to stay awake for 3 days straight? Google raccoon diseases! I am going to have to bleach my entire yard...

I am feeling bad for these 4 but glad they are going to be released and not killed. I just hope there aren't 50 more out there! I dont' know if I'll ever feel safe letting Hallie go out there alone again. :(

Here is a pic I just took of the little buggars. The one on the left seems to be the most aggressive one of the bunch, maybe the mom? There is another little guy in a trap about 10 feet from this one. The trapper should be here in about 2 hours.

[Mike]

Wow, I'm surprised the Moe, Larry & Curly all got into the same trap.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

LOL Mike, I am wondering if "Curly" is the mom and the other three (one in a separate trap) are her older babies. She (if it's a she..) has not stopped fussing and fighting with the other two, it sounds like Flipper the dolphin times 4 out there. Loud! I've been giving them marshmallows and watermelon. Hallie sits on my lap and we look out the open window at them, she just stares calmly but I really think she's staring more at the food I put in there with them than the coons themselves.

[Marcia from MI]

DD some friends and I went camping one year and a mom w/4 babies spent the night in a tree over my friends tent.  We spent hours watching them, but my friend wasn't too happy.  The mom kept yelling at him to move the tent because it was under "her" tree. LOL

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

They would be fun to watch in the wild! I can't stop going to take peeks at these guys, I have too much work to do for that lol. I've been cutting up marshmallows for them they seem to love those.

I just checked one of the two traps in the front yard and now I've got a squirrel!!!!

[Roberta]

do da run when you chase them, although I'm not meant to run YET.
aMy
Mum here sweetie, not running and theya re bigger than you. Sounds like a busy place to stay your place at he present DeeDee. Don't you love if you hit them as you did and they give you the look "what you do that for".
But they do look cute all we get is large brush tail possums which are bigger than Amy.
Roberta

[Mike]

If you really want a laugh, give them sugar cubes.  They have to wash all their food and the sugar cubes dissolve....

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Amy I don't know if they run because I haven't been able to be with them in the yard at the same time! I'll bet if you bring Oliver we could make 'em run though. (although Mom sez as calm as I am watching them thru the open kitchen window which is about 10 ft from the coonies, she doubts I'd be doin' much running other than to get to the trap to see what food is leftover).  :thumb: You rest up good and get completely well and maybe one day we can hunt coons (or coon leftovers) together!

Roberta what are brush tail possums, I'll have to google that. Are they dangerous? These raccoons could kill a dog our size in no time, they scare me to freakin' death!

HA Mike, kind of like throwing snowballs for a dog to retrieve! The trapper just left and he said if he has more than one coon and gives them marshmallows and one tries to wash it in it's water, it will dissolve and the other coon will get mad and cuff him a few good ones thinking he ate all the marshmallows.

The trapper said all four of these are litter mates. Mom (and Dad???) is still out there!! The neighbors poked their heads over the fence as we were carrying the traps out and said they had a huge one at their back door eating the cat food so that must have been Mom. So we are going to keep trying to catch her (and we'll see if we get even more yikes!). I am surprised at how many critters we are getting I never knew what passed thru my yard at night. I am going to have to buy a trap and leave it set every night I guess. :(

He did only charge me half though in return I am making him up new business cards with this photo of the 3 trapped coons on it.  :thumb:

[Marcia from MI]

Mike that's mean giving them sugar cubes to watch dissolve and get a laugh, lol.  But I'd love to have a video of it to send to Animal Planet.

DD,  Eddie says he'll come and get the other raccoons since he's already killed a possum and a couple of squirrels.

[Sandishooligans]

Hallie, stay away fwom dose tings.  dey is MEAN!  Da sugurcube ting is hawarious!  Possom...can do.  Wacoons, weave awone.

Wuv Madewoo

[TerriL]

Toby-Man here.  DAT is some good lookin coons you der Miss Hallie.  I'm sorry dat yer mama won't let you get em yerself but you know how mama's can be! 

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Hallie hasn't realized they can be mean yet  when I leaned over the tailgate of the trappers truck to look at them, Hallie was in my arms about 3 feet from the coons and she wagged her tail at them. My little "hunter" LOL. I know though that if she saw one (or four??!!?) in her yard she'd race over to them, she'd never attack but she'd want to see what was what and they'd pile on her. (I see it in visions all night long lol). I heard another one last night trying to crawl over my fence but nothing in the traps today.

[Brekkesmom]

I tried to post that it is a great time to show raccoons to second graders, because we are doing vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel patterns - and raccoons is perfect for that - we are dividing words into syllables!  They are so cute - hopefully the babies are not too mean yet!

[MyLittleBoo]

EGAD!!!!!!!!!!    That ran the chills up and down the spine...   They are a beautiful animal, but I wouldn't want another run in with one of them....    When I was 17, I lived with my grandparents in the boondocks, we had a coon break in through our front screen (used to be a pet, then let loose)...   And, just out of nowhere it attacked my Gram....   It was crazy...  Left either a bite mark or a scratch in the shape of an R....   Very Scarey night though!!!!    My Gram was so tough, I would of been crying like a baby...  lol    The thing that sucks the most, is that is one of the last few memories I have of my Gram....  We lost her a year and a half later to Diabetes...    All she could worry about after the trip to the hospital and a rabies shot later, was that they would have to kill the coon, just to be safe...   She cried over that silly animal, after it attacked her....   BIG           ........     Anyways, Miss Hallie, you just keep your distance and stay safe, both of you...   I have seen them darn things in action, first hand....   SCAREY!!!!    *hugs*

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Julia I need to take your class LOL I have forgotten all that stuff!!!

Good gosh Tara, that gives me chills too. I'ts bad enough to have them in your yard, breaking into your house would be much worse!  :crazyeyes:

Didn't catch another coon last night but I have a big ol' possum out there. Gives me the willies, I had no idea so many critters were going through our yard at night! Yesterday Hallie found a big gartner snake in a bush, I had him but I lost him so he's out there too, too bad the coons don't eat snakes! I live in town there aren't supposed to be that many critters here!  :thinik:

[PattyInAK]

Good grief, whats up with all these coons in your yard, DD?  They have such beautiful faces.  What do you mean they have to wash their food?  An animal that actually washes its food before it eats it?  Too cool!  I wouldn't want to see what would happen if Willy and Alex saw a coon in the yard. 

[Mike]

Hallie found a big garter snake in a bush, I had him but I lost him so he's out there too.

Garter snakes are your friend and are usually friendly if not grieviously annoyed.  They eat insects.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

I dunno what's up with this Patty but I'm afraid to let Hallie out in her yard now! As you know we are surrounded by houses, I had no idea these varmints were partying in our yard every night.  A coon would do your boys in if confronted, there has been a band of raccoons up near seattle going thru the neighborhood and murdering cats right in front of people. I have to go all thru the back yard everytime I let Hallie out now even though I know they won't be there during daylight.

Yeah I don't mind garter snakes Mike but I don't want them in my yard. I am always careful with them, I get them gently by the tail and put them in my Dee Dee patented snake bucket and relocate them.  :thumb: I just don't like any kind of critter out where Hallie is, I doubt she'd try to kill one but you never know and then I'd worry myself sick she'd catch something from it!

[Kari]

Yeah I don't mind garter snakes Mike but I don't want them in my yard. I am always careful with them, I get them gently by the tail and put them in my Dee Dee patented snake bucket and relocate them.  :thumb:

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  :jaw: You actually touch them! Yuck!!

[Jeri]

Dee Dee,

Raccoons are the cutist little things, but coons and dogs do not mix!  You are right to be uber protective of Miss Hallie until all the critters are captured.  Years ago a raccoon sliced open my bull terrier's neck!  It was scary, and the wound went down to the muscle, but was not life threatening and she recovered.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

LOL Kari, I do ok with them as long as they don't do something too...snakey. This one panicked and started jerking himself up and down really hard while I was holding him by the tail, I think he was trying to break his tail off, I've never had one do that before so I slung him without meaning to. 

OMG Jeri. I don't know if I'll ever feel totally safe again, how will I ever know I got them all! I plan to buy my own trap and leave it out all the time in the nicer months anyway. But there could always be new ones. I wish there were some kind of raccoon proof fence I'd put one up in a minute. I'm glad your bull terrier made it through ok. Our doxies are smaller and more fragile...scary.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

New Tally!

In the last five days:

2 possums
2 squirrels
3 cats
4 raccoons

just let cat #3 out, and squirrel #2 about an hour ago. Little guy shot up my tree when I let him go, and straddled a limb for the longest time. Hallie never saw him, we went out to weed after that and she was laying by the base of the tree in the shade watching me weed, the squirrel came down from the tree, hopped along behind her about 10 feet, crossed the yard and then the road to the neighbors, the look on her face the whole time was one of "I'm kinda bored, I  wish I had something to do..." while the skwirl was right behind her. LOL.

I'm almost afraid to look in those traps anymore! I'll be happy with another raccoon or 2, the other stuff doesn't really come into the back yard and wouldn't do as much damage (except maybe the possums but I don't think they'd come over the back fence at least I hope not. All the coons were caught in the back, everything else was in the front other than 2 of the cats who I'm sure only came into the back yard because of the smell of the food).