Tag Archives: relocating raccoons

October 23, 2024 · 10:04 am

Raccoons Are Cute – When Not In Our Yard

haresandhollows

I love raccoons – in an abstract way – not in our yard. They tend to swarm our place each spring, summer, and fall – not only eating some bird seed, but eating ALL the bird seed and destroying the feeders!

Kathleen Howsare

They are not good neighbors or sharers – and so we have to use our humane trap to catch them and drive them far out away from us to ‘relocate’ them to hopefully a better place for them.

(Sorry. Don’t know who the artist is, but found this through Sue Cockrell-Pinterest)

I don’t know why, but this season we’ve only had to relocate two – the lowest number I can remember. Whatever the reason is, I’m happy. I love to look at them, see artwork featuring raccoons, but they are a real pest around here.

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May 28, 2022 · 8:29 am

Trail of Raccoons

This season we have a trail of raccoons from the woods around our house to our feeders on the deck. We caught another one last night. A big one. We’ll have to ‘relocate’ him later.

Sufan – Amazon.com

I wish we could teach them to SHARE the sunflower seeds we put out. We don’t mind putting out more to accommodate both birds AND raccoons, but NOOOOOO – the raccoons insist on not only eating every single seed, but also damaging or trashing the feeders, as well.

Many times they also trash the humane trap we use to catch them, too. We have a small plastic bowl screwed to the trap at the far end. Many times they break THAT and we have to replace it.

I insisted on the humane trap because I WANT to think we’re giving them another chance to be happy raccoons frolicking in the rural areas about 5 miles from our house, enjoying the little stream off the road and the pasture lands. I LIKE to think they reunite with others we’ve relocated, creating happy families and living their lives.

Whatever the reality of the situation, at least we TRY to give them another chance. I hope that there isn’t a memo with a map out there that they read and study before they make the trip back…

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May 24, 2022 · 9:12 am

Raccoon-y, Rainy Tuesday

Natural Resources Council of Maine – Photo by Jayne Winters

A critter like this was caught in our humane trap overnight. My husband just returned from taking our trash down to the bottom of the driveway and ‘relocating’ the raccoon about 5 miles away from us, hoping he won’t return. I stayed here to get chili started in the slow cooker for tonight and to answer a call or meet the driveway guy coming to our house.

Yesterday we decided that we really need to do what we can to improve our driveway.

I’ve told you it’s long (650+feet), quite steep, and graveled (or ‘chat-ed.’) Having a concrete or asphalt drive would take our winning the lottery. The last time we priced it (about 15 years ago) it would have cost $15,000+ at the bare minimum. Actually, the gravel gives us more traction when it’s icy or snowy, so it’s fine with us.

When we get the washing, heavy rains we’ve gotten lately, though, the top 1/4 to 1/3 of the driveway stays fine. It’s the rest of it – steeper as it goes down to the road that runs in front of the house – that gets ‘washed’ badly, causing ruts, bumps, etc. making it harder to negotiate.

We arranged for a guy to come with a big truckload of chat. He can leave the top alone, and then ‘tail-gate’ the chat, letting some out slowly and gradually as he drives down our driveway. We’re hoping that ONE truckload will be enough because chat, like everything else, has gone way up in price.

A complicating factor is that you get chat when they will deliver. You can’t say, ‘Oh, it’s due to rain today. Can you deliver it tomorrow instead?” It’s totally up to the guy. He hasn’t called, but he may just be getting the load of chat and coming. He just told us it would be today. Also, he MAY call and want to reschedule due to the coming rain. My second hope is that, if we DO get it delivered and ‘tail-gated’ this morning, the rains don’t immediately wash big ruts into it….

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May 2, 2022 · 9:31 am

Another Rainy Monday

Pinterest

This is an excellent day to stay in. According to Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives, though, we will head out in about half an hour to ‘relocate’ a raccoon we caught in our humane trap overnight. He/she had not only been eating each and every seed we left for the birds in the feeders, but trashed one feeder and dumped the suet blocks onto the ground below the deck. We had the trap set for the past two nights and were successful last night. This is the 2nd raccoon we’ve caught and relocated this season.

We will put the trap and raccoon in the back of the truck, get our mail as we go, then drive out behind our home about 5 miles or so to the creek that runs under the road and let him/her out, giving him/her a second chance to play and frolic and eat ELSEWHERE

THEN we’ll fill up the bird feeders once again and hope that he/she is not part of a huge raccoon family…

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January 1, 2022 · 5:31 pm

The Raccoon Has a New Home

The Spruce Pets-GettyImages

After my husband filled our bird feeders on the deck two days in a row, only to find them completely empty and one hanging askew, we knew we had the last raccoon of 2021. My husband set up our humane trap on the deck, placing it so the trapped animals wouldn’t completely demolish our grill cover again, eat a chair, or other related incidence.

The first night nothing happened. This morning the trap was FILLED with raccoon. The biggest we have ever had. My husband estimates he weighed 20 lbs.

When we had a break in the rain, we put the trap in the back of the truck and drove out behind our home. I guess we travel about 5 miles on the winding road. There is a creek that runs under the road that is away from most of the actual houses and yards where we let the raccoons out.

This raccoon just stood inside the cage with my husband holding the end open for him. It was like he was deciding if he wanted freedom or not. He finally turned a bit, realized the end was open, and was gone in a flash. We could watch him land in the water and swim away.

I guess we’re awful neighbors, driving the raccoons out away from our home and ‘dumping’ them where there is a chance they will be a problem to others, but we really want to give them another chance at life.

Since they don’t ‘share’ the seeds, but eat every last one of them, and then sometimes trash the feeders, we think they don’t play well with others. We hope they find other family members, dance for joy at their regained freedom, and stay away…

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August 9, 2020 · 9:39 am

Raccoon # 11

Wired

I find this hard to believe, but we just returned from relocating raccoon # 11.

I think the previous record for a season was 5, so this is really incredible.

I hope we never meet the people who live close to the little creek off the side of the road where we ‘rehome’ the raccoons. It’s about 5 miles out farther into the country. We can’t SEE any houses around there, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

I concentrate on thinking happy thoughts of all of the raccoons high-fiving each other when they meet along the creek, re-establishing their relationships and having a happy raccoon life…

Meanwhile, we continue to hope that this is the last one for the season. We’ve just filled up the bird feeder again. We’ll check it before bed. If it’s empty in the morning, the humane trap will again be set.

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May 23, 2020 · 12:34 pm

Raccoon # 4

National Geographic

We captured Raccoon #4 in our humane trap overnight.

We got our mail mid morning and drove out to the stream about 5 miles from the house to relocate him.  I have a happy mental picture of him reuniting with Raccoons 1-3 and enjoying the rest of their lives together.

I’m amazed that he showed up since we had such horrendous weather last night.  When my husband let him out, he just leaped happily into the stream and was gone in a flash.

I really wish we could all simply co-exist, sharing the bird seed we supply. We have learned the hard way, however, that raccoons don’t share. They want EVERY seed, and many times completely trash the feeders. We can’t afford to buy new feeders every other day, or buy more than a 40 pound bag of seed every week, so I’m just pleased that the humane trap we have captures them without harm and allows us to ‘relocate’ each one and give them another chance to be happy.

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May 11, 2020 · 9:52 am

Relocation Service

RiverBender.com

We caught a raccoon overnight in our humane trap. We will head out in a second to drive about 5 miles farther out in the country to let him out by a stream we found at the roadside years ago.

We are about 3-1/2 miles from the small town of Greenwood, Arkansas. Our place is wooded enough that each year we have a family of raccoons wandering around in the middle of the night. They find our bird feeders on the deck. If they just ate their share, we could live with them. They clean out ALL the bird feeders – every seed – and many times go on to trash the feeders themselves.

We got a humane trap that we use to catch the critters. We bait them with various things – this time it was part of an apple and a chunk of sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookie.

We will relocate him, hopefully far enough away that he won’t return. We like the idea of giving him another chance at life – just not where WE are.

We will find out if he has a whole family with him in the coming weeks….

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September 4, 2019 · 11:19 am

I Love Raccoons – Elsewhere

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

I love raccoons. They are so CUTE!  Our personal experience, though, living on top of a ridge line outside of town in Greenwood, Arkansas, is that they don’t share. They want ALL of the birdseed in ALL of the feeders, PLUS they trash the feeders!

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

We have a humane trap we use from time to time, when they have trashed yet another feeder, to catch them and then relocate them way to our south, further out in the country beside a stream.

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

Once our problem starts, it continues until we catch each one of the family separately. We put them in the same stream, hoping they’ll find their family again, but NOT come back to us!

 

* Jeff Jett posts wonderful pictures in an effort to preserve wildlife and their habitats. When we know who the photographer is, we give credit.

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June 3, 2019 · 9:38 am

What – No Raccoons?

shutterstock.com

We trapped two raccoons – one each night, and relocated them about 5 or 6 miles away from us – both in the same creek so they could hopefully find each other and enjoy their lives elsewhere.

Now it has been two days with NO raccoons. The humane trap is set – with Ritz crackers and peanut butter – door open – but was empty again today.

We don’t know if we got all the raccoons that have been eating all of our birdseed and then trashing the feeders, grill covers, and the cup of the trap – or if they are playing a sly game with us, lulling us into complacency once again, only to return in force in a bit when our guard is down.

Our dogs have quit freaking out every time we take them out. Amber, our 94-pound yellow lab PUPPY, has finally quit barking at the empty trap, and no longer is afraid of going up on the deck.

Molly, our sweet, elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, followed Amber’s lead and barked like a nut when they went out for their last outing of the night.

We have to admit that we don’t miss having to put the trap full of raccoon into the bed of the truck and driving way out into the country behind our house to relocate yet another critter first thing in the morning….

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May 31, 2019 · 2:55 pm

Challenging Morning

A couple of nights ago we put out a humane trap on the deck, since “someone” had been not only eating ALL of the birdseed we were putting out, but ALSO trashing the feeders!  Yesterday morning we caught the culprit.

Pixabay

The raccoon was, of course, upset to be in the trap. He had pulled the bottom of the cover of our grill into the trap with him, I guess trying to get out. So we now have a grill cover that looks like something you would use as a decoration on Halloween, with LONG “fringe” along the bottom…

Amber, our 94-pound lab PUPPY, was in a frenzy over him, barking loudly non-stop. I have no patience with barking and wanted to bring her inside. My husband insisted that she would tire of the barking after awhile. He sat out on the deck with them, hot apple cider in hand, for almost an hour. Maybe she WOULD tire, but not in the hour he spent!

We put the humane trap in the back of the truck. Amber wanted to ride in the back seat, as usual.

We drove about 5 or 6 miles south of us, finding a creek that ran under the road out in the countryside. We stopped and my husband let the raccoon out.

I like the idea of ‘relocating’ the raccoons, giving them another chance at life – but not in our yard! This morning there is evidence, though, that he has friends or family near. :0(

Amber finished off our morning by rolling in something black and yucky, getting it all over her. We had to chain her up and hose her down. We let her dry out on the deck for awhile, and then I finished her up, toweling her off so that she could join the family again.

All this happened before 10 in the morning, so we were exhausted before the day even got a good start!

 

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February 10, 2019 · 12:14 pm

Raccoons

David Clasivin (I’m having trouble reading the signature at the bottom of the photo) via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

I love how raccoons LOOK. I DON’T like how they behave – at least not on our property.

We live on top of a ridge line on about 8 acres outside the town of Greenwood, Arkansas. We love the little world we’ve created, pretending we own all the land we can see. :0)

Almost every summer we have raccoons visiting. I would LIKE to say we enjoy this, but it’s a big pain. They won’t just be content sharing the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds on the deck. They eat ALL the seeds, making a mess, and then destroy the feeders!

Every year we go through the same thing – hoping that this year it will be different and we can all co-exist happily. We end up putting out our humane animal trap, baited with a cup of apple and peanut butter at the back of the trap. The raccoon eats all the seeds, destroys at least one – if not all – of the feeders, and then goes into the trap for the bait.

If our neighbors understood that WE are the ones relocating the raccoons out about 5 miles from us, onto their land for another chance at life, they would probably be quite hostile. We find a nice creek by the side of the road and then my husband opens the trap and lets the raccoon out.

Usually, if we have ONE, we have a whole family. We relocate them one by one, hoping that we’ve driven out far enough they won’t find their way back.

This past summer was quiet – quite a surprise. I was reminded of this when I saw these wonderful photos posted by Jeff Jett.

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