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critter bait

Started by Engineer, May 05, 2008, 11:14:53 AM

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Engineer

Something keeps stealing my compost.   >:(

I have a 10-gallon galvanized metal can outside the kitchen door, with a tight fitting lid, and inside that is a 5-gallon drywall bucket for kitchen scraps.  It gets emptied about once a week or when it starts to smell bad, but lately it never gets full because something keeps knocking over the can, or simply removing the lid, spreading the scraps all over the place and letting rainwater in and a mess all over my steps.  It does not matter what's in the can - last night it was knocked over and the can had previously been emptied and rinsed yesterday afternoon.  I know it's not a bear, it would leave prints in the mud nearby and there are no prints.  I think it a big fat raccoon and I bought a live trap, but I need to know what to bait the trap with in order to catch it.  I'd also like to know if anyone has opinions on whether to release the varmint far from here, or if I should just kill it.

Raider Bill

I use cat food for coons and possums here. Coons will sometimes figure out how to get out. I can't shoot them but my gators eat good.
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ADAMINMO

I have used tuna and vienna weiners and peanut butter crackers.As far as them stealing the bait through the side , I took and wired a license plate on each side and end of cage where the trigger plate is where the coon can't stick his hand in from the side and scoop it out and he has no choice but to go in. I will try to remember to snap a picture of the trap with the plates attached.If you use the peanut butter cracker deal take and put a little on the bottom of cracker to "stick" the cracker to the trip plate. You might want to anchor it down also if you can cause I have had them turn the cage on its side and then crawl in and eat and leave.

Normally if you haul it off it will find its way back or go bother someone else .... then you will be in the same boat as semologger was in a thread about hauling a dog off to someone elses place. I would just finish it and eat it!!!

Good luck!!

Radar67

It seems to like the compost, so use that for bait. Why fix it if it ain't broke?  :D
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flip

Dry cat food has worked best for me when hunting season starts  ;D
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trapper

marshmallows if you dont want to catch all the neighbors cats.  5 miles min if you dont want them to come back.  Here it is illegal to turn them loose. 
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ARKANSAWYER


  Check your local game laws.  Here you can catch it and relocate it but you can not kill it unless it is hunting season.  If it is killing live stock you can shoot it any time.
Peanut butter will lure in a coon but not the house cats in the area.  Most likly it is a sow coon and she will have babies.  Once they start coming they will not srop.  You move the food and they will tear the screen door off looking for food.
  Remember before you put it on the BBQ to remove the glands in the arms.
ARKANSAWYER

Engineer

Y'all are serious about eatin' it?   :o  I've never heard of eating raccoon, although it's probably not a New England thing.

I don't care about catching cats - there's a couple strays around and I'd just as soon catch them anyway, give 'em a good scare and let 'em go.


Texas Ranger

Sardines, and  you will catch everything in the neighborhood that will fit in the trap.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

sgtmaconga

i'm with TEx. i use the small smeels and catch whatever is within smelling distance
Measure twice cut once

beenthere

For the live trap, I put the bait under the trap. Then a couple boards on each side and a rock on top.
For bait, some beef suet works good.
If a cat gets caught (rarely)....and has a collar, I let it go. If not, same fate as the coon. But the SSS method is best, so's not to stir up anyone that might be borderline PETA.

If a skunk, then I drag the trap and skunk way out back and get rid of it.
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Beweller

I have read that if you release a coon in the same drainage as where it was caught, it will return.  If you release it in a different drainage, it will die.
Beweller

Corley5

Raspbery bismarcks work pretty good :)  My father in law told me that and he's right they work  8) 8)  I still prefer high speed lead poisoning  :)
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timberfaller390

If it's already eating the compost that is the thing to use but anything sweet will work. If your critter has ever been caught and got away it may be a little harder to catch than you think. Make a bait box out of 1/4 inch rabbit wire and wire it to the bottom of the trap so the coon cant steal the bait by reaching in from the side. Coons have the habit of not wanting to turn loose of something they have grabbed so if the cage wire is big enough to get his hand in but not big enough to get his fist out he might walk off with your trap if its not tied down. After you catch him is when the fun starts cause these things are mean when caught and do cary rabies so be careful.
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Greg Cook

Skin it, clean it, build a fire with cherry wood to make some good coals, and get to work!  "Course, I don't know what one would taste like that's been eatin' hog slop....  :-\

The  best tastin' coons are the one's raiding the cornfield! At least you get something out of the deal.

Greg
"Ain't it GOOD to be alive and be in TENNESSEE!" Charlie Daniels

brdmkr

If it is a coon robbing compost, virtually any bait will work.  Pastries, cat food, dog food, pretty much anything.  Your game laws may restrict you from killing it outside of season or without a license, but if you translocate, you can bet it will not survive.  Many people pay nuisance animal control agents a hefty fee to release the animal far from their home.  They think that they are doing the 'nice thing', but the fact is these animals interact with other animals and strangers are not welcome.  Even if they were, when an animal is moved to a new place there are dangers that they do not know about due to being in a strange environment.  For an example, look at the great effort that is expended in restocking game species or endangered species.  It is costly, takes a lot of time and a lot of preparation of the release site.  Even after all of this, viable populations are difficult to establish.

Regarding eating coon, most people down here boil them first and then barbecue.  They are pretty good to eat.  There is a disease risk (Balascaris SP?) from a parasite that is pretty common in coons.  If you choose to eat it, I would wear rubber gloves when skinning it.  Although, chances are very low that  you would become infected without the gloves, I would not take the chance.

Good luck.
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iffy

After you clean it, cut it into a few big chunks and put it in a pot with chunked up potatoes and onions and cover with water. Boil gently until meat falls of bones. Throw away everything but the meat. Put the meat in a slow cooker, cover it with your favorite barbecue sauce and heat thoroughly. Very rich meat.
The onions give it a little spice and the potatoes soak up the grease.

timberfaller390

Just bring it to the crawdad boil at Riles :D
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Greg Cook

Yet another innocent post turns to FOOD.  This place is as bad as my wife's Weight Watchers forum!

Greg
"Ain't it GOOD to be alive and be in TENNESSEE!" Charlie Daniels

ADAMINMO

Funny how an innocent thread about critter bait can turn into a thread about a delicacy for some folks.Aolt of people in my neck of the woods eats em.

Dodgy Loner

Peanut butter will catch whatever is eating the scraps, but so will most any of the baits recommended.  I've eaten coon BBQ on several occasions.  It's very good, but it's best not to think about what you're eating ;).
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ARKANSAWYER

  Coon is good eating.  There is a cheesey grit stuffing for them that will having you drooling over road kill.  The big boars do not taste as good but get a young one and smoke it and you will take up coon hunting.
 Once you skint them look in the folds of muscle in the legs on the inside.  There are what look like little pockets of fat.  Thems glands and you want to cut them out.  The meat is a dark red and rich.
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Corley5

My great great Aunt Emma broiled raccoon on a rack in the oven with a pan under the carcass to catch the drippings.  It's been probably 34 years since I had any but I remember it being good  8) 8)
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