O.T. Racoon

My cousin has a dairy barn that has not housed a herd of cows in 10 years. He has been complaining in recient months about the amount of cat food the half-dozen barn cars were eating. About 40# per week. The other night he spotted a HUGE Racoon in the barn up on the wall. He does not want to shoot in the barn for fear of a richote (did I spell that right??) Any sugestions for riding the barn of coon without harming the cats??

Fly bait and Coca-cola. They lap it right up, and don't even make it 5 ft. from the bowl. We put it in our sweet corn patch when it comes time. Also found 1 skunk and a possum. Never any cats or other friendly critters harmed.

Otherwise use a live trap and when ya get a coon, dispose of it. Black jelly beans are supposed to work great for bait.

Donovan from Wisconsin

for fear of a ricochet? WHY? In a Barn? I shot a hole through my honda accord last week with a 22 to kill a big skunk. A gob of silicone caulk fixed it to my satisfaction.

God all mighty, keep buying cat food if you are scared to shoot a pest.

Marshmallows in a live trap.

Paul

Are you sure about the cats not trying it? I've got a skunk and possum waiting to be a target for my .45. I just couldn't put anything out that the cats will get into. I've already buried 3 of them for other reasons this summer.

I had the same problem. I baited a live trap with cat food. Caught a coon and a skunk. Shot a coon while setting the trap once that had climbed up the wall. Caught the same cat 3 times. The cat got released.

It's in a Wisconsin barn. The lower level is concrete walls. He is afraid that a bullet could bounce back and hit him.

I second the fly bait and Coke. Doesn't seem like the cats the stuff so they should be safe. Jim

The fly bait is the one, I think tame animals can throw up, want hert them a bit. Been useing it for 4 years with dogs. Ihave been getting sweet corn with out fenceing it!!!

Hey Geezer, I live in Wisconsin. Wisconsin coons really like marshmallows. Put 2 way in back of the live trap beyond the trip pad, put one more half way leading up to the pad, and put one more just outside the trap. If you use meat you catch a Wisconsin skunk and that ain't fun. Yesterday I caught a Wisconsin squirrel but I let him go...boy do they ever panic when caught in that trap! I live in the western hills of Wisconsin, we have cows with 2 longs legs and 2 short legs so they can stand up straight while grazing on the hills. LA in WI

Don't want to sound stupid but I wever used or seen fly-bait in the store. Is it like fly paper? I too have a coon problem but don't want to kill off my cats.

Fly bait: Is a granular poison with an attractant for flies. A common one is "Golden link_disallowed".

Peanut butter laced with rat poison

Do the live trap thing. Walk to fridge after work, open beer, drink 2/3 of beer, put 1/3 in live trap in small cup or cut bottom off of can, repeat as necessary. If you're not too good of a shot to get them when you open the trap, give them 1/2 a can!!!

.410 shotgun????

Well, with concrete walls your cousin is right, don't be shooting in there unless its up in wooden rafters, then a .410 would be ok if using slug, cause bird shot will bounce off of it. Up in the rafters a .22 would do fine as well. Not around concrete though, cause bad things might happen. I wouldn't go the poison route because of the cats. Best idea is a cage trap until you he gets it, not the cats. Coons are mean and can tear a dogs, cats, and people to shreds if get cornered. Coons are smart too. I've seen coons lure dogs into water and then get on their backs to drown them. I watched that happen to one of my buddies hunting dog, and my buddy went in to save the dog and did, but not before getting the crap bit out of him as well. That coon got shot, but my buddy and his dog got stitched up, and if the test results didn't come back in time, my buddy would've gone through rabie shots and his dog did quaranteened by the vet until the results got back. Now I had a lab that was great at killing coons naturally by getting them on the back of the neck and shaking them until he broke the necks, but everytime he did it, scared the stuff out of me cause coons are mean. Once my dog went after a coon I learned to just shut my mouth and not call him off so he wouldn't let his guard down and get torn up being preoccupied with my commands and go at it half heartedly. That was until he got too old and when I called him off, he came back to me. That old fella's gone now, and I doubt I'll ever have a natural like that again.

Good luck. Try a cage trap, take it out, shoot it and don't get bit or gouged by them claws.

Mark

Hey, LA in WI, you can't find many skunks in
Western Wisconsin when the legislature is in
session, as ther're all in Madison.
"greygoat, from the Driftless area"