RACCOON ON DEER FARMS

By Mark Neely

Alot of people see raccoons and immediately say, “oh, look how cute.” Then out come their phones to get a good picture. Next thing you know they are trying to see how close they can get, or even turning their backs to the animal to get a selfie. The really foolish one’s next move is to see if they can pet this cute, friendly animal. Too many people don’t believe wild animals will attack them, and when they do, it’s too late.

Do I think raccoons are cute? I think they’re beautiful animals, as I do most everything in nature, but I also understand what the term wild animal means. Not only are they dangerous, but they also carry diseases that can be transmitted to other animals & humans. Lets take a look at these guys and see why you don’t want them around your deer farms.

Raccoons are mesopredators, meaning they are mid-level, not Apex predators. Raccoons will prey on most anything they can catch, but larger predators will prey on them. Raccoons eat animals, reptiles, insects, plants etc... Birds & eggs are among their favorites. They will spend hours around and inside your trough feeders, and growl, hiss, harass and even attack other animals that come in to feed. They are not aggressive because they are gangsters; they’ll just do whatever they have to in order to survive. Raccoons also carry diseases that can make your animals sick.

As mentioned earlier, these guys will spend a lot of time in any of your feeders that they can climb in to. As they sit there and eat, there mouths will get frothy and it will dribble out into your deer feed. I’ve heard this referred to as spit balls and you can sometimes see it in the feed. When your deer unknowingly eat these, it could easily make them ill. Not to mention that these same “oh so cute” raccoons will urinate & defecate in your feeders also. This will contaminate your deer feed and won’t be good for your animals either.

Now keeping raccoons out of your pens is going to be close to impossible. They can dig under easily, squeeze through your fence or climb over with very little effort. Burying a layer of rock or fence along the outside of your pen could stop the digging. Running a squeezing through or climbing, but how will this affect your deer. Not only could these pest be a problem, they could be a costly one. What can we do you may ask? Well let’s look at a couple of options.

Shooting on site is an option, but you’ll want to use a small caliber (.22) or even one of the modern 1200 fps pellet rifles. Keep one close by and maybe even carry one in your cart or UTV. Always take an extra second to look around behind your target for safety.

Trapping in my opinion is a better choice. Traps for raccoons are easy to use and once set, you just leave them in place. Most states have laws as to how often your traps must be checked; I know that Florida requires a visual check every 24 hours. The two easiest traps for raccoons are cage traps and dog proof (DP) traps. Cages are just what they seem; a cage with a trap door that closes when the animal triggers it. Dog proof traps are specialized for raccoons to exploit their ability to close their front paws and grab things.

DP traps are basically a pipe with a trigger in the bottom that when the coon eats all the bait down to the trigger, he’ll grab and pull up ultimately tripping the trap and being caught on his front leg. Some DP traps are built with a push/pull trigger that can be triggered by pushing down also. These traps are not so specialized and will catch any animal that can put his paw into the small diameter pipe and apply downward pressure while trying to get the bait out. I prefer and use the pull only trigger traps because I am usually specifically after raccoons. DP traps are also known by a couple of other names such as, Coon Cuffs & Coon Daggers.

I would use both of these traps (Cage and DP) outside of your pens, maybe inside any walk-ways around your pens. Look for places where the raccoons are entering your pens or use the trails where they are coming back and forth to your pens as good set locations. If you feel the need to set inside your pens, I would only use the cages. If a raccoon is caught in a DP trap by one leg, he can still attack your animals with his teeth.

Tip for Floridians:

It is legal to use a cage trap anywhere by anyone, but a DP trap needs a free FWC Steel Trap Permit for use.

Cage traps are easily set, baited in the back and then put into place. Dog Proof traps can be used basically anywhere a cage can be set. I start off by setting my trap, then pouring in the bait (I use dry cat food) ensuring some goes below the trigger and pushing the stake into the ground. Never ever for any reason should you stick your finger into a DP trap. Lastly, be sure you tie off your DP trap because the coon can easily walk off with it on his paw.

One last thought about Raccoons on Deer Farms. When you catch a raccoon, no matter which trap he is in, make sure he is fully dispatched before removing them from the trap.

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