# Raccoon Encounter



## semipro (Nov 8, 2009)

It was a great night last night for a fire.  The flames were dancing in the Oslo but we needed more wood.  I grabbed my wood carrier and a flashlight and headed out the back door with two of my dogs.  As I headed towards the stack I heard a big commotion and lots of growling.  I thought my dogs were harassing the cat, they often do, usually with a bad ending for the dogs.  Instead they had found an unlucky but plucky big ole raccoon.  Before  I knew it they were playing tug of war with that raccoon and  I decide to get involved.  I kicked and yelled at the dogs and finally got them off the coon.  I'm not sure whether that coon thought my leg was a dog or a tree but in either case it decide to climb it.    Having none of that I jumped around and yelled enough to shake him off.  He found a tree nearby and finally got away.  I caught my breath, got some wood and stoked the fire.  

Man I love heating with wood!


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## allhandsworking (Nov 8, 2009)

Wow I would need to change my shorts and have a drink after that!


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## albertj03 (Nov 8, 2009)

WOW - sounds like fun! My Racoon story started one night when I heard one of my trash cans fall over outside. I looked out the back door and there it was on the ground, I figured the wind knocked it down so I went out to pick it up. When I picked up the trash can I thought it felt really heavy and right as I thought that two HUGE racoons came flying out of it. The thing that freaked me out was that one of them brushed my hand when it was coming out. I dropped the can and yelled "HOLY S%^#&!" Now I always give the trash cans a little kick to make sure there is nothing in there before I pick them up.


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## Rockey (Nov 8, 2009)

"Coons. Mama would just sweep them off the porch with a broom"


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## BrotherBart (Nov 8, 2009)

I bet you got a feel for the strength those suckers have. Being a small member of the bear family, when cornered they can tear you a new one. Or two. Or three.

You are fortunate.


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## Beetle-Kill (Nov 8, 2009)

I've never swept them off with a broom. But I have with a "BOOM!" Make nice hats.


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## semipro (Nov 8, 2009)

allhandsworking said:
			
		

> Wow I would need to change my shorts and have a drink after that!



I left that part out.


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## semipro (Nov 8, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> I bet you got a feel for the strength those suckers have. Being a small member of the bear family, when cornered they can tear you a new one. Or two. Or three.
> 
> You are fortunate.



Yeah, I was glad he never made it any higher than my knee!


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## JustWood (Nov 8, 2009)

Yur lucky! Coons are known to forage on apples, berries, and NUTS! :bug:


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## littlesmokey (Nov 8, 2009)

Out our way, any, YES, any contact with a racoon means a rabbies series. There aren't many and it is usually  an infected one that makes contact. They freak me out. Had a cat for years that thought of them as healthy mice. Dumb lug of a cat would take on ones even bigger than him. We had a sign "Beware of Guard Cat".


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## weatherguy (Nov 8, 2009)

Your lucky it was a coon, my dogs got into a tug of war with a skunk, the dogs won the battle but the skunk won the war. My wife made me strip butt naked before she let me in the house to shower, the dogs spent quite a few nights in the basement.


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## BrotherBart (Nov 8, 2009)

weatherguy said:
			
		

> Your lucky it was a coon, my dogs got into a tug of war with a skunk, the dogs won the battle but the skunk won the war. My wife made me strip butt naked before she let me in the house to shower, the dogs spent quite a few nights in the basement.



In 1955 Dad bought our first new car. A shiny new 1955 Chevy. The third day we had it he went out to the garage and started his new pride and joy to drive it to work. A skunk was asleep under it and fired off when the car started.

Wanna lose that new car smell real quick...


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## heatwise (Nov 8, 2009)

we had a mother racoon with 4 little ones in our chimney this summer. at first i had thought it was strange to hear scratching noises in the basement. after a few days i decided to open the fireplace cleanout, turns out its the little ones inside the old furnace chimney. after checking what was behind door #2 i guess it didnt latch properly. a few days pass and im still trying to see if they will all just climb out , then my wife informed me that theyre are furry things in the basement and she is being growled at, i went down with a broom and shut the cleanout door . then i grabed the fireplace gloves and a laundry basket. i picked up #1 and got it to the back door to let it out. then again with #2. i decided to get the two last ones scince the first 2 trips went well, they were feisty and started to climb out of the basket, i had to gently shoo them with the broom to get them out. by this time the momma was theyre answering to their tiny crys. we now have a cap over the chimney. im just glad the momma didnt come inside the house and i was able to get the little ones outside. we know the racoons are well because trash nite thay raid everything and create a big mess, pete


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## gibson (Nov 8, 2009)

We have a new labrador pup, now 11 weeks old.  About a month ago, my wife was nice enough to get up and take the pup out for her middle of the night bathroom break.  She said the pup was freaking out from the get go, yelping to go back in the house, acting like she never had before.  Then my wife heard something up in the tree.  There it was, a raccoon hanging on for dear life on a thin branch.  Safe to say that the dog crapped in the house that night and wifey is no longer on the overnight shift.  Pretty amazing on the instinct or sense of smell on the then 7 wk old puppy, imo.


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## semipro (Nov 8, 2009)

After it was all over with my 1st thought was how lucky I was that it wasn't a skunk, having had some encounters with them in the past.  That smell you get when you're driving past a dead one on the road is nothing like being up close and personal with them

We have bear in the area too and I'm not sure what I'll do if the dogs get into it with a bear. 



			
				weatherguy said:
			
		

> Your lucky it was a coon, my dogs got into a tug of war with a skunk, the dogs won the battle but the skunk won the war. My wife made me strip butt naked before she let me in the house to shower, the dogs spent quite a few nights in the basement.


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## Backwoods Savage (Nov 8, 2009)

It takes a pretty darned good dog to fight a big coon but I've seen plenty of them. Makes for a whale of a fight. The last one was our yellow lab who found one in a hole during early winter. He fought for a long time before he could get it drug out. That coon did not last long.

One should not be drinking when reading Lee's comments. lol


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## Backwoods Savage (Nov 8, 2009)

definiteLEE said:
			
		

> Yur lucky! Coons are known to forage on apples, berries, and NUTS! :bug:



My vote for the quote of the year. lol


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## Detector$ (Nov 8, 2009)

They're cute but I regret having NOT shot this one... almost 100% sure he was rabid. A few hours later I was freaking out about the thought of him being in the woods around our house, our 3 yr old, our dogs, and our neighbors cats and dogs (that might not be vaccinated). Next time its the shotgun for those critters. Read the wikipedia page on human rabies. It'll scare the crap out of you.


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## Backwoods Savage (Nov 8, 2009)

Curious why you think that coon is rabid? I'd take a shotgun to it too but don't see anything that would cause me to think it is rabid. 

Around here they are really getting to be pests. I thought we had them bad but talking to a neighbor, he had already got well over 20 coons and his renter called him one afternoon to tell him there were 18 in his yard right then!


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## katwillny (Nov 8, 2009)

Thats a great story. Two years ago i was sprayed by a skunk as i was getting wood. To this day i make sure i bring wood inside before it gets dark. I still smell it sometimes.LOL>


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## szmaine (Nov 8, 2009)

Semipro said:
			
		

> After it was all over with my 1st thought was how lucky I was that it wasn't a skunk, having had some encounters with them in the past.  That smell you get when you're driving past a dead one on the road is nothing like being up close and personal with them



No, nothing at all like it...
as I leaned on a camping trip to our cabin (= shack) in Canada. We're in bed, husband hears rustling/scratching outside the cabin (suprise suprise) at the garbage bag he left out there. He tip-toes to the door,  opens it quietly and I hear him yell " Seamus, get it!"  and then immediately "Let it go! Let it go!". Then before I had a chance to take a last gulp of air - he lets the dog in the cabin. Literally, eye-watering! I told him he had to take that dog down to the shore with the Dawn dish liquid IMMEDIATELY!

"But why me!?"  Yeah, right, why you?


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## weatherguy (Nov 8, 2009)

> Thats a great story. Two years ago i was sprayed by a skunk as i was getting wood. To this day i make sure i bring wood inside before it gets dark. I still smell it sometimes.LOL>



That is one nasty odor, my wife wouldnt let me get near her for a week, and even after that she swore she could still smell it.


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## katwillny (Nov 8, 2009)

I bathed in tomato juice for a few days.. and ofcourse made some nice bloody marys in the process.


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## semipro (Nov 9, 2009)

Detector$ said:
			
		

> They're cute but I regret having NOT shot this one... almost 100% sure he was rabid. A few hours later I was freaking out about the thought of him being in the woods around our house, our 3 yr old, our dogs, and our neighbors cats and dogs (that might not be vaccinated). Next time its the shotgun for those critters. Read the wikipedia page on human rabies. It'll scare the crap out of you.



I've had the rabies series of shots in the gut before.  I wonder if that gives me an immunity now? 

I have no reason to believe the coon that tried to crawl up my leg the other night was rabid but I didn't have much time to pass judgement anyway; what with all the distraction of the jumpin' around hollerin' going on.  

Any wild critter around our place would have to be a really threatening or really yummy (in combination with us really hungry) to get shot.  So far, when it comes to everything but mice, we have a live and let live attitude.  You could drive yourself crazy trying to kill everything that might annoy you in the country. We have a special relationship reserved for mice, if they're in our house or vehicles we try to kill them fast and mercifully.  We no longer bother with the humane traps as you just end up starving them to death.  

BTW: hydrogen peroxide is incredibly effective against skunk oil.  We've bought it by the gallon in the past to treat dogs and people.  Combined with some dish soap it breaks down the stinky organic compounds in the spray.


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## bmwloco (Nov 9, 2009)

I think there is a raccoon trying to get in the attic, now... or maybe one tenacious opossum.  We shored it up good, but I need to get on a ladder and sure.  In the light of day of course.

Post that, I plan on using a safe trap and transferring whatever it may be over the river and well away.  Opossum have a 25 mile range...not sure about Raccoons.

Nature bats last I guess.  Let the games begin!


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## gyrfalcon (Nov 9, 2009)

Semipro said:
			
		

> I've had the rabies series of shots in the gut before.  I wonder if that gives me an immunity now?



Give your doc a call and ask, or call your state's rabies hotline.  I think it does give you protection, but I'm not positive.



			
				Semipro said:
			
		

> I have no reason to believe the coon that tried to crawl up my leg the other night was rabid but I didn't have much time to pass judgement anyway; what with all the distraction of the jumpin' around hollerin' going on.



Perfectly normal behavior for it to go after you since it was under general attack.  



			
				Semipro said:
			
		

> We have a special relationship reserved for mice, if they're in our house or vehicles we try to kill them fast and mercifully.  We no longer bother with the humane traps as you just end up starving them to death.



You said it.  Even if you remember to check and empty the "humane" traps, the critters have peed all over themselves by the time you get to them, and letting a shivering soaked mouse out in a field in the middle of winter is doing it no favor.  My attitude is same as yours.  I hate killing things and leave them alone unless they're really causing problems.  But mice in the house are beyond the pale, so I use snap traps.  Farmers around here generally use those glue traps, and though I can understand why (with dogs and barn cats, etc., poking their noses everywhere, poison and snap traps are out), it's still a horrifying way for any living creature to die.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 9, 2009)

littlesmokey said:
			
		

> Out our way, any, YES, any contact with a racoon means a rabbies series. There aren't many and it is usually  an infected one that makes contact. They freak me out. Had a cat for years that thought of them as healthy mice. Dumb lug of a cat would take on ones even bigger than him. We had a sign "Beware of Guard Cat".



HehHeh . . . I have a cat like that . . . she has a thing for gray squirrels even though some of them appear to be almost as big as her. She chases them nonetheless.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 9, 2009)

Great stories . . . of course what makes them great is that I wasn't the central character involved with a skunk or a scared raccoon scampering up my leg.  

Just FYI . . . they no longer need to give the rabies shots in the gut now . . . but you typically do need to get a series of shots.


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## westkywood (Nov 9, 2009)

I would NEVER get that close to a cornered coon. They are vicious and will attack with vengence, not to mention they can carry rabies...


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## TANSTAF1 (Dec 6, 2009)

We lived with a raccoon and her babies in the area above our fireplace (which we have never used).  Until we pulled the ivy off we used to seal it off and put moth balls and ammonia in the fireplace so they would not again decide it was a good home.

We are still thinking on what to do - insert or whatever as we would only use this for atmosphere or in an emergency - not for heating or as a supplement for heating.  But as a minimum when I get the chimeny for amy gas furnace fixed, we are adding a wire mesh or cap to the fireplace chimney.


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## tickbitty (Dec 6, 2009)

gyrfalcon said:
			
		

> Semipro said:
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I agree, humane traps can be inhumane.  I only had one cat who was any good at killing mice either.  These traps are the best ever 
	

		
			
		

		
	






I got them at Target and they almost always get the "whole mouse" (as opposed to just getting a face or a leg or whatever, shiver!) and are easy to unload like a chip clip without having to touch the critters.  Just put them back on the floor with the peanut butter still intact!  I had a major mouse prob in my last house but got 9 in one night and never had another one.  Sad.  Lame cats.  My cat was a pacifist.


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## madison (Dec 6, 2009)

I've been trying for weeks to trap one living under the deck, it is smart enough to roll the trap over to dislodge the bait and eat it.   two skunks later, I am about to give up with the trap.


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## gyrfalcon (Dec 6, 2009)

tickbitty said:
			
		

> I agree, humane traps can be inhumane.  I only had one cat who was any good at killing mice either.  These traps are the best ever
> 
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Around here, we have two periods where there's an influx of mice, and generally peace the rest of the year.  When the weather first turns really cold, the mice are all getting serious about finding holing-up places for the winter, and some of them have the bright idea to try the house.  My traps usually end up catching 6 or 10 in those first few cold days, then nary a one until summer.  In mid-summer, I usually get a smaller influx of obviously very young mice for about a week.  And that's pretty much it. Maybe once or twice a year outside of those two periods, my non-pacifist cats will find one and there'll be one heck of a rumpus for a while.  But they don't kill them intentionally, they just want to play with them for as long as possible, so I often end up confiscating the mouse and tossing it outside rather than let the cats mangle it and have it crawl under someplace and expire in the house.


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## savageactor7 (Dec 6, 2009)

^This is where we get our wood after dark.

One good thing about being up north...the bugs go dormant. After dark we have to leash the dogs too many skunks  raccoons etc.


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## tickbitty (Dec 6, 2009)

Do you call that your "entertainment center?"


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## Corriewf (Dec 6, 2009)

I may be wrong but that coon in the pic drinking, I doubt it would drink if it was rabid.


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## savageactor7 (Dec 6, 2009)

whoops guess I should have put the carrot on the right side LOL


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## begreen (Dec 6, 2009)

We have regular raccoon visits and raids to the garden. A troop of them can strip an entire tree of fruit overnight. They got so bad I started trapping them with a Hav-a-Hart trap and relocating them. BB has it exactly right, get one of these guys cornered and they can be seriously ornery. I had a piece of 10 x 10 plywood in the bottom of the trap to weight the treadle and make it more sensitive. One beast that I caught had shredded the plywood to dust by the next morning. I treated that old dude with the greatest of respect. 

A few nights ago we heard a large crash on the porch. I thought the wind had blown down a hanging plant, but as I turned on the porch light, there was a pair of coons looking up at me. It took a bit to figure out what they were up to. One had what looked like a chunk of wood in its mouth. Then it dawned on me. They had shinnied up the porch post and reached over to grab a suet cake the was in a holder. Sneaky buggers! They love bird food. The only way I could keep them out of our main feeder was to mount it on a tall piece of 3/4". But that didn't work for long. As heavy as they are, they are good climbers. So I coated the pole with vaseline. That stopped them. Wish I had a night camera to see them trying to climb a greased pole.


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## semipro (Jul 26, 2010)

tickbitty said:
			
		

> gyrfalcon said:
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I was reading back through this old post (trying to recall the funny thing that CaptiveLee said) and noticed this picture of the happy looking mouse next to the trap designed solely to obliterate it.  I find that strangely humorous, kind of like the sausage ads showing the happy pigs.


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## Lucky Phil (Jul 27, 2010)

I've been trapping 'coons last week; I got 4 smaller ones, but the mother is a tough one.  I was using a live trap from work, but when she got caught in it, she darn near tore it apart.  The inside was all full of mud, the trip flap was all bent up, as was the trip wire attached to it.  I'm trying a 55 gallon drum for a trap, and see what happens.


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## BrotherBart (Jul 27, 2010)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> As heavy as they are, they are good climbers. So I coated the pole with vaseline. That stopped them. Wish I had a night camera to see them trying to climb a greased pole.



I did that years ago with a bird feeder in the back yard on a pole. Greased the pole and got a lot of entertainment from the squirrels leaping from a nearby tree and then sliding down the pole.


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## begreen (Jul 27, 2010)

Raccoons are back in the neighborhood. My neighbor has started picking them off with his pellet gun. I'm leaving notes outside that there's candy and apples across the street.


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## HeatsTwice (Oct 23, 2010)

This guy and his brother/sisters will come in our cat door if we are not careful. Then we have them in the house. You can always tell when they've been in by their smell.

Whats funny about this peticular one is that he always comes to visit my office at the same time every night. I haven't got the heart to shoot it.


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## oldspark (Oct 23, 2010)

They make great pets until get big and tear the hell out of things, like screen doors because they want in, my one dog used to play with the coon but the other 2 killed it.


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 23, 2010)

Ah ha. Another thread dug up and dusted off. 

Coons can make pets but even as a pet they can do damage to lots of things. I know they can surely wreck a lot of corn in a little time.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Oct 23, 2010)

<shudder>

The other night I had a juvie possum in the mudroom where I keep the chicken and dog chow and where I walk through about 30 times a day.    Looked like it wasn't his first buffet either.   The sheepdog took care of him, but really wish he would have dragged it outside instead of leaving me with a bloody mess to clean up.


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## ratkillingdog (Oct 24, 2010)

Check out my handle.  In honor of the best dog that ever lived.  Maddie was a little border collie that could not sit still.  If we weren't working cows, she was hunting varmints.  Her partner was an 80 lb aussie.  Coyote nabbed a cat one morning right off the back porch and overestimated his ability to run with a mouth full of cat.  Little dog got a mouth full of heel and big dog caught up.  RIP in coyote hell.


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## NH_Wood (Oct 24, 2010)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> I bet you got a feel for the strength those suckers have. Being a small member of the bear family, when cornered they can tear you a new one. Or two. Or three.
> 
> You are fortunate.



Bear family? Joke? Cheers!


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