Ernie... "I do know that but I'm not about to shoot them" I get it. Then hire a professional instead of being above the law. The survival rate for relocated raccoons is abysmally low and you are simply making your problem another person's burden. BTW... transporting a raccoon in your car is insane. Some 70% of the adults and 90% of juveniles carry various roundworms in their feces. Daughter is a pathobiologist and they would don full PPE when handling raccoons in UConns lab back in the day. , Mark Mazer Hertford NC On Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 3:20 PM Ernie DeMarie via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Hi Robert,I like your ideas about enhancing trap efficiency and will try > them out! I do put bait in the back but didnt think of the concrete block > idea nor of putting a rock on the trap door to enhance closing. I already > only leave one door open and I have put large rocks on the trap itself at > both ends as I suspected the raccoons were somehow able to lift the latch > on either side so they could push out of the trap doors. Clever creatures > indeed.AFAIK we can't use guns of any kind in this county of NY let alone > town, so euthanizing would be problematic. Ernie > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert Lauf via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > To: Ernie DeMarie via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > Cc: Robert Lauf <boblauf@att.net> > Sent: Sat, Jun 27, 2020 11:07 am > Subject: Re: [pbs] Racoons > > Here in TN, the laws are much more reasonable. Raccoons are a nuisance > animal and can be trapped by a property owner with no hunting license or > permit of any kind. Once trapped, TWRA says to euthanize, preferably by > shooting (I use a very high-power pellet gun as I live in the city). If > you trap something by mistake, you must release it ON YOUR PROPERTY; moving > wild animals, particularly over large distances, is how rabies gets passed > around. At least in TN, rabid raccoons have not yet been found in all > counties, so they are particularly worried about moving them. Skunks are > less of an issue because rabid skunks are found everywhere, but here moving > them is illegal anyway. > I have a traditional havahart and found that I need to put a heavy rock on > the trap door so it crashes closed forcefully enough that it is secured. I > only use one of the two doors so I can put the bait at the far end, well > beyond the trip. I also put concrete blocks on both sides so they can't > reach in and steal the bait. It's a ticklish operation to put the rock on > and then carefully adjust the linkage so it doesn't trip by itself. > I agree that marshmallows are the bait of choice. > Bob LaufOak Ridge, Zone 7 > On Saturday, June 27, 2020, 10:26:41 AM EDT, Ernie DeMarie via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > Raccoons are a real menace here as they get into the pool and eat fish. > But of course the thing that really ticks me off is that they chew up > waterlily flowers and go dig up the rhizomes so roots end up floating on > the surface. So they must be trapped and removed but the havahart traps are > not consistent in trapping them, either they have some clever way to get > the bait (marshmallows and or peanut butter work well) or they perhaps dont > scoot end all the way and are able to back out. We've also had them bend > traps (their newer traps are not as sturdy as the old ones were) and in one > case they took off the handle while inside and we never found where it > went. That trap has to be carried by my wife and myself both when it gets > a raccoon. Most often the raccoons are afraid and remain quiet till > release (very far away--best to go 15 or more miles as they are supposedly > good at finding their way back) but occasionally we get an aggressive one > that hisses and carries on. Those can be quite scary at times. Grace > breaks down any large cardboard boxes we get to make flat pieces of > cardboard to put in the back of my car as they are needed. Why? Because > the disgusting raccoons tend to crap and otherwise make a mess of the > bottom of their cage and this prevents getting the back of the car dirty. > We keep several layers of cardboard in there at all times, so we can throw > away dirty pieces as needed. Transporting them is not fun either, they > stink and windows need to be kept open. I don't know how to set up an > electric fence, especially around a pool with brick patio on one side and a > cement walk on the other. For the root problems, we have recently started > taking the bird mesh and tying rocks to it, placing it over any roots > floating on the surface, and sinking it to trap the roots and bring them > back down. We are hoping that the mesh will confuse future raccoon > efforts to dig up waterlily roots and rhizomes. This year the chipmunks > decimated the crocus more so than usual. This in spite of frequent > trapping and removal. For some reason their population was extremely high > this spring but it seems to be coming down a bit lately. If it werent for > certain mammals, gardening would be a hell of a lot easier....Ernie > DeMarieZ6/7 border NY where Alstroemeria aurea is making quite a show and > is self seeding a bit. Buds on some agapanthus, lilies beginning to open > with more to come, earlier season hemerocallis blooming nicely, and some > dierama still in flower. Weather has been oddly dry and sunny for weeks > but rain is coming today. Overall this kind of weather is very good for > most of what I grow. > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…