Raccoon for lunch

[John K Jordan]

I am now considering putting in galvanized 1/2" wire/cloth under each garden patch. I saw a company selling stainless woven wire but the cost was around $2 a square foot. Galvanized is cheaper but I'm not sure how long it would last. Would I also need to run it above ground so that the gophers couldn't just walk in and dig down. I'm also considering growing in raised beds.

I don't think 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth would last long in ground contact. I had some rust away in the bottom of a rabbit cage. 1/2" is typically 19 gauge but I've seen 16 ga, nothing larger.

Maybe you could get some heavier gauge wire. I've never seen a gopher - will it get through 2x4 welded wire fencing? A 100' roll of 48" is about $100 or less, depending on the gauge. 14ga is common but 12ga would last a lot longer. You can also get 1x2" welded wire galvanized fencing. Don't buy it from Home Depot but at an ag/farm store.

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

Brice, here is some good news ! If you killed 10 percent of them and they "decimated" the garden ...it's a tie game !

[Tim Bueler]

I read to prevent that just raise up the hives a bit. How high were yours? As per my bee mentor when I started I keep mine on two concrete blocks with a 2" steel channel on top and so far haven't detected any skunk activity after over a decade. But I wonder if I should raise them higher.

JKJ

John, mine were about 8" to the landing board. I don't know if elevating more would work to deter skunks but it would make it harder to get the (hopefully) full honey supers off. Part of my deal was it was summertime and the strongest colonies were bearded on the front of the hive at night. I'm sure the skunks feasted for several days on just that. Scratch marks were minimal. We had around 100 colonies in 4 or 5 yards for 15 yrs, thankfully that was the only skunk problem we had.

Funny/strange how some of the guys were looking for racoon recipes but not one asked for a skunk recipe.

[Gary Ragatz]

Funny/strange how some of the guys were looking for racoon recipes but not one asked for a skunk recipe.

Tim,

If you google "skunk recipe," there are all kinds of them available on the internet. Of course, they're all recipes for solutions to get rid of the smell.

[Brice Rogers]

John K Jordan: most gophers are about the size of a small potato. They are about the size of an adult rat. 2 x 4 welded wire wouldn't even slow them down. I think that 3/4" wire would be very good. 1" might be a little big for younger gophers. I've had trouble too, with galvanized "chicken" wire rotting where it touched the ground.

One summer I was growing super sweet corn. I checked on it daily to time the picking. On the day that I showed up to pick I had about 30 ears of corn - - each of which was partially eaten. There wasn't a single ear that was not spoiled. So I husked an ear or two and put them in each of my two live traps. Over a period of about a week, I collected a total of 17 gray ground squirrels. But it was mid summer and squirrels (like rabbits) may have parasites in them during that period. So, we didn't make any squirrel pie.

[Flamone LaChaud]

My parents can attest to the effectiveness of a pair of Jack Russel Terriers in getting rid of most kinds of varmits . . .moles, voles, gophers, rabbits, mice, and the occasional squirrel.

[Steve Demuth]

I understand a few cities in Germany are infested with raccoons that got loose from someone in the early 20th century.

Both Germany and Japan. In Japan, a 1970s cartoon raccoon named Rascal led to imports of raccoon kits as pets, leading inevitably to the release of adults into urban and rural habitat. They are now a major pest. There is a section in a longer film about urban wildlife, which I can't unfortunately find a link to right now, about the clash between the live-in-harmony-with-all-things mindset of Buddhist monks and temple-destroying raccoon marauders at the 10th century Buddhist temple of Byodo-in.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Here is my answer to the raccoon thing:

Looks like a Treeing Walker(?) & a Blue Tick(?) - is that correct? We have a pair of Treeing Walker/Great Pyrenees mix (litter mates) & a Blue Tick/Great Pyrenees mix. All three hounds are goofy as all get out. The Blue Tick is known as "Crazy Girl" at the doggie daycare - since she goes flat out - all day long with no let up.

[Phil Mueller]

Regarding gophers, my Dad always used the Macabee trap. Highly successful. Make sure you enlarge the hole so if the gopher is pushing dirt, it won’t set it off. He also would cover the hole with burlap...swore that attracted them. Not sure about that, but can’t argue with success. And of course tied well to a stake. I do recall he lost a trap or two.

[Mel Fulks]

When Disney does a remake of DAVY CROCKETT the raccoon problem will subside for decades. Natures balance.

[John K Jordan]

When Disney does a remake of DAVY CROCKETT the raccoon problem will subside for decades. Natures balance.

How about some big movie that makes 'possum pelts a big thing. The big trap that caught the big raccoon the other day had a big 'possum this morning.

[Jason Roehl]

This thread is one of the best.

I may have to consider the peanut butter/electric fence deal for my garden. We're in a neighborhood on the edge of town, but lots of wooded area and fields nearby, so the deer run rampant. And even though there is only about 40' separating my house from the one behind me, that's where my garden is, and it's a thoroughfare for deer.

As for the other varmints, when at all possible, I prefer inoculating them with high-velocity copper and lead.

[Mike Cutler]

I have no respect for any local ordinance that protects destructive animals. These are local laws written by people who have never seen these varmints and the damage they can do.

Yeah, sometimes you just have to do, what needs to be done.
Many, many years ago, a house we were renting got invaded by raccoons, and they were destructive as all hell.
One night, enough was enough and I opened up with a Remington 1100 at 1:00 am. That were trying to get through the screens and windows and into the house.
I killed six or seven in about 5 minutes.
2 weeks later my neighbor, whom I thought didn't know what I has done, showed me the damage they did to his car. Some type of a convertible classic fro the 60's.They tore up the interior and trashed his garage.
This all happened in Mystic Ct.

[Bruce Volden]

This is an interesting thread!!! I live 40 miles from any town of consequences (BORGs, Supermarkets, car dealers), I have a nice acreage with the usual ground hog, possum, coon....mix.
I have coyotes! I love shooting!
Have a dog,, border collie/rottweiler mix who roams the premises and has kept critters at bay thus far since she's young.

I watched a PBS show awhile back which went into depth of the NUTRIA problems in the gulf states. I think I'll stay with my problematic critters.

Bruce

[Jacob Reverb]

I don't think 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth would last long in ground contact. I had some rust away in the bottom of a rabbit cage.

Dunno. I guess it depends on your soil pH. I've found the stuff buried here at least 20 years in good shape...I suspect the problem with it on the bottom of a rabbit hutch (I've had it rust out in that application, too) is all the ammonia in their urine...