Raccoon for lunch

[Gary Ragatz]

We found peanut butter the best thing to catch raccoon, possum, and skunk without attracting the cats.

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Had a raccoon for a pet when I was about 9. Very likable but a mischievous little devil. Lucy was with us two years before the call of the wild proved too much and she left for good. Raised her with an eyedropper from before her eyes were even open. Never could even try raccoon at the wild game dinners. A couple years later, I acquired a Great Horned owl chick and raised it. Igor was far cooler, yet not as cuddly.. Back then no permits, were necessary.

[Mark Hennebury]

I would probably fall for the peanut butter trap.
I had to live trap a ground hog that kept burrowing under my workshop. I guess that he may have been responsible for the mess of cracks in my concrete floor. he moved to a new neighborhood a few miles away.

[Tom M King]

One of the earliest sights that I remember seeing was when I was still in diapers. I had ridden somewhere with my Dad to probably see someone about working. The sight was a Black woman opening a door, wiping her hands on her apron, with a Raccoon on her shoulders, and a red Fox standing close beside her. I was standing on the seat of the truck with my hands on the dashboard. I have no idea how old I was, but it's still as clear as if it was this afternoon. I think the only thing I had on was a diaper.

[Dan Hall]

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

Boy howdy me too.

[Marshall Harrison]

Have your neighbor get a female cat.

Give your neighbor a female cat.

[Kris Cook]

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

I don't know the answer to that.

Many years ago, I was headed to work one winter morning, went to drop a bag of trash in the plastic trash can. There was a skunk in the trash can, and it sprayed me pretty good. I can tell you smelling skunk spray up close is way different from the waft you get driving down the road. I put a lid on the trash can, drug it across the road, and went in the house and got the shotgun. That trash can full of holes sat out there for most of the rest of the winter.

[Kris Cook]

Just learned a new word. Thank you!

Ha. That is the first time I have ever used that word in writing. I credit Mark Twain with my discovery of the word. I figured he made it up but apparently it is a word.

[Martin Siebert]

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

Get a can of starting fluid and a decent sized tarp. With the can and the tarp blocking his view of you walk up slowly and cover the trap. Spray the starting fluid under the tarp until he goes to sleep. Spray too much and he wont ever wake up. He wont spray because he doesn't really see the tarp and a danger. Once asleep, you can do whatever you want with him. Suggest you don't try to tame him and make a pet out of him though!!!

Edit: The best bait for live trapping raccoons is watermelon. They will absolutely risk anything to get to that smell/flavor. I have caught them with just ping pong balls...they think it is some kind of an egg {also one of their favorite foods}.
Mr. Jordan, are you sure it's not an owl killing your guinea keets??? Raccoons are lazy about prey...they tend to partially eat them right where they kill them and leave the carcass. Owls and fox or coyotes fly/run off with it and you wont ever find the carcass. I guess what I am saying is, don't be too surprised if you catch a bunch of raccoons and continue to loose the keets.

[Dave Cav]

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

You take them for a swim cage and all.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Just curious - what's the next step after you successfully live-trap a skunk?

Depends.....check state game laws. In Cuyahoga County - Ohio - after you live trap a skunk, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will rake you over the coals for poaching - if they find out.

I heard tell of a guy that had a family of 8 (mother and babies) move into the crawl space under his house. I heard the guy live trapped them one by one, approached the trap with a blanket held in front of him, covered the trap and skunk with that blanket, then tied the trap, blanket and all, on the roof rack of his car & drove them out into a remote part of a State Park. When I...err..I mean he,,,yeah when he got there, he tied a long rope to the cage and tugged it to pen the trap. The skunks, all 8 of them, just waddled off into the tall grass.

On the last trip, a park ranger lectured the guy on the law & told him had he witnessed the release - instead of just seeing a skunk waddle into the grass - and the guy at the end of a rope tied to the trap - the fine for poaching & disturbing a fur bearing animal & keeping a fur bearing animal as a pet - - could run into 4 figures....

ODNR - doesn't have a lot of patience when it comes to people messing with wildlife.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

So disappointed this isn’t a thread about cooking. :-)

Believe it or not, one showed up here recently. We believe it stowed away on a vessel. We are hoping it came alone. That could be a very bad thing if there was a breeding pair. By the way, my favorite term for them is “trash panda.”

[John K Jordan]

I would probably fall for the peanut butter trap.
I had to live trap a ground hog that kept burrowing under my workshop. I guess that he may have been responsible for the mess of cracks in my concrete floor. he moved to a new neighborhood a few miles away.

A ground hog made so many tunnels the dirt floor in my barn started to collapse when I walked on it. I took a heavy steel rod and probed and collapsed the tunnels then filled them with gravel and concrete.

I find groundhogs difficult to trap. What works best for me is cantaloupe for bait.

JKJ

[Keith Outten]

Groundhogs are a horrible menace. I have found that a 22 LR is the best way to defend my property from the rascals. Most of the time I shoot them from my second floor shop window when I can catch them leaving the crawl space under one of my storage buildings. I throw their carcass in the woods so less offensive animals can eat. I also have some skunks that frequent my yard in the wee hours of the morning. It pays to turn on the outside barn lights when I have to go from the house to the shop in the dark.

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.

[Jerome Stanek]

Here in Ohio where I live I asked about getting rid of skunks and the game warden said I'm not supposed to trap them but he said to use the 3 Ss shoot shovel and shut up