How to discourage raccoons?

RRP

I need help - three coons have taken to climbing up a tree every night and crapping on our deck outside our bedroom. This drives our dog nuts and we lose an hour's worth of sleep. I can't shoot them or trap them nor will I cut down the tree. Any ideas of how to discourage them? Somebody told me to put out mothballs, but I'm not sure she was confident that it would work. Thanks!

Scotty's Inferno

Baffle the tree and the racoons RRP
http://www.backyardbirdsdiscoverycenter.com/wrap-around-squirrel-baffle.html
Knowing you, I bet you can make your own. Scott

ThailandBBQ

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/professional-trapper/howtogetridofraccoons.htm

pci

Check with your city where I live they have live traps they let you use for problem critters.

QPete

Drink a few good strong brews, and take a pee around/on the tree. Do this a couple of days in a row. See what happens.
If this does not work, try Racoon Repelent, similar aproach but it comes in a container ( I think is cayote pee).
The first approach is faster and cheaper.
Good luck

fishlessman

predatorpee.com for the coyote urine. was me, either a pellet or bbgun, shoot in the rear, they will move on, pretty much cant kill a raccoon with a bbgun. tried mothballs with skunks, didnt work, later on i smoked them out with a smoke bomb. you can order smoking woods from predatorpee.com as well :laugh:

reccitron

When I was younger they would get in our garbage cans. My mom started pouring ammonia on the cans when we set it out for the truck. It seemed to work. Not sure if pouring ammonia around the tree would work or only works on stuff they want to eat. I think it's a simple test worth a try though.

Bob

RRP

Thanks all of you! The funny thing is there is no food attracting them other than a few acorns which fall during the night as I keep them blown off daily otherwise. Furthermore there are plenty of acorns on the ground so the attraction must be the latrine appeal! I wonder if that scent of previous scat keeps them coming back the same way as a dog will keep being attracted to a constantly marked spot.

Right now the baffle idea Scotty suggested got the wheels are turning in my head! I made a squirrel/coon guard for a bird feeder on a post using sections of stove pipe and it works because their claws can't grip! Off to the hardware store!!!

fishlessman

raccoons can be real stubborn, they may be looking for a way into the house come winter from that perch in the tree :ermm: does your town let you trap and relocate them, my neighbor turned me in for that with squirrels several years ago, told her i had to drown whatever i trapped after that, never a complaint since :laugh: :laugh: if its dry out at night you could nail rodent glue traps around the trunk of the tree, im sure they wouldnt like that :laugh: :laugh:

Spring Chicken

We had some kind of animal, possibly a cat, that would crap on Judy's tile-covered plant stand almost every night. I tried a few Googled ideas and nothing worked. So I cut open a jalapeno and rubbed it all over the tiles. No more crap and a noticeable reduction in neighborhood cat visits to our yard.

An added bonus story: When we lived in Jacksonville, Florida in another life our house backed up to a creek with a wooden bridge across it. Neighborhood kids started hanging out at night on the bridge, smoking and telling the same stories I told at that age. We didn't bother them at first but they started building small fires to keep warm. Then they started knocking out the pickets of my fence for firewood. That's when I called the Police on them. Of course they were gone by the time the Police arrived.

Then one night they built a fire right in the middle of the bridge. I saw it in time to put it out. The kids ran when I came through the fence but I knew they would be back.

So I bought a container of fish emulsion (stinks something really bad) and spread the stuff all over the bridge, including the railings where they like to sit, and around the path leading up to it. I added more over the next few days and never again had a problem with the kids.

Good luck on your coons. I'm back in the role of Great White Hunter as I try to capture an armadillo that has decided to burrow under the edge of my house.

Trap is in place as we speak.

Spring "Never An End To Varmints" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Scotty's Inferno

glue traps is a hilarious/devious plan. That would be one pi##ed off coon!

RRP

trouble is getting to the base of the tree is a major task. Even this part of the tree they climb is already 15 feet off the ravine behind before it shows in this picture.


What I have now is this 8 inch x 5 foot piece of stove pipe.


What I'll do next is cut it in half and then seam the two 2.5 ft sections together thus giving me 44" circumference to gird the tree which at jump off point is 42". This should not have to be a permanent fix - just to break the routine in a week or so I hope!

LoneStarEgg

Maybe this will help. http://www.ehow.com/way_5621944_home-remedy-raccoon-repellent.html

Pepper spray deters lots of critters.

Deckhand

I tried BBQ Raccoon once...Excellent!

RRP

In case anyone is interested:

here's the tree which is the access point.


and here's the 8" x 5 foot stove pipe I bought to make a tree wrap:


and here it is now cut in half, pop-riveted together and screwed to the tree.


It's still a work in progress as the shine won't cut it, but at least I'll bet 100 bucks we sleep tonight as those coons can't climb on that metal!

Boxerpapa

9mm. 357 would be too hard to hit such a small target.

Spring Chicken

You realize all that's going to do is iss them off. If they prefer to crap on your deck, they will figure a way.

Good luck.

Spring "Great White Hunter" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

RRP

LOL - might be but it worked last night!!!

Little Steven

Ron,

It would be sure fire if you put the second piece a couple of inches below the other one and ran a 120 volt cord out and screwed one wire to each piece.

Steve

tach18k

yes a sheet metal wrap about 3 feet above the ground, you want it off the ground to keep from rotting the truck, and it makes it harder for the racoons to get a running jump.

RRP

actually, Steven, I had something similar up my sleeve. Several years ago I rigged up two wires separated with insulators and attached the wires to a lower voltage transformer of an electric fence suitable for large dogs and wild critters, but not cattle. When the squirrels and coons would start up the pole they got a mild shock and would jump right off. That worked for 3 months until coons started sensing the AC current coursing in the shallowly buried extension cord. They eventually yanked it out of the ground and chewed on it. The circuit breaker tripped, but I never found the rascal who bared the wires that fateful night. I gave up and reverted to the stove pipe on that pole feeder.

RRP

The last picture you saw was this 30" of slip sliding metal


and it WORKED!!! But only for 1 night! This morning I found 3 huge deposits which I believe they had saved from the night before!!!

Well today I added another section:


Now I'm up to 50" and though my intention was to put this second sleeve on the bottom of the first it would not slide over it after all. Just the same I believe this will cause them more obstruction and if nothing else hopefully causing them to fall when they try to leave the deck! :evil: :evil: :evil:

ranger ray

why can't you borrow some "have-a- heart" traps from your local game warden?....poison works well too( kinda cold hearted).....get some .22 caliber cb caps... ( i'm assuming you have access to a rifle)...they are subsonic and the neighbors won't hear the report...silencers are easy to make using pvc pipe and some common household items...( see " the poor man's james bond "by kurt saxon)

RRP

sorry to say adding the extra 20" of metal made no difference! They deposited 3 more piles of scat! I have now decided to run an electric fence on the top rail. If that doesn't stop this problem I will hire a professional.

BTW we have very strict laws against trapping them ourselves. A neighbor behind us was reported and was fined $300. Poison is out of the question since we have a dog and the rifle solution is too as this is a neighborhood not out in the boonies.

ranger ray

geez! that 's some harsh stuff! .... a well placed .... silenced bullet is much more humane.... lol.... rr

ranger ray

mix some butter with the hottest peppers you can get....( use police pepper spray.... check " gall's" .... it's a police supply store)... or cayenne...or scotch bonnet smear it above the areas where your dogs can not reach it.... that should do it... ray

ranger ray

oh .... forgot to mention coons like to keep themselves clean.... when they get the hot stuff on their feet .... they'll lick 'em clean and being the super smart critters that they are will quickly learn to avoid your residence...rr

ranger ray

smear some human feces on the tree... that should deter even grizzly bears! .... lol

RRP

For kicks and giggles I sprayed those metal sleeves with silicone yesterday. That really made that metal slippery - and guess what no scat found this morning and that's no scat!

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

they can climb the corner of the porch and cross over to the tree once they get to the upper rail...

RRP

I realize that Jeff, but last night was the second in a row now with no problem. Sunday night I sprayed the metal with silicone and that worked. Last night I hit it with WD-40 and that actually spread out better and ran making it even more slippery. There's nothing drawing them up there except the few acorns which may have dropped during the night as I clean them off before bed time.