My Porch Coon

[pigman]

My wife says the cat is eating a lot of food lately. I think he is getting some help from the carport coon. ;D The picture is a little fuzzy since I shot through the screen door. I couldn't open the door with out almost hitting the coon during it's late night snack.

[Tom]

Be careful about getting something started, Pigman.  A judiciously placed, favorite, potted plant may bring out the broom and pointed hat.  :D :D   I'll not be responsible for the belly laughs. :D


Spruce Bunny,
That's a cute one.  What drew him to your abode?

[sprucebunny]

Tom, he was very cute and not very big. I have bird feeders out there and occaisionally leave a small bag of trash out there but none lately. Maybe he was enjoying the view ;D

[SAW MILLER]

 I have a walker coonhound that is free to roam and she has treed 14 coon in the last 14 nights.And thats just the ones I have found for her when I get home at midnight from work.I have never seen so many coons and I have never had a hound this accurate !

[WDH]

My nephews are invertebrate coon hunters.  The use the woods around my place and my Daddy's place to run their dogs.  Plus, no coon could get within 1/4 mile without Miss Scarlet knowing about it.  So, no porch coons around here :D.

[thecfarm]

Some of you people are coon lovers.The only way I could get a picture of one is tie the camera to the top of my gun.Anything that tries to destroy my property gets taken care of on this hill.I have chickens and ducks and I like to keep them alive.

[pigman]

The secret to keeping the coons from bothering anthing like potted plants or chickens is to keep them well fed with cat food. If I tried to shoot the coon I would have a hole in the door and probably a hole in the side of the car.


Bob

[bitternut]

We had a porch coon a few years ago. We were just sitting down for supper about 5 pm when all of a sudden there was a big commotion at the front door where our mixed beagle and cat were sleeping. My wife ran to the door and there was a medium size coon going around with our dog and cat. Lots of fur flying and lots of noise. She screamed for me to bring a gun and started wacking the coon with a broom. By the time I got there with a pistol she had busted up the fight and the coon was headed for the prune orchard across the road. I ran after him and dispatched him with my pistol. Since rabies cases in our end of the state were rather common we thought it best to call the Sheriff. They sent a deputy over and he took a look at the coon. The deputy said the coon looked healthy and most likely was not rabid.

Well I decided that it was not worth taking a chance so I put the coon in a double garbage bag and placed it in the garage fridge. The next day I dropped it off at our health department for testing. Two days later the health department called and said the coon was rabid. Since my wife had been picking blackberries with shorts on and had scratches on her legs, arms, and hands and had handled the dog and cat right after the fight they said she had to get the shots. In fact they said if she did not show up to get the shots they would be sending a deputy down to the house to pick her up and deliver her.

Things turned out OK and now if we see any coon's around the house they disappear real fast. Don't take chances with wild animals that do not show fear of humans or exhibit unusual behavior. Rabid animals do not look sick.

[SwampDonkey]

Well, got no coon pictures but I was looking at the wood in sprucebunny's porch and was thinking that looks a lot like hemlock. Am I close? ;D

I see one of my resident rodents chewed through my barn door. He was out grazing on the lawn yesterday. Yup a 'ground pig' (woodchuck). Gotta get that new lumber and make a new door soon. 78 x 89 inches.

Summer = a lot of work. Winter = vacation. ;D


Just some more of my babel.  :D

[Gary_C]

The secret to keeping the coons from bothering anthing like potted plants or chickens is to keep them well fed with cat food. If I tried to shoot the coon I would have a hole in the door and probably a hole in the side of the car.


Bob

Try mixing a little sweetner in the cat food. Anti freeze works well for that and it does not leave any holes. 

Neither coons nor rats get any respect here either. Wife had a coon walk into the feed room while she was mixing feed for the cows. She almost got it with a pitchfork but it jumped into a running conveyor and got away.  :(

We have a farm with big empty buildings just across the road and I can see the paths they travel to come and get feed. Every fall a local trapper will take 20 to 30 coons that make that trip and there still is no shortage. The lady that owns that farm even hires a carpenter to come in every summer and keep those buildings in top shape so there is no chance they will fall down soon. The only hope is the renters in the house will burn the buildings down when they burn their trash and they almost did that this spring but someone saw the grass fire and the fire dept came and put the fire out. 

I had a coon take up residence up in the straw walkers up inside the back of the combine one winter. I did not know he was there until I moved the combine in the spring and started up the separator drive to make sure all the residue was cleaned out. The only way out was thru the chopper and he made a bad decision to exit when it was running. Sorry no pictures of that either.  ;D

[thurlow]

Bob
The only way out was thru the chopper and he made a bad decision to exit when it was running. Sorry no pictures of that either.  ;D

Gary_C.........reminds me of a tale I usta tell on my brother-in-law.  I helped him finish up his beans one year (this is in the early '80s).  He was running a 715 IH (spreader, no chopper) and I had a F Gleaner.  I told everybody at the elevator that he had harvested  a couple of cottontails;  they went all the way through and came out the back end.  One was limping a little, but otherwise, they were fine.   ;D  ;D    

[sprucebunny]

My nephews are invertebrate coon hunters. 

No spine must make it really hard to hold a gun :D :D

This really cracked me up :D :D :D


SD- It's 7 year old pressure treated syp. Time for a pressure washing.

[SwampDonkey]

Well glad I'm not a betting man.  ;) How much more did ya haul back when ya was down winter before last to the Florida gathering? ;D

[WDH]

Coon hunters with no spines create an interesting visual image ;D

[sprucebunny]

Racoons with no spine are probably real hard to find :D

I usually don't mention typos but that one had me in hysterics. Thanks, WDH. ;D

[WDH]

I am sure the invertebrate coons are on the endangered list :D.

[Roxie]

We were just sitting down for supper about 5 pm when all of a sudden there was a big commotion at the front door where our mixed beagle and cat were sleeping.

Those spineless hunters are probably as rare as bitternuts dog!  I have a mixed beagle and corgi, but I sure would like to see mixed beagle and cat.   :D

By the way, Sprucebunny, that is the cutest coon!   It's a shame they grow up.   

[Tom]

Sitting here at my computer and looking through the blinds on the window this afternoon, I saw a gopher turtle (tortoise) marching around in the front yard.   He appeared between rain showers.   It was funny because I could tell he wasn't liking being out in the open too much.  He was headed for the house but changed his mind and clunked back to the drainage ditch on the east side and down a gentle slope to the water running in the bottom.  He knows the lay of the land, apparently, because he avoided the areas where there is a steep drop.  I could see his back as he loped along the edge of the water and headed for the swamp. 

Taking a picture came to mind.  I didn't because the camera is empty of batteries and card.  I was afraid I'd miss the show if I tried to get all of the parts together.

Then another heavy shower hit and nothing was out there but a cardinal taking a bath for a few moments.

When the rain stopped, I was in the middle of a conversation with an old friend of mine who used to work for the Dept. of Forestry.  He took a job with the Agricultural Extension Office as Urban Forester about 3 years ago and I didn't even know it.  We were chatting about decumbant limbs and rooting Live Oaks when five Turkeys came strutting down the ditch bank toward the swamp.  The ditch is no more than 75 feet from my window and I just knew that they were going to see me.   I've had them lower their head and run when they detected my movement from well inside of the house before.

They were definitely traveling.  A few errant glances across the lawn told them that there was no corn.  I figure they are in the back eating acorns and Lord only knows what else. 

Again, I didn't take a picture.  It looks like I need to set up a remote camera in the yard that I can point from desk.  The menagerie continues to grow but gives no warning.

I'm beginning to think of duck and bat houses.  That would be fun.

[SwampDonkey]

Thanks for sharing Tom. You write good diaries/digests.  ;D

I've got to get going on my bat houses soon as well. I also have a barn door to make soon and painting to be done and.................. well you know.  :D

Dang lawn mowing.  >:(

[limbrat]

Do you think the extra critters are rfrom the drought damaging the wild food supply? Or are you just noticeing them more?

[Tom]

Actually, it's because I live in their front yard.

I have a hardwood swamp and river bottom behind me and it goes for miles to the east.  If there is a wild critter anywhere, it's gonna be here.  :D

There's a lot of development going on that is driving them this way too.

[pigman]

The secret to keeping the coons from bothering anthing like potted plants or chickens is to keep them well fed with cat food.


Bob

I was wrong! :(  The other night I was almost asleep in my chair and I was suddenly awakened by my wife talking loudly out the living room window.   She had heard something outside the window on the small deck.    The coon was digging up one of her new potted plants. She was  speaking as authoritative as a grown witch can speak to a coon "if you don't stop digging my flowers, I  will stop feeding you every night". The threat must have worked since the coon has not bothered the flowers since the tongue lashing he received. ;D

Bob

[Onthesauk]

Couple of days ago the wife was standing at the kitchen sink, just getting supper started.  Noticed an odd colored dog by the corner of the garage, not one she recognized from the neighborhood.  She stepped out on the porch to get a better look and realized it was a small bear.  She came back in and called me from the computer.  I clapped my hands a couple of times and yelled at him and he took off down the ravine and into the woods.  Probably a young one looking for his own territory.

[Tom]

Could be!   Yet, he could have been a performing stand-up comedian and will be back for more applause.  You got to be careful about calling them for an encore.  :D

[TexasTimbers]

I saw this thread in the archives way back when I was just snooping. Now it has been revised before we got adopted by our coon and I didn't even notice! Shame on me!


I guess there is no shortage of coons. They look like bats without wings sometimes. Maybe that's what we ought to name this one. Batman. Or if it's a she, Batwoman. I never did like the way Batwoman just does not roll of your tongue though. if it's a she i think we'll call it "Batchick".