How do you get rid of Raccoons

[Bill Cunningham]

I seem to have a family of Raccoons living under my shop, they have the siding ripped off one part so they can get under.. I bought a live trap, and so far I have caught 5 skunks, 2 squirrels and now 3 raccoons (there's one in the trap now, and two others are trying to get him/her out) The Skunks are no problem, I just drag the trap to the back of the yard, flip it over and release the latch so the door falls down and they run off. (they won't spray while in the trap) The two Raccoons I have caught, I just dropped the trap in the car trunk, drove them about 6 miles away, and let them go. I will do the same thing in the morning to the one I have in there now, if his/her buddies don't find a way to spring him/her overnight. I did discover that you have to wire the back section of those folding traps closed, or they can get them open.
Now, I know there are still two more under the shop, they may or may not be smart enough to avoid the trap seeing they can't seem to help the one in there now(although they certainly have been trying). Does ANYONE know how to discourage these things from taking up residence? Shooting them is out of the question, I'm 'now' in a residential area (it wern't when I moved in here 40 years ago:mad:) And it's not likely the ones I release will find their way back, so there's no point in shooting them in some remote location.. I know there are sound generators that drive off rats and mice, is there anything like that for Raccoons?

[Jim Rimmer]

There was a recent post about getting rid of skunks. Maybe they have some ideas. My Dad said moth balls would repel skunks. Trying throwing some under the shop, may be it will drive them off. Can't hurt and won't cost much. Would like to know if it works. :confused:

[Darius Ferlas]

Ammonia soaked rugs will definitely discourage them, but you need to make sure they are not inside first. The process needs to be repeated a few times so that they don't assume the nasty smell was a one time event.

Month balls work too, and they will last a little longer but are not as harsh.

[Jerome Hanby]

Rabid Wolverines will get rid of them quick...with the obvious bad side effect.

[David G Baker]

Bill,
I live trap and transport like you do. I have trapped and transported as many as 100 critters in one year. On the raccoons you have to keep trapping until they are gone. I use black sunflower seeds on everything except groundhogs, they want cabbage and carrots. You need to get them out of where they are living because they can do a lot of serious damage and can create some very stinky messes.
The highest raccoon count was 12 in one season.
Anything that will attract the critters needs to go or you will eventually get a new group after the old one is gone.

[Ben West]

FYI -- Moth balls will NOT work. There is a reason they are called moth balls, not raccoon balls, bat balls, snake balls, or anything else!

[Darius Ferlas]

FYI -- Moth balls will NOT work. There is a reason they are called moth balls, not raccoon balls, bat balls, snake balls, or anything else!

A known snake repellent is Snakeaway. Naphtalene is thew main ingredient, and naphtalene was often used by the US soldiers during WW2 in the Far East. They used it to repel snakes.

They used naphtalene in the production of mothballs too. But mothballs would not repel snakes? Go figure :)

Now naphtalene in mothballs is often replaced with another organic compound of similar properties,pDCB, which like naphtalene is harsh to mucous membranes such as lungs, the linings of the respiratory track and to eyes. Maximum safe levels for humans are 75ppm. Mothballs in constrained areas will release much more. Mothballs also contains camphor, a popular insect replant.

I used mothballs to discourage skunks from returning to live under my front porch. It worked, although it stank in front of the house for a couple of weeks.

[Ben West]

Snake-away is a known repellent, but it has never, not a single time, been shown to be effective through independent research. Snake-oil would be a better name for the product.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of products on the market that purportedly help people deal with problem wildlife but have little or no actual benefits.

You've all seen deer whistles, right? The little devices that your bolt to your car and supposedly frighten deer away, thus avoiding a collision? They do absolutely nothing to scare deer away. In fact, the first several years of manufacture, the sounds they did produce were outside the hearing range of deer. The do a good job of separating people from their money, though.

The little plug-in ultrasonic emitters that supposedly frighten away rodents and insects have been tested again and again, and the results are staggeringly consistent. They do nothing.

As an aside, all pesticides and repellents in the United States must be labeled for each specific use, which is mandated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. To to the local big box store,for example, and pick up any bottle of weed spray, and you'll see a listing of how the chemical can be used.

Moth balls are not registered for use to repel snakes, raccoons, skunks, etc. So, not only does it not work for these purposes, but it also is a violation of federal law. Now, the feds would never come after a homeowner for this, but there have been several small pest control companies that have been fined, in a big way, for such things.

I know more about this stuff than I should...have spent the past several years as a academic in the wildlife arena, studying and teaching mostly about problems with wildlife.

[Darius Ferlas]

Moth balls are not registered for use to repel snakes, raccoons, skunks, etc. So, not only does it not work for these purposes, but it also is a violation of federal law. Now, the feds would never come after a homeowner for this, but there have been several small pest control companies that have been fined, in a big way, for such things.

I know more about this stuff than I should...have spent the past several years as a academic in the wildlife arena, studying and teaching mostly about problems with wildlife.

The OP is posting from Ontario, where the US wildlife laws have fairly little weight. At least for now ;).

Ontario government (Ministry of Agriculture) provides links to sites (such as this official City of Toronto site (http://www.toronto.ca/animal_services/skunks.htm)) where mothballs are among the recommended repellents.

[Ben West]

Ahhh, Canadian raccoons. There's the problem....:D

Enjoy the weekend, everybody!

[Darius Ferlas]

Ahhh, Canadian raccoons. There's the problem....:D

Enjoy the weekend, everybody!
I think you're confusing raccoons with beavers ;)
Good weekend to you.

[Don Jarvie]

Get Coyote pee (liquid) not the dried pellets and put it in a small bottle and soak a cotton ball and put it in the bottle (like a wick).

Put it by the entrance where they are getting in and in a few other places under the shop and once their gone board up the hole.

My BIL did this and it worked. Just make sure you get all of the holes where they come in.

[Dave Ogren]

I have not tried to repel racoons but ground hogs here try to dig under concrete foundations of buildings. The way that I have found to chase them away is by using Magnesium Sulfate. There is something that they smell in it that makes them leave.
This is a fertilizer product and can be purchased at an AG. Supply store 50 pounds was about $8.00 rwo years ago.
It is also great for your flowers and especially evergreen trees.

The retail name in small containers is Epsom Salts.

Good Luck, Please let us know how it works on racoons.

Dave

[Scott Shepherd]

http://www.amazon.com/Havahart-Critter-3143-Repellent-Concentrate/dp/B000RUIICU

I was working in a house a few years back, renovating it and I kept hearing noises from behind a wall a room that used to be the attic. We determined it was a raccoon some how. I think the pried open gable vent was a clue.

So we took the trap door off to access that area, went in, put a trap in there, planning to catch and take it for a drive in the country to it's new home. Someone said they liked cat food. Bought a can of cat food, put it in the trap, closed the trap door up, went home. Came back the next day, checked the trap, the can was empty and the trap was sprung.

Dang it. How'd that thing do that?

Set another can in there, set the trap.

Came back next day and checked it. Can empty, trap sprung, no sign of the raccoon.

Someone said Marshmallows. So we bought a bag of those, put them in the trap, set it, left. Came back next day.

Empty trap, no marshmallows, trap sprung.

This went on for about a week. Finally I gave up and determined if he was smart enough to eat all that food that was in a trap, without getting caught, then he was smarter than the person trying to catch him/her (me) and it deserved to be there.

Finished fixing up the house, it got sold and the trap is probably still sitting in the attic :)

[ed hoxter]

12 gauge! works every time on unwanted critters. ed

[David G Baker]

Scott,
I found that my raccoons were smarter than I thought possible. I have the large Havahart live trap and experienced several nights of sprung traps and empty food dish. I put 1/4 inch hardware screen blocking access to the food dish and used a metal cat food can with a very strong magnet in the bottom of the can under the black sunflower seeds. That was the last time I had an empty trap with the food gone. I also found a way to fasten the trap to an in-ground 4x6 so the critter couldn't roll the trap on its side and get the food that way.

[Bill Cunningham]

Thanks for all the ideas... The critters 'are' smart.. The one I had in the trap when I started this thread, escaped.. He managed to grab the door frame sometime during the night, and pull it in ..(this is a folding trap) I now have the door frame wired tight, as well as the back section and there is no way they will be able to pull either end in again.. I have a nice stinky crab leg wired to the back, but nothing came near it last night.. I have managed to catch two.. they must have been the dumber ones, and I know there are three more to go.. There must be some level of sound frequency that will drive them out, maybe hip hop music.. ha.. It drives most people away, and some of them are kinda smart..:D.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill,

On the folding type live traps, Pros have found out that racoons in particular are smart enough to pull the end down that is away from the trap door. Wiring it should remedy the problem. Good luck!

[David G Baker]

Bill,
I can usually hear the trap when it trips. I get up no matter what time it is, get dressed and take the critter for a ride. I do this for raccoons only. If I don't they can destroy the trap by using their strong limbs to do some heavy pulling. They try every thing they can think of until they decide that it is hopeless.

[Bill Cunningham]

Yup I agree.. The last one I should have taken for a ride right away, but it was late, and I was tired, and the other two 'kept' over night, but no more.. As soon as that thing slams shut, their gonna hear some travelin music... What I found amazing, is the other two that were outside the trap were actually rocking it back and forth trying to free the trapped one.. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they figured out how to roll it over, and flip the spring loaded latch to allow the door to fall down and let them walk out.. They have figured out how to release the latch on my 'green bin' and get to the scraps inside. Yup! from now on, as soon as it slams shut their goin fer a ride! 25 years ago, before this area started getting built up, the problem would have be solved quite early. If I fire a shot now, I'll probably have the swat team kicking in my door PDQ .. We'll see what happens tonight..

[John alder]

Trying moth balls cant hurt,also saturate some rags with Pine Sol cleaning and disinfectant I used that to keep mice out of a camper and under car motor where the mice were eating the insulation off of wires.Be care full when you open those traps to release them. I used heavy clothing and gloves and stood on a step ladder just in case they turned on me It would have made a good YouTube video lol.John

[Bill Cunningham]

Nothing in the trap last night... I'll try some of those black sunflower seeds tonight, with a small trail of them from the spot under the shop where their living, to the trap.. When releasing them, I roll the trap upside down, so when I flip the latch to open the door, it falls down and stays open while they make their getaway.. The Raccoons are usually just interested in getting as far away from me as they can, it's the skunks I give a wide birth to. After I flip over the trap, I use the long crowbar I used to drag the trap to the back of the yard, to flip the latch and let the door drop down. Then I stand well back in case they get 'defensive':eek:

[David G Baker]

Bill,
I also use dry cat food. Raccoons can smell the cat food for quite a distance. I have used the cat food to get the critters comfortable with being in the area of the trap, then move the food into the trap after a few nights.
I caught one raccoon that was very close to having babies, my SO woke me up very early in the morning and made me take the sow for a ride. Guess she didn't want to play nurse maid to a litter of raccoons. Don't recall how many babies in a litter but I imagine that there are quite a few.
When I transport raccoons I put the cage in a sturdy cardboard box and place it in my trunk. If the cage isn't enclosed the critter will pull everything within its reach into the cage and make a big mess in the trunk.

[Bill Cunningham]

When I transport raccoons I put the cage in a sturdy cardboard box and place it in my trunk. If the cage isn't enclosed the critter will pull everything within its reach into the cage and make a big mess in the trunk.

Ya! I noticed that.. I had an old blanket in the trunk, and when we got to the drop off point and opened the trunk he/she had tried to pull it through the 1" squares of the trap mesh.. I just got another one 30 min. ago, and took it for the ride.. I remembered the blanket, so I pushed it well up against the back of the trunk, and kept the cage forward. It's only a 10 minute drive to where I dump them out, and I guess this one couldn't reach anything to pull in.. I still had a good chunk of the crab leg bait in the trap, I guess he lost all interest when the door slammed shut.. That's 3 down, and 2 to go.. There were 5 that I know of.. but even after #5 I'll keep setting the trap just in case..

[Scott Shepherd]

Bill, it'll never stop if you keep doing that. The word is out now, all you can eat crab legs and a free vacation available at Bill's house :) They'll come from miles away now :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill, it'll never stop if you keep doing that. The word is out now, all you can eat crab legs and a free vacation available at Bill's house :) They'll come from miles away now :)

Is BIll providing the beer too?:confused:

We need an address......ROAD TRIP.:rolleyes:

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Bill
I was having trouble catching a coon
put some vanilla extract on the trip pad
they can smell it and they like it
caught the fella the same night.
ken

[Bill Cunningham]

Bill
I was having trouble catching a coon
put some vanilla extract on the trip pad
they can smell it and they like it
caught the fella the same night.
ken

Now that's an idea... yea!! No more free beer and crab legs..
Actually, the crab leg had been sitting in the freezer for about a year, then in the sun for two days.. Even a 'free' beer wouldn't get rid of that taste.:D

[Joe De Medeiros]

Bill I hope your not releasing them near me ;), one of my dogs killed a skunk on Saturday, and he proudly ran around the yard with it in his mouth.

[Bill Cunningham]

Bill I hope your not releasing them near me ;), one of my dogs killed a skunk on Saturday, and he proudly ran around the yard with it in his mouth.

Ahhh Skunks.. Sooo much fun.. I've caught 3 of 'them' as well.. ha.. Those I just let go at back of my yard.. I had raccoon#4 in the trap this morning, (one more that I know of to go yet) I've been dumping them out of the trap at the Innisfil Centennial park.. (7th line and 10th sideroad) There is a good lot of bush, a fair sized pond, and garbage cans.. I doubt very much if these raccoons have even lived without a garbage can handy.. But if you like Joe, I can drop the next one off in Barrie were I'm sure your dog will 'love' it..ha..:D

[Van Huskey]

'Coons you say... one word, well one picture. He doesn't look like much now (woke from a dead sleep for his closeup) but let him have a sniff (hot or cold) of a raccoon (or 'possum, deer or anything else with four legs short of a lion) and he won't rest until he has it beggin' for mercy. Now if you have a lion problem I'll have to wake his big "brother" the Rhodesian Ridgeback, big cats are his stock and trade.

[Bill Cunningham]

We had a cat a few years back, it was a outdoor cat that lived to be 18 years old, and was close to 20 lbs.. BIG..
I went out on the deck one night after hearing a ruckus.. And there was the cat, squaring off with a 'big' raccoon.. The cat just waited for the door to be opened, and the coon to be distracted, and he made a beeline through the door.. Ha.. there was no way he was going to tangle with that, I guess that's why he lived to a ripe old age as a outdoor cat..
On the other note, I've had my trap baited now for 4 days/nights, and nothing.. The 5th coon may have took off looking for the others.. We'll just keep it baited and see what turns up..

[Van Huskey]

We had a cat a few years back, it was a outdoor cat that lived to be 18 years old, and was close to 20 lbs.. BIG..
..


That brought back memories of an outdoor cat I had as a child who also lived 17-18 years outdoors ( a LONG time for an outdoor cat). She wasn't nearly as big, about 12 lbs) but I saw her more than once in the field beside my house literally riding huge jack rabbits, all four sets of claws dug in, like a bronc rider but for far more than 8 seconds. As usual she would drag her kill to the door as a present but these would usually take her the best part of an afternoon to drag up the hill. She was obviously very careful about deciding what other critters to "play" with and shared your cats wisdom.

The 75lb redbone mix in the picture above and I had a romp in the woods/swamp a couple of nights ago and I actually thought he was on a deer but in the end was an opossum, which he hates since they waddle slow when he is close enough to go sight hound on them and play dead when he catches up to them. After 30 minutes of crazed scent following he caught it, it played dead and he immediately turned and walked back to me looking extremely dejected.

The craziest thing about his nose is he can smell animals outside the house, if they are close, seemingly through the floor! 3/4" hardwood, glued on top of 1 1/8" plywood sub floor, he will go nuts smelling the floor and if you let him out he will sprint right to where the critter is and he has never false positived. He has an incredible nose but I don't think a real hunter could do anything with him, he follows hot or cold trails and doesn't discriminate with the species he will follow, but he is probably my favorite dog I have ever owned.

[Paul Ryan]

The craziest thing about his nose is he can smell animals outside the house, if they are close, seemingly through the floor! 3/4" hardwood, glued on top of 1 1/8" plywood sub floor, he will go nuts smelling the floor and if you let him out he will sprint right to where the critter is and he has never false positived. He has an incredible nose but I don't think a real hunter could do anything with him, he follows hot or cold trails and doesn't discriminate with the species he will follow, but he is probably my favorite dog I have ever owned.

I had a Lab that acted much like your dog. The best pheasant dog I have ever hunted with. But that dog would hunt anything, deer, skunk, coons, cats, opposum, chickens, gophers, even a badger. it didn't mater that dog was crazy but could he hunt. All of the critters metioned above I have found dead on our front lawn at one time or another from that dog. Except for the deer. He died this past summer.

My suggestion to the OP get a dog like that they will kept the critters away.

[Bill Cunningham]

I'd love to get another dog. My last one was a yellow Lab and we had her for 11 years. The one before that was a Black Lab, and had her about the same amount of time. The area where we live is getting very built up. When I moved in here 40 years ago, I could hop the back fence with my shotgun and go hunting. I do that now, and the people now living back there would call the police:D. After that last dog died, I didn't think it would be fair to the dog not to have a place to run, and hunt. So, in the next few years we plan to sell this house, and move to where the urban sprawl won't move in for the rest of 'my' life, and then get another dog.. Hopefully the next one I get will out live me, it's hard losing a good dog..

[Bill Cunningham]

Well, I'm up to 4 Skunks now.. Caught the 4th one last night, left it in the trap until about 6pm this evening just so it would remember the unpleasant experiance.. ha..
This one was 'aiming' his butt n pink circle at me all the time I was dragging the trap to the back of my yard, but it never sprayed.. I rolled over the trap, released the door down, and backed away quick.. It took about 10 seconds for it to realize the door was open and it took off under the pool shed of the guy that lives behind me.. Just where the last 3 went..(He can't say I never give him nuthin). I should have sprayed some dayglow paint on him to see if I was catching the same 'stupid' skunk over and over again.. I think my 5th raccoon took off to look for the rest of the family I relocated.. The Skunks should be in their semi hibernation mode soon, and I won't have to drag them off through the snow..

[Kyle Brooks]

I'm not sure if it works or not. When I used to work for a farmer we had problems with them getting into the feed in the granary. We would live catch them and take them several miles away usually at least 4 to 6. We did keep getting them and one day my boss took a can of red spray paint and gave one a shot of paint on his rear end. Two days later he appeared in the live trap again. I know you said shooting is not an option but that was what we ended up resorting too. Here is what I got from a google search. Again, I have no proof of this working. Here is the sight.

http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/pest/raccoons.php

Good luck.
Kyle

[Bill Cunningham]

I think I have them all gone from under my shop, there was a fifth one, but there has been no sign of it for a while now. I drop them off about 7 miles from my house, they travel in the dark trunk of my car, and to get back they would first have to figure out where they were, then travel 2 miles of bush, cross a busy highway, and go through farmland, and at least 3 subdivisions with far more goodies than I probably have. So I don't think their coming back anytime soon. If any more show up I will try the radio bit.. I'll mount a speaker against the shop floor in a out of the way place, and let them listen to some soothing punk rock for a few nights, and talk radio during the day (I don't want it to drive 'me' out :D) In the mean time, I guess Ill just keep dragging skunks to the back of the yard until they lay up for the winter..

[Gary Hodgin]

Other than trapping, three or four good coon hounds. Costs a lot but pretty effective.

[Bill Cunningham]

Other than trapping, three or four good coon hounds. Costs a lot but pretty effective.

Ya.. Until they have a argument with one of the skunks, and run back into your house:D

Nothing in the trap for 4 nights now :)

[Chris Walls]

Some years back a friend at work was an electrical engineer and she had a raccoon problem in an old house attic she had bought. All attempts to remove them failed. So she took a large BOOM BOX and wired a endless loop cassette tape with the loudest rap music she could find, turned it up as loud as she could and put it in the attic and left for the weekend. She always swore it drove them out. After that she sealed up the exit they had used and kept them out.

Chris

[Glenn Corser]

We've had some luck with this stuff
http://www.havahart.com/ourbrands/critter-ridder

Kept skunks from going under the deck and drove some out of the crawl space under our neighbors house.

[Charlie Stone]

I had some that took up residence in my eves ... I used vinegar soaked rags. They moved out, I boarded up the hole a week later and haven't seen them back since.

[keith jensen]

FYI -- Moth balls will NOT work. There is a reason they are called moth balls, not raccoon balls, bat balls, snake balls, or anything else!

Haha, I'm not checking to see if the one in the trap has balls (racoon balls) and certainly not going to be the one removing them to put under your shop either! :) Might keep the other ones away though...I know I wouldn't go under your shop if there were a pair of......ehhh I'm sure you see where this is going.....:)

The last racoon I caught in the trap must not have been very popular, none of his buddies came out to rescue him. Live traps work the best, transpo and keep trapping. Also, seal up their avenue of approach.


Get Coyote pee (liquid) not the dried pellets and put it in a small bottle and soak a cotton ball and put it in the bottle (like a wick).

You just have to be patient with coyotes, sometimes they get stage fright so it might take a while to get them to pee! :)

Sorry guys, it's just one of those days.....I know this ia an older topic.

Crazy canadian racoons aynways!! They grow 'em big up there...kinda like cattle in Texas right?!?

[Bill Cunningham]

We've had some luck with this stuff
http://www.havahart.com/ourbrands/critter-ridder

Kept skunks from going under the deck and drove some out of the crawl space under our neighbors house.

Hmmm Oil of Black Pepper, Piperin, Capsaicin and Related Capsaicinoids.. This looks like something I could mix up, and fog the crawl space under my shop to 'keep' them out.. Or maybe just buy a can of Bear Spray :D Raccoons are a member of the same family..


I know I wouldn't go under your shop if there were a pair of......ehhh I'm sure you see where this is going.....:)Ya!! That's why I had 5 of them living under there, one was 'equipped' and the other..Well, not so much :mad:

[Marty Paulus]

In urban environments, at this time of the year, it is awful difficult to hear a .22 short....

Sounds like you solved the issue with less violent methods. Hope they don't find their way back.

[Gary Hodgin]

A few good coon hounds will take care of them.

[Gary Hodgin]

Ya.. Until they have a argument with one of the skunks, and run back into your house:D

Nothing in the trap for 4 nights now :)

How true? I have a neighbor whose dog has been sprayed three or four times. Coon hounds are normally smarter than that. Sounds like a job for Billy The Exterminator.
Gary

[Bill Cunningham]

Got another darn skunk in the trap right now.. Noticed it late this afternoon.. I will wait until about 6pm tomorrow to drag him to the back of the yard and turn it loose.. This is a big one.. He's gonna be P.Oed and hungry by that time.. Hopefully he will remember the bad experience and not come back:mad:

[Bill Cunningham]

Haven't had a raccoon in the trap for quite a while now, but I'm now up to 6 skunks.. The last one was a little one, and went into the trap out of shear curiosity. There was no bait in it!

[Duff Bement]

I had the dirty little bas--rds in the walls of shop and they completely wrecked all of the insulation. I declared WAR. I only found 2 things that worked, #1, I poured bleach down walls from the attic when I thought they were down there. Neighbors cat came out at 90 mph, ain’t seem him recently either. My cat food lasts a lot longer when I just feed MY cat, not the neighbors or those d-mn coon. The coon moved out walls into the hay. Still eating all of my cat food. One day while feeding the horses the big old mama coon come out and stands up on her back feet and starts hissing at me. Can you believe the nerve of this animal, hissing at me in MY OWN BARN!!!! I've had enough, I grabbed a garden rake and with 1 mighty swing I sent it flying across the barn. I thought she was dead, I felt no remorse, not one little bit. I finally calmed down and decided to dispose of nasty little critter. I picked her up was carrying it out side when she decided to quit playing possum. Scared the livin sh-t out me. Without thinking I put my hands around the coons neck and squeezed until there was no doubt. After my heart rate went back to normal I put the coon in burning barrel and cremated her. Damn that was exhausting. I went back to the barn to turn out the lights and lock up shop only to see 3 more of the dirty little bas-urds running across the floor.
I could not win, so I went to the house and went on ebay and ordered 2 coon traps for under 30 bucks. I had all ofthe rodents caught in 2 days. What a great invention!!!! Now everybody thinks it’s funny to give me stuffed coons for my birthday. Oh well, no coon in the barn now. :D:D:D

[Logan William]

Traps are nice to get them from out under the house/shop but I'm partial to the more permanent methods of disposal once they're caught....but can understand the limitations that neighbors provide, thankfully I don't have to worry about that! I grew up shooting and for my 8th grade graduation I got my own .22 and of course immediately loaded it up and went to sight it in. While walking back from sighting it in I was walking by one of our open ended equpiment sheds and saw something move in the rafter, looked up and walking on the rafter was a mama coon and 4 little ones. Dad was pretty pleased after I had mama plus 3 to show for that round of "sighting in"

[Bill Cunningham]

Can't shoot anything where I live, not like 40 years ago! I bought a .17HMR but I leave it at my daughters farm so my son-in-law can keep the area clear of Raccoons/Groundhogs/Porcupines/Skunks and Yotes.. I have a number of .22s, but that .17 is an amazing little cartridge. A 20 gr. bullet zipping along at 2550 fps. hits with 289 ftp of energy. You can actually see the splash when it hits..

[Logan William]

I agree on the .17HMR comments, bought one and now its what I generally grab before the 10/22 for your standard run of the mill critters and varmits around the place. Even though the ammo is about 5 times the cost its an amazing round.....one of these days I'll get a scope on my 17 and the Ruger might go into a case and reserved for plinking....

[Bill Neff]

My inlaws had raccoons in their fireplace (came down the chimney to the basement fireplace). The exterminator, put the live traps on the roof and put a radio playing hard rock music in the fireplace to drive them out. They had a huge cleanup job from the mess the coons left behind.

[Bill Cunningham]

The contractor who built my workshop, had one in his attic, until in the middle of one night, it fell through the ceiling and into his bedroom closet.. He got the wife and kids out of the house, and shot it. It could have been worse i suppose.. Imagine if the thing fell through the ceiling onto your bed in the middle of the night. :eek:


one of these days I'll get a scope on my 17 and the Ruger might go into a case and reserved for plinking.... I put a Cheap 3-9 40mm Tasco scope on it and it's a tack driver out to 100 yards, and a bit beyond. The ammo is expensive, up here it's about $17.00 for a box of 50, but you tend to make every shot count.. For 'plinking' I still have a Nylon 66 (black and chrome Apache) , a Marlin bolt action repeater, a cooey single shot bolt(my first gun bought 50 years ago) and a new version Henry Survival rifle all in .22, but the .17 is a cheap Mossberg and now my absolute favorite, simply because of the cartridge.. A Truly amazing little rimfire.. I also just bought one of those new .50 T/C Impact BP front stuffers, it's supposed to be here from Cabala's on the 16th.. The BP deer hunt starts on the 29th. Lookin for freezer meat !