Save the raccoons!

Cupped

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Feb 11, 2016
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Cola and fly bait is very effective (also very illegal). Will also kill the neighbor's pets, small children, mother-in-law; anything that drinks it. My old roommate at ISU trapped coon and other furbearers which helped him pay for college. He said trapping and hunting were far more humane than Mother Nature.
 
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2speedy1

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Jan 4, 2014
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As some have said Distemper is more of an issue here with raccoons. But they CAN still get Rabies. They might not be as likely to have it as in other parts or as other animals here, but they for sure can get and transmit it. If a rabid skunk bites a raccoon he is going to get rabies.

With that said, we used to have a Opossum visit our cat bowl most nights right along with the cats, when I lived in the country. Never bothered anyone and we left it alone. Like many have said, they get a bad rap, but they are really great animals.

I have relatives that have spent a lot of time over the years hunting raccoon. I have not heard recently, but I know for a few years the numbers had went down some. But also the price for pelts has been really bad too. About a decade or so they would make a nice bonus to their income from them, especially nice as the season is during the holidays. Brining in several thousand dollars every season, worth of pelts, good years $10K+, but I don't believe it has been that good for a quite a few years now.
 

isufbcurt

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Apr 21, 2006
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Newton
I read an article just recently that they now say the possum’s reaction is more like a fainting goat’s than playing dead.

That's pretty much what it did, just fell over on its side like it fainted. 3 minutes later he was up trying to figure out how to get out of the fenced in area
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
My wife’s ankle biter had one cornered against our house and landscaping so I got the dog and threw it inside. As I was coming out I saw this grey lightening bolt shoot towards me. Thought the thing was attacking and was the fastest darn possum I’ve ever seen. I went into defense for a split second and then noticed it was just a rabbit and the possum was just staring at me. For a second I thought I had super possum on my yard
 

OWLCITYCYFAN

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Sep 6, 2006
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Iowa City
I have the most beautiful dog in the world, a 3 year-old female that's 50% Treeing Walker Coonhound and 50% American Foxhound. She's pretty docile in the house but she patrols our fenced back yard so vigorously we barely have any grass left. We don't hunt her, but her prey drive is off the charts - anything that wanders into the yard is DEAD, including one deer. I'd loan her to you farm folk with coon & fox problems, but she'd probably kill all your cats too!
 

Antihawk240

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May 17, 2012
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Perfect Friday thread! Nice job. So I have a teenage boy who really wanted a rifle that he found for $300. While my kids are very involved with athletics they are also very much outdoorsman. Currently, skinned raccoons (non scraped, stretched or dried-- just skinned) are worth $1.50 a piece regardless of their size. All my kids know how to trap and we have a nice inventory of traps and snares. My teenager though has grown into more of a trophy trapper (Otter, Beaver, Coyote, Fox, Badger etc).

So my wife and I floated him $300 to buy the rifle and told him he owed us 200 raccoon pelts. He started on opening day November 5th. He eventually had 40 footholds and 30 snares set all over our farms and neighbors farms. No stretch at all to this story--- he skinned # 200 on December 13th.

Yes - I am well aware I bought him more then $300 in gasoline to run his trap line each morning. But--- he worked hard for it and has a nice rifle in our gun case. The bonus of it is: there are 200 less coon in eastern Iowa.
 

1100011CS

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Oct 5, 2007
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Marshalltown
I'm curious about all those posting here who live trap and relocate. How do you decide which poor schmuck's section to release your problem onto?
I used to release them on the opposite side of the river from me in Marshalltown at public parks.
 

CoachHines3

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Oct 29, 2019
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I'm curious about all those posting here who live trap and relocate. How do you decide which poor schmuck's section to release your problem onto?
theres a big old pile of trees/branches that mid-am took down for a windmill about 3 miles down my gravel road that I let them frolic in- I should start marking them to see if they are the same ones that come back.
 

1100011CS

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Oct 5, 2007
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Marshalltown
I have the most beautiful dog in the world, a 3 year-old female that's 50% Treeing Walker Coonhound and 50% American Foxhound. She's pretty docile in the house but she patrols our fenced back yard so vigorously we barely have any grass left. We don't hunt her, but her prey drive is off the charts - anything that wanders into the yard is DEAD, including one deer. I'd loan her to you farm folk with coon & fox problems, but she'd probably kill all your cats too!
Well, I have a stray cat problem too so...
 

do4CY

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Aug 30, 2020
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One year while using my snow blower on my tractor I managed to find a dead frozen racoon in a drift. I had to hook a chain to a tree and the other end to the racoon to get him out.
 

madguy30

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Nov 15, 2011
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They're really smart animals but it's like they take stupid pills when near a road.