I snuck out Monday to ride along with a friend who is the Government Trapper for one of the counties in the Edwards Plateau region here. We ran some of his traps and snares and I managed to do a little calling. I called in a nice big female grey fox. She was so pretty and furred out, that I think she is going to be a 2nd pedestal mount.

Bob

He dispatched this coon on one of the traps. I shot the hog in one of the snares along a fence line.

I was using the CompuCaller III with a jackrabbit sound.

Nice fox Bob! That one is a keeper.

Sorry to sound like a liberal here or a PETA type...

but why did the Gov't guy have to dispatch this poor little raccoon? looks like he was out in the middle of the desert and was presenting no harm to anyone or anything..

sorry, I have a weak spot for raccoons and would never shoot one...guess we have to be a bleeding heart liberal over something in life..
raccoons are mine..

otherwise nice fox.. ( could care less about them or the hog..)

Because he was in the trap. Racoons are one of the main problem animals on ranches and most of the ranchers have a kill on sight policy, cute or not. I know one ranch near Bryan/College Station that has taken over 300 coons so far.

Bob

"Raccoons may feed on farm crops or raid poultry houses. A raccoon typically attacks birds by biting the head or upper neck area. The heads of adult birds are usually bitten off and left some distance from the body. The crop and breast may be torn and chewed and the entrails eaten. Raccoons have been known to mutilate poultry in cages by pulling heads or legs off. Several kills may be made during a single night raid with part of one or more carcasses fed upon. Dead fowl may be at the kill site or dragged several yards away. Raccoons are also serious predators of wild bird populations. Reports indicate that raccoons have been responsible for eliminating local populations of some nesting waterfowl."

I agree they are cute, but destructive as heck. Where I hunt, they are shoot on site as well. They will get in the grain bins and ruin lots of grain, not to mention the poultry damage. We found some cattle severely bitten as well.

To Seafire 2,

I can understand your attachment to any critter. I have a soft spot for some other animals. I learned a couple lessons a couple years ago however. I have a small hunting property in northern Missouri and my neighbor gave permission to a coon hunter to hunt his property and mine also for coons. He didn't have any authority to do so but when I asked him why he did it he informed me he lost almost 20 acres of corn to racoons that year. Since he grows corn to make a living, I didn't make an issue out of it. They're distructive not only in poultry farms, but they're tough on turkey chicks and they can be pretty destructive. I caught and then killed over 35 racoons about 12 years ago in my backyard in the city I live in within an eight week period. They were knocking trash cans over, leaving a mess for my birddogs and frankly taking over the place. Everytime I killed one it seemed 7 came to the funeral. Some I caught were just mean. They snarled in the traps. They snarled when I let them out and I figured if any were rabid, I might have a problem.

Coons:
My dad caught 12 in his garden corn this fall and still had coons getting in what was left after he took the traps up. I saw 3 one evening deer hunting just a few hundred yards from there the other day. I think the small predators are a large part of deminishing upland game birds in my area.

I told my brother in law the other day that we need to get another coon dog just to get the populations back down. All the local hunters rarely harvest one just running the dogs most of the time.

If its legal I take all the coons, possums, skunks, feral cats, etc I can. I have noticed an increase in the rabbit populations since I started taking the small predators. I take the larger ones too!
God Bless, Louis

sorry guys,

I hope no one took my liking of raccoons as a negative on folks taking them...

I know they are destructive.. and can be some tough little critters..

I don't have corn to worry about, or poultry or anything else that they affect my personal life, so it is easy for me to feel the way I do..

I have no problem shooting any other varmint, so I guess raccoons are my one "sacred cow"...

they are intelligent, adaptable, tough, and yeah I think they are cute....

I have had a few babies over the years that lost their mother that I raised for a while..

I college we had a Siamese cat that was such a bad ass, the neighborhood German Shepards were afraid of it...It went after a 3 month old baby raccoon I had that it saw in our garage.....

at first the baby raccoon thought the cat had come to play with it..it was steamshoveling the cat all over the garage..

We shut the garage door trapping the cat in there with the raccoon.. finally the cat hurt the baby raccoon with one of its strikes...then the baby raccoon proceeded to tear the Siamese Cat a new asshole or two...riped the crap out of it..

we watched with glee thru the windows since none of us guys were cat people...and this cat was just a shithead..

So it bothers me to see someone shoot a raccoon..

CATS.. shoot all you want.. the only good cat is a cat shot full of holes..

seafire,

I know ranchers that won't shoot or let anyone shoot bobcats on their ranches because they are so "pretty" in spite of all the damgage they do. I guess everyone has a "soft spot" somewhere. I will just keep shooting the little bandits on sight as requested by the ranches I hunt on.

Happy New Year!

Bob

Racoons spread Rabies more than any other creature. ABout 12 years ago I seem to remember there were 4 reported cases of Rabid Coons in Gaston County,NC. Next year it was over 100. Following year over 300 and it continued.

We were running a Trap Line just before all this began catching mostly stray Cats. The owner had us calling the Dog Catcher to come get them. And we tried to give them the Coons which they would not take. So, we carried them to a place we knew had lots of Coon Hunters and released them.

Then the Rabies began. The Dog Pound began asking if the Coons looked Rabid and to Kill them if they did. Another year later they simply said not to take any chances at all.

Very smart critters which pose some serious problems.

Racoons also carry a parasite that is extremely deadly to humans. It settles in the brain stem and kills fairly quickly.

My hunting companion and retired Vet told be about it. Most common deaths here (approximately 6 per year) are in the owners of "pet" racoons. Can't remember the name of this "bug" and the Vet's in Mexico for the winter. (Lucky retired guy!)

I don't handle racoons with bare hands any more after hearing about this parasite. We trap many racoons around the game farm as they are he** on the bird pens, almost as bad as when a mink gets in. When I clean the traps out the gloves go on first just to be careful.