How to trap raccoons

I live on the edge of a small town in Illinois. Not uncommon to have wild animals visit my back yard at night. Last summer I could smell a skunk living under my
motorcycle shed. I setup a live trap and baited the trap with sardines and placed a trail camera up to keep an eye on activity. Didn't take long before I captured
4 young raccoons, 4 possums, and one skunk. I have a buddy licensed to trap nuisance animals and gave him the raccoons and the skunk. The 4 possums I relocated 10 miles away along a local river.

The trail camera took pictures of the adult raccoon of 20 pounds probably the mother of the 4 young raccoons. The mother visits the bait almost every night but
refuses to enter my 12 x 12 x 36 live trap. Do I need a larger trap or different trap? I have considered waiting for the raccoon in a tree stand and shooting her with a crossbow.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Jim
Hunting hogs in Florida

I usually just build a deer blind. I get coons, buzzards, owls, yellow jackets, you name it.


Alan

I also set out a live trap for a raccoon and used every bate known to man. That coon used every trick in the book and never came close to getting trapped. Once I used up all my bait, he moved on to better pickens. My guess is the best way to catch a coon is to leave 'em alone. They'll go some place else if they don't have anything to eat and no place to stay. As long as we feed them, they keep coming back. That's just my guess.

I have trapped and removed quite a few racoons over the years. Sounds like your trap is plenty big. When I bait the trap I put the bait under the trap rather than inside it. I also anchor the trap (long homemade metal staples) so that it is harder to tip over to get to the bait. A can of cat food has worked well for me. Of course, if you are in an area with a lot of feral cats you will be setting them free (relocating) a lot.

Pffft. Well, yeah. A professional and all. What kind of challenge is that? We're tryin' to be as smart as a coon. It's a challenge too what with them opposable thumbs.

When I was keeping chickens I had a constant supply of racoons and fought them for the years 2012 and 2013.

I am in a rural are near a large lake and I had a never ending supply. There is a ravine behind my house and they would catch the smell of the chickens on the air moving down that ravine to the lake. Mine were country coons and not too bright in the ways of traps.

I killed dozens!

I got a big boar coon in one of those live traps once and he tore that trap up! He turned it into a barrel shape and rolled it across the yard with him inside.

I even had a motion sensor on the chicken house with an alarm inside the house to tell me when the parade had arrived. I once opened the blinds at 2am when that alarm went off to find racoons climbing around of top of the chicken house, a skunk, a possum and two coyotes all in the back yard at the same time.

I never found them to be too particular about bait. Whatever smelly stuff you have around should work unless your coons are gourmets and prefer something exotic. I caught them on everything from sardines and cat food to kibbles to cheerios.

When you have a lot of them like this, and you live in a suburban area it is nice to have a suppressed pistol on hand. Saves time and disposal worries. You revert to Hunter's old three S rule. Shoot, shovel, shut up.

And, as if on que. I hear something ravaging the dog food barrel last night, flip on the lights and a big old coon pops up out of it. Gonna set the trap tonight and lay for him.

Alan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crashdive123

I have trapped and removed quite a few racoons over the years. Sounds like your trap is plenty big. When I bait the trap I put the bait under the trap rather than inside it. I also anchor the trap (long homemade metal staples) so that it is harder to tip over to get to the bait. A can of cat food has worked well for me. Of course, if you are in an area with a lot of feral cats you will be setting them free (relocating) a lot.

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Old thread. However, I follow crash's method with live trap. I dig a small hole for the bait under the trap for the bait. Then, use a few tent stakes to prevent Mr./Mrs. raccoon from moving the trap.
I also use conibear 220 traps in a 5 gallon bucket with a ground rod anchor.

The locals seem to prefer sardines.

Attachment 12119

It likes the good smells from our grill. Methinks it was the shrimp kabobs.