Racoon

[Pioneer2]

Seen one road killed near Slack Slough south of Red Deer and heard of another shot near Rocky.............Shot lots in Ont. as a kid.........Harold

Originally Posted by BUD

At the coon hat thrift store wher l got mine.

They ran out Now what Bud they dont have my size.

[BUD]

Originally Posted by Nationwide

They ran out Now what Bud they dont have my size.

Dem da brakes

[BIG buck Barry]

Originally Posted by delburnedave

Posting for littlered

Littlered and the racoon he caught last week:

I was up at calling lake on the weekend of March 15-16 and came across a dead racoon on the south shore while i was out sledding. I didn't think these guys could survive in this climate. Are they considred a pest because their is no mention of them in the trapping regs?

[sourdough doug]

They are indeed a pest but there are those who think they are cute..Just wait till they have them in their back yard. IMO, they should not even be taking up good space on western based trapping forum. Coons , however a a big item for those who trap in the US of A and maybe the eastern provs., where it doesn't get too cold for too long. There are not a lot of creatures I dislike but these come damn close as you can tell. Like the rats in Sask., don't let these "rats" get a foothold here. Furthermore they don't bring much money at the auction either. Sorry to say but they are in our back yard, it appears.
The thumbs down is not for you . . it's those critters again..

[Reeves1]

IMO, they should not even be taking up good space on western based trapping forum.

I respectfully disagree.
Coons need to be brought into the light, so people know how they'll change the ladscape in AB. The population expands, their area expands, and you'll see a dramatic change in all land nesting birds in any area Coons live and travel.
This highly adaptable critter has done & will do a tremendous amount of damage and in a fairly short period of time.

IMHO, they should be persued relentlessly.

[knight hunter]

Overgrown rats. Big or small-- kill'em all.

[DAVE]

We seen some up near st paul summer of 06 talked to F&W he said shoot every one we see they don't want them here have not seen any since

[sourdough doug]

Hi Reeves. I'm in complete agreement with you in regards to the type of critter they are and would like to see a bounty on them before they are allowed to become the problem they are everywhere else . If it weren't for the fact that they are basically nocturnal, more of them could be taken by gun. Finding a nest is like closing the gate, after the horse is gone.

[James M]

This thread is kind of old but I'll post my picture anyways. I shot this coon in '98. Caught it in a cagetrap then shot it with a 22. Anybody seeing any coons around Red Deer? I might try catching some more next winter.

[Reeves1]

Coons "sort of" hibernate. Best get at em now through to next winter.
Been thinking of going out soon for morels. Going to carry a .22 just in case I see any !

[dean1969]

I trapped raccoons in manitoba had good success using the 5gallon pail with a 220 conibear, someone else mentioned this on the forum, it was alot of fun back then enjoyed trapping them. Old abandoned homes next to water bodies make good raccoon habitat.

[East Coast Caper]

just got one tonight. Bugger has been raiding my bird feeders every night. I took the feeder down for three nights and just put it back up tonight. I happened to look out the window and saw the feeder falling to the ground. Ran and got the .22 and fired from the porch. hit him on the right side face on. The coon ran about ten feet and then turned back toward me. I had a 1 000 000 candlewatt light on its ass. it stood up on it's hind legs and began hissing at me. i could see it's teeth. i held my ground and the damn thing went back to the bird seed. I hit it again. This time in the left shoulder. it ran towards the woods and fell at about 10 meters. Still "barking" and hissing at me as i approached. One last shot... thing was tuff. I will post a picture tomorrow.

i am getting chicks next week so one possible problem has been eliminated. Now to get the weasel that i have been seeing....

[Islander]

Ahhhh, brings back memories of growing up on Vancouver Island..... They use to do a number on our ducks, chickens, and turkeys. Killed quite a few over the years, mostly in the live trap, sometimes at night with Mom or Dad holding the flashlight. They are tough indeed. 3 shots with the .22 and an 80 ft freefall and I still never found one. Good times...

[East Coast Caper]

sorry.. no pictures. something dragged it away thru the night. Most likely my neighbours dog. now there is another problem! a few weeks ago i watched this dog (yellow lab mix) chase a rabbit thru my back field. i have a hothouse and there is a space at the bottom of it that a rabbit can easily fit under. but not a 100lb yellow lab going full tilt. he just followed the rabbit and ran straight into the side of the hothouse. he hit it so hard that he fell on his ass. smart. hope he likes distemper

[YoungBuck]

during the middle of winter i found a dead racoon on the edge of calling lake(2 hours north of edmonton) i didn't know they could make it this far.

[FisherPotch]

I can confirm they are still coons kicking it on the NSR. I see tracks with some frequency. I have two friends with mounts, one shot on the NSR, two trapped on the NSR. Not sure how they trapped them though.

[Cabot]

These critters bring back a lot of memories.

I used to trap them in Québec growing up as a kid and part of my adulthood. Coons are part of the folklore over there and they are everywhere. Besides all of the problems they cause such as raiding the family chicken coupe and garbages at night, they also carry a variety of diseases that are harmful to humans and other wildlife alike; rabbies being the worst. They are a very social and family oriented kind of animal and will readily gather in one specific area to feed, thus, fighting amongst themselves and spreading the diseases even more. It is a major problem back East. I know that in parts of Québec, F&W fly over highly populated areas and drop pellets of food impregnated with the rabbies vaccine. Before they do this, they actually setup live traps (with the help of trappers) to check how many have rabbies and then they decide if it's worth dropping the vaccine from the air. Also, as someone mentioned, birds nesting pattern changes because of them.

All in all, if we let them establish a strong foothold in Alberta, we're in for a big and costly surprise. To me, they're just like coyotes, very adaptable and we'll never get rid of them if nothing is done to nip it in the *ss.

Never seen one where I live yet, but I'm sure they're here. Seen a dead one from a hunter while hunting antelope in 1994 in 102.

As everyone mention, kill'em all before they're too established.

Cabot.

[LacLaBicheNS]

I grew up in southern ont and you wouldn't beleive the problems they cause..

FULL of desease and rabbies.. I was told growing up that in my area almost half of the coons had rabbies.. and they were EVERYWHERE.. they lived in chimenys, sheds, wood piles etc.. my grandfather gave me a bucket full of old musket balls for my sling shot and told me to kill any I saw...

They used to walk rightup on our deck at night in ont.. even if our dogs were out.. one time our dog was bite by one and had to be put into quarenteen.. turned out the dog was ok..

anywho I shot a few two summers ago with a pellet gun of all things.. I waited till they were about 10 feet from me and shot them in the head..

if you see them shoot them..

and like someone said earlier they are viscous as adults..