This year has been a tough one with all kinds of critter problems. But recently something has been coming near the house at the back door and tearing the he!! out of our flowers and the grass in the yard. We've lost several perennials because they were dug up and shredded. In the grass it looked all the world like a skunk had been digging for grubs, maybe a momma teaching the young'ns how to do it. But that is usally out at the edge of the yard, never next to the house and there wasn't any odor at all from whatever the critter(s).. So I set up a game camera to see what it was and I had no idea these critters would do that...coons. Now I have to find a way to get rid of them, I don't mind killing them (we are literally overrun by coons) but this close to the house makes that real tricky. Plus, this area is our little dog's bathroom so anything I do has to have her safety in mind.

Had an invasion of groundhogs once. Asked the police if I could terminate with extreme prejudice. They answered that they discourage discharging firearms within the borough limits. 

I'm really confused, this thread had a reply from Grandpa Dave and i replied to his comment...and now both seem to be gone.

 

Anyway, yeah Lew..I'm out in the sticks and we don't have any restrictions (several folks out here have their own shooting ranges in their yards) but I'd be inclined to use a shotgun for safety reasons. Of course, that would mean I'm up at 1AM...which isn't going to happen.

14 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I'm really confused, this thread had a reply from Grandpa Dave and i replied to his comment...and now both seem to be gone.

The "Boss" is in the process of migrating the site to a new server. I had one from Dave disappear, too.

I know we're migrating, but I wonder if he's just mad at Dave for some reason.

Must be mad at me too. Keep getting an error 404 message when I try to access the forum listings. 

19 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Must be mad at me too. Keep getting an error 404 message when I try to access the forum listings. 

Same here.. yesterday. Right now all is hunky-dory! 

Some of my posts got dropped yesterday too.

Fred, perhaps a small animal trap will work.  I know you can't get them all in one trap, but if you could trap the mother perhaps the babies will wonder off/

Danl  

 

Just FYI, Fred, in Ohio, it's illegal to live trap and relocate raccoons because they might transmit rabies.

 

A few years ago, there was something under  my shed.  I set out the Havahart trap and found it was a skunk.  So now what do I do?  As it turned out she was nursing pups, so that made matters even worse.   Eventually got rid of them.  Then I put chicken  wire around the base of the shed and that resolved future problems (except for the occasional mouse).

 

Another time, a different skunk got hit on the road in front of the house.  Someone told me the township road  crew (whose garage is about a quarter mile down the road) would  take care  of it.  But they never did.  I finally picked up the carcass in a garbage bag, tied it up and put it in the garbage can for collection the night before pick up.

I don't intend to live trap them, I do have a possum I've been trying to live trap and I can't catch him. He empties the bait from the Havahart without setting it off. Yet one morning I had a small kitten in there. In any case, we do have skunks around every once in a while and I was worried about what would happen if I caught one of them. I ahven't done it yet, but I intend to build a box about the size of a large Havahart and set my conibear trap at the entrance. Bait it and see what happens. The conibear is an instant kill trap so I still have to worry about our dog and other animals but I'll try to put it somewhere to minimize those risks. But thanks for the info on relocating coons, I was unaware of that.

On 7/18/2025 at 4:29 PM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I'm really confused, this thread had a reply from Grandpa Dave and i replied to his comment...and now both seem to be gone.

 

Anyway, yeah Lew..I'm out in the sticks and we don't have any restrictions (several folks out here have their own shooting ranges in their yards) but I'd be inclined to use a shotgun for safety reasons. Of course, that would mean I'm up at 1AM...which isn't going to happen.

Thanks for the validation Fred. At least I know I'm not totally crazy or at least easily provable in a court of law. Odd your original post stuck but my reaction and reply totally vanished.

On 7/18/2025 at 4:45 PM, lew said:

The "Boss" is in the process of migrating the site to a new server. I had one from Dave disappear, too.

See response above.

On 7/18/2025 at 5:25 PM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I know we're migrating, but I wonder if he's just mad at Dave for some reason.

Apparently, because everything I did on Friday here went up in smoke to cyber space.  Decided to lay low for a couple days to see if everything stabilizes. At one point, a message appeared "This Account Has Been Banned."

On 7/19/2025 at 4:27 PM, HandyDan said:

Some of my posts got dropped yesterday too.

Everything I did here on Friday went poof by the end of the day.

 

 

Anyways Fred, I won't try to repost my original reply. That was Friday so I forget most of it anyway. The jest of the post was our spring invasion of raccoons all seemed to die of lead poisoning according to "Smitty."

 

My motto remains: buzzards need to eat also.

8 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Thanks for the validation Fred. At least I know I'm not totally crazy or at least easily provable in a court of law. Odd your original post stuck but my reaction and reply totally vanished.

 

 

My motto remains: buzzards need to eat also.

 

That happened to me (post disappear) over on Dave Faulker's birthday wish as well. When yours poofed so did mine....seems like there was a another one (maybe Lew) that went up in smoke with it.  Well, we're past that now (I hope).

 

PS, agree...buzzards, those vile looking birds that do us such a great service by cleaning up the road kill, need to eat as well.