how to get rid of coons

[secuono]

I caught only one coon in a trap, then they avoided it like all heck. So that only worked once.
Shoot them, attempt to trap any way you safely can and then hire someone to track them if that fails.
Or put up many wires of electric fencing.

 

[Isthelifeforme]

Get a large hav-a-hart trap and put cat food in it. May want to put a large rock on top of the cage to prevent them from flipping the cage over.

If they are already trap-smart, then find a way to prop the cage open with a brick and put cat food all over the place for a week or so (in and outside of the trap), get them used to going in and out without getting caught. Then remove the brick and catch them.

Obviously once you catch them, shoot them. If you let them out then you have just trained them to never get caught by another trap.

 

[Isthelifeforme]

If they are really trap smart then you need to put catfood out every night for a couple of days, then sneak out right at sunset with a rifle and shoot them. If they know food is there they will hit the area right at sunset, maybe just before. If you scare them off, then you need to come out early and beat them to the area. I've had to deal with them when stand hunting deer many times and they always ignore me if I'm at their feeding spot first.

 

[goodhors]

If you are losing bait in your traps, but not catching coons,
you should probably wrap the outside of trap with hardcloth
wire. My friend had to do that with her live-trap. She used
good wire to firmly anchor the hardcloth wire to the cage
so coons couldn't reach inside. Anchor wire on top and
bottom edges, down the middle of the hardcloth wire, so
there is no wiggle room for coon digits.

I have used marshmallows to very good effect as bait. Coons
love them. Also heard of good results with the tuna fish,
canned cat food, peanut butter and coke!

 

[schusa]

Conibear 220's work well, trail set, or Bucket sets, you may get cats, possum, ect, but I sold a few hides in the green this year got $15/ea for the small ones and $22/ea for the "big prime"coons don't just throw good money away, Here in Wisconsin you can trap on your own land without a trappers card, but check with your local DNR

 

[Rocco]

We had coons thieving our blackberries and peaches and cantaloupe a couple of years ago. Cantaloupe rind with a little meat left, or a rotten peach work great as bait in a live trap as well as the other ideas along this thread.

Anyway, I trapped several and unceremoniously dispatched them with a .22 (after I tired of driving several others around 10 miles to release at a friends farm across the county). I woke on the morning of my birthday and saw the trap had been sprung and figgered I had another one.

Walked out to the trap to find a black and white critter. Doggone it....a skunk in the trap. So, I went and found a long piece of rope, snuck in low from the door side of the trap so he couldn't see me, and threaded the rope through the wire of the trap. I dragged the trap across the pasture a couple hundred yards where, hopefully, the smell wouldn't be too bad....and did him in. Not a fun start to a birthday.

p.s. I tried putting a hot wire on my fence, and another one about 6-8" off the ground around the peach trees. The coons just laughed.

 

[bcnewe2]

Haven't had an issue since we got our LGD girl. We had foxes. There's a reason they say sly like a fox. We couldn't shoot them (both dh and I are lousy shots) and they only stole the bait out of the trap. Got one young kit but that was it.

Love a good lgd!

I don't think we'll have to worry about dogs either but I do subscribe to the 3S rule. Sad to have to resort to that but if its my sheep, or chickens the dogs gotta go!

 

[sevlep1]

Raccoons hate ammonia. Spray around your yard line at night and they will avoid it all together, at least they should

 

[greybeard]

Anesthetic administered via high speed lead particle. Coons hate it, but it is quite humane and permanent--saves on the cost of traps and ammonia too.

 

[MDres]

Conibear 220's work well, trail set, or Bucket sets, you may get cats, possum, ect, but I sold a few hides in the green this year got $15/ea for the small ones and $22/ea for the "big prime"coons don't just throw good money away, Here in Wisconsin you can trap on your own land without a trappers card, but check with your local DNR

I would only recommend traps such as those if there is absolutely positively ZERO chance you are going to catch someone's pet dog or cat in one. I'd never set one if I had neighbors nearby.... True, maybe the cat or dog shouldn't be on your property anyway, but being caught in a leg-hold trap IS NOT the way I expect any domestic animal to be treated.