# Raccons



## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

Yesterday i suspected we had a **** visiting our bee yard at night. I figured if he wants honey, ill give him honey.. So i proceeded to set a live trap and drizzled a bit of honey on the trigger mechanism and tossed a small container i brought the honey out in toward the back of the trap.. Sure enough, there was a big fat **** in the trap this morning. He will be put down when i get out of work.

My question however is is using honey as bait to catch ***** in the bee yard a good idea, or will doing so have a negative effect and attract predaters to the area that otherwise wouldnt have been there.. We keep chickens also and the ***** seem to be getting wise to most of our bait


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## Grizz270 (May 2, 2013)

We've trapped lots of nusiance animals over the years. We asked lots of people (at stores that sell traps, from companies that sell traps, and even a professional trapper) about bait. All of them said Honey Buns and it worked well. The only thing about honey is that it may stay on the ground and attract animals. My mother finally got something like this for her chickens, we haven't had any problems in a long time.


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## KPeacock (Jan 29, 2013)

If the goal is to eliminate a nuisance animal, I think whatever bait is known to work, is the bait to use. Eliminate the offender quickly, and the problem is gone. If you're lucky and some narrowly escape the trap, eventually they might associate honey with bad things happening and honey could be a deterrent. Personally, i believe this to be overthinking. If you want it dead, make it dead and enjoy the pelt and meat.

FWIW, when I'm getting rid of raccons, i use canned dog food or canned sardines.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

If they're getting wise to your bait, and you bait them with honey, I expect doing so will teach them to avoid honey (and so, hives).

I'd certainly try it and find out.


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## stan.vick (Dec 19, 2010)

Hello Stranger
Where I live we have many more **** than you do in your state, yet I have never had a problem with them messing with my hives. I see their tracks in the bee yard, but no evidence of trying to get into the hive boxes, they likely eat the dead bees, honey or brood comb I may have left on the ground. I don't say they won't, just that they have not with my hives. As for the honey attracting predators, I don't think it will, unless you have bears in the area, if so they can smell the honey from the hives and any little that you use for bait shouldn't make much difference.


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

Awesome.. Bit of honey it is then.. Its to protect the bees, the least they can do is help provide bait


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

In our Province it is illegal to trap or kill wild animals....except specific ones, at specific times, in specific areas, by approved methods methods and in tallied numbers...and you must have a licence to do so. Otherwise you have to notify wildlife management as see if they will do remove for you. Racoons are familial, not solitary, animals...remove one and others are around to take their place. So far we have not had problems with the local racoons and honey...eggs and chickens are a different story.


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

If ***** keep comin, ill keep killing them. I spoke with my local DNR office and instructed them i would be killing any animals attempting to eat any of my livestock.. They gave me the ok on everything except birds of prey. If a hawk or eagle wants one of my chickens i cant do anything about it. If a **** wants my honey or my chickens he isnt going to survive the week


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I use marshmellows for bait (any thing sweet) and if you leave the trap set in front of the hive all day it will bee dead by 10:00 AM when the sun comes up the bees will sting it about the face and kill it. I have removed as many as 22 ***** from my hone yard!


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

It was raining here day so no bees outside stinging it, fortunately.. But thats good to know.. I dont want my bees dying to sting a **** ive neutralized


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## SS1 (Jun 1, 2013)

Stanger said:


> If ***** keep comin, ill keep killing them. I spoke with my local DNR office and instructed them i would be killing any animals attempting to eat any of my livestock.. They gave me the ok on everything except birds of prey. If a hawk or eagle wants one of my chickens i cant do anything about it. If a **** wants my honey or my chickens he isnt going to survive the week


Well.. Sorry to say, even to the DNR, something tries to eat my bees, honey, chickens, Pigs, Cows, Dogs or wife... its fertilizer. They want to reimburse me for damage done by critters they dont want killed, then I'd be happy to leave the smoke pole hangin above the door. Wait... did I say Wife? Scratch wife from the list............


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

I am a professional trapper (nuisance wildlife control operator) with 20 years experience catching raccoons and other animals. I catch raccoons daily. I have never experienced a raccoon becoming wise to the bait. They get wise to a trap, if they have been in one though!

If you are going to try to catch a raccoon in a cage style trap, raise it off the ground a bit so as not to catch a skunk. Raccoons will climb to get in, skunks generally will not.

In my company, all my employees use a 1-2 punch as far as baiting goes. We use a lot of white marshmallows (5 ounces in a cage) as visual enticement. Raccoons are natural egg eaters and the mallows look like eggs. When they taste one, they don't seem to mind the delicious deception! We place them in the back of the trap, in front of the trap, and in the trap just before the trap pan. For the second punch, we use something that smells wonderful to the raccoon. This odoriferous offering ALWAYS goes in the back ofthe cage where it is untouchable without stepping on the trap pan. We use a commercial paste bait but you could use leftover KFC bones, an empty yogurt cup, a burnt piece of bacon - anything that smells good!

Always put something heavy on your cage to stop it from rolling. If you watch a raccoon encounter a cage trap, it will spend ten minutes doing everything except going in it! It will walk on top of the cage. It will circle the cage. It will reach in sideways to try to get the bait. When all that fails, and your weight has stopped the raccoon from rolling the cage, the hungry animal will go in. Depending on how many marshmallows you have in front of the trap pan, it may go in and out many times before it finally gets too far in for its own good and sets the trap off. 

I can go on and talk about defending our homes from wildlife for hours but I certainly don't want to bore you to death. 

If you're having troubles catching a particular animal, I'd be happy to give advice!


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

The only thing i have trouble trapping is groundhog.. Or whatever they are called... Those are easier to just shoot on site.. Tho i do have limited success placing conibear traps over their holes


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Where are your hives located, in Michigan?


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

Behind my large wooded backyard is a barn i keep my chickens in. Behind the barn is a large area we mowed down for a bee yard / garden / orchard area (orchard area is a work in progress) ... So roughly 100 yards behind my house


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

The way i look at it, once i purchased my bees i became responable for them. Im responable for keeping them healthy and most importantly, alive


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

I'm kind of inbetween. I too feel very responable for my bees or any of the animals on my farm. But I also try not to kill anything I don't have to. Fireants and roaches being the exceptions. I kill other things when I don't have much choice. I try VERY hard not to kill a bee, but you can't keep them and not kill any. I wouldn't let anything eat my bees, but I'd kill them as a last resort. But I WOULD kill them....


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## Stanger (Mar 4, 2013)

And i understand your perspective as well oldbee.. Unfortunately for the local ***** and skunks i have too much invested in both chickens and bees to let them run amuk.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Grizz270 said:


> My mother finally got something like this for her chickens, we haven't had any problems in a long time.


I find this interesting, considering when ever I hunt coyote at night or other predators, we use a red light so they don't see that they are being illuminated. 



as far as trapping raccoons, punch a coulple of holes in a tuna can and toss it into the back of the trap, you can use the same bait for a month. Might catch a few neighborhood cats as well, but they are easy enough to release.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

I am glad others have chimed in. This is off the original topic but in line with the thread that has evolved.

Yes it seems we are all very different in how we look at things and act.

Yes one may feel they are responsible for the bees they keep and that they must protect them. It seems some build fences to deal with bears yet others kill racoons, either out right or by means that I personally am totally shocked and actually sickened by. I can understand and relate to the upset caused by the predation of hives...it has taken money and effort to set them up, they may be a source of income and/or a source of pleasure, for some there be an aspect of pride...to have them disrupted or destroyed is devastating. 

I don't have the mind set of those that kill to protect rather than modifying their set up to prevent the upset. Then I am a city person and a veterinarian

For those that kill to protect where does one draw a line in the sand and say... is it OK to kill this species because it is an inconvenience but not OK to kill another one? Is your dog/cow different from the raccoon if it knocks the hives about? Is the neighbour's dog/cow different from your dog/cow? Is it wrong to kill bees as they sting and cause discomfort? Is it wrong to destroy a hive, or a wasp nest, because they are stinging you, your family, your pet? When is it inappropriate to kill?

We each have different places where we draw that line. It is a reflection of up our up bringing and the values we choose to embrace.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

OK folks this thread is getting way off course we are NOT talking right or wrongor personal belifs we are talking about keeping bees ALIVE!!


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## SS1 (Jun 1, 2013)

off topic? Raccoons is off topic? ok... Im gone... Enjoy folks!


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Michigan Law reads for both Raccoon and coyote " If they are doing damage or believed to about to do damage on private property they can be controlled (trapped or shot) but NEVER trapped and relocated at any time of the year. As for having less ***** the GA, we are over run with them. as for them being a threat to a hive Not a chance! For me they tear up my garden, kill a chicken now and then, eat grain out of my hog feeders and destroy my wifes bird feeders. They have never touched a hive and I have many on this farm. Spring until fall I remove 20 to 30 and the neighbors do the same.


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## cerezha (Oct 11, 2011)

Jackam said:


> ...If you're having troubles catching a particular animal, I'd be happy to give advice!


Hi Jackam, nice post! We have opossums eating all our fruits. I have no evidence that they bother bees, but, who knows? Is anything I can do to repel these creatures? Many thanks for your attention.


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## spudrocket (Feb 13, 2013)

Ok, I know all about raccoons as pests. I know that I do not have any more on my whole property. If you want to get rid of raccoons, take a 12 gauge and a spotlight or trap and kill them all until they are all gone. This may sound very ******* but when (not if ) you kill them, boil them to make it tender and then smoke it in a smoker like barbeque. Guns can take care of pests and protect your bees.


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

cerezha said:


> Is anything I can do to repel these creatures?


The (mostly) nocturnal visitors are there for only a very few reasons. The most prominent being food and shelter. Eliminate the food source and you have solved 90% of the problem. Eliminate the shelter and you have solved another 5% of the problem. There will ALWAYS be animals that wander onto your property to look for food, shelter, lovers, or sometimes it seems - adventure! So it makes sense that a product that would repel these guys would be the ideal solution.

My guys have seen yards filled with vibrating devices, lights, sprinklers, chewed gum, cut human hair, predator urine, ultrasonic noisemakers, moth balls, bars of soap, pepper, wrigleys gum, radios, and all sorts of commercial products "guaranteed to work great!" None of them do. If there WAS something that worked even remotely great - I'D SELL IT! 

The best bet to repel is to find where the animals are getting into or onto your property and take care of it. They are opportunists and will investigate a hole under a fence to see where it goes. They will use the gap between the gate to enter. They will always take the easy route. When these easy routes are gone, the more determined will climb (***** and possums!) Without food/shelter, the climbers lose interest and will seek their needs elsewhere.


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

spudrocket said:


> Ok, I know all about raccoons as pests. I know that I do not have any more on my whole property.


Have you ever heard of the phrase "nature abhors a vacuum" ??? 
Keep vigilant.


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

One thing that will repell ***** from a area is electric fence. A single strand about 1 ft off the ground. You then cut 2inch strips of foil. Smear peanut butter on the center of one side and fold it over the wire about every 10 ft. The foil protects it from sun and rain and is a great conducter. This system also works for deer with the wire at about 30 inches.


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Jackam 
What is the name of your company and what is your DNR Lic #


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## Grizz270 (May 2, 2013)

Harley Craig said:


> I find this interesting, considering when ever I hunt coyote at night or other predators, we use a red light so they don't see that they are being illuminated.
> .


My understanding is that they can see red light but, that it doesn't "scare" them as much. These lights "blink" which is "unsettling" to them and does "scare" them. We had raccoons, skunks, and even a bear (ok just once with a bear and that was just a freak thing) come around and with the lights we have had a lot less trouble.


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## Moccasin (May 18, 2010)

I have never had trouble with anything bothering my bees. Skunks take two or three dozen individual bees during the winter but it has never been a reason to upset the balance of nature over. ***** don't hurt bees.


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

danno said:


> Jackam
> What is the name of your company and what is your DNR Lic #


I am nowhere near the Ludington area, but I'm sure there are PERMITTED NWCOs in your area that can help you if you need them (the Mich DNR does not license us, but I wish they would! Permits only.)


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Jackam said:


> I am nowhere near the Ludington area, but I'm sure there are PERMITTED NWCOs in your area that can help you if you need them (the Mich DNR does not license us, but I wish they would! Permits only.)[/QUOTER
> I know about the Lic which many call it and certification program. That's why I ask. What is your permit number


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

Moccasin said:


> I have never had trouble with anything bothering my bees. --------- ***** don't hurt bees.


Well here in the ghetto ******* eat bees, *possums* eat bees, *skunks* eat bees, I have never had a problem with skunks YET but ***** have cost me as many as 10 hives in winter because I wasn't home to trap them (that was when I caught 22 ***** and 3 possums) after I returned home.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

I have trapped a fair amount. I don't think ***** will get shy to a certain bait as much as they will get shy of a certain type of trap. Along with using your live trap, you might consider adding a couple of Duke dog proof traps. The **** reaches in to get the bait, they pull the trigger and the trap catches their arm. Make sure you place the stake of the trap in soft ground so the **** can EASILY pull the trap out of the ground. Add a longer piece of chain than comes on it. You can tie the longer chain to a tree, or a fence post but don't place the trap in an area where the **** can get tangled. If it gets tangled it can break its leg. If it breaks its leg it will get free. 

I use the large marshmallows for bait in the Duke dog proofs. Pull the trigger up and put one under the trigger. Put 2 more on top of the trigger. There are other brands of dog proof traps but I like the Dukes the best.


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Anise oil is the only somewhat species specific bait out there and ***** cant resist it. I say somewhat because bears also go for it. You wont catch skunks, oppossums or house cats. A square bucket with a vanilla wafer dipped in anise paste in the back guarded by a 220 is deadly on *****


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

danno said:


> Anise oil is the only somewhat species specific bait out there and ***** cant resist it. I say somewhat because bears also go for it. You wont catch skunks, oppossums or house cats. A square bucket with a vanilla wafer dipped in anise paste in the back guarded by a 220 is deadly on *****


How do you make the paste out of he oil?


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

I have found the ***** like to get into the hive to eat the comb and brood - like a small bear. They usually go for my chickens first, so do the skunks. Then I trap them and cart them off someplace else.


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Jackam said:


> How do you make the paste out of he oil?


There are a couple of ways that I do it. The easiest for the average guy is to use a grease like crisco. I use a lure thickener that will turn things like coyote urine into a thick paste. Most ADC paste baits start out with base of figs and prunes paste with a oil mixed in.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

_>"I am glad others have chimed in. This is off the original topic but in line with the thread that has evolved.

Yes it seems we are all very different in how we look at things and act.

Yes one may feel they are responsible for the bees they keep and that they must protect them. It seems some build fences to deal with bears yet others kill racoons, either out right or by means that I personally am totally shocked and actually sickened by. I can understand and relate to the upset caused by the predation of hives...it has taken money and effort to set them up, they may be a source of income and/or a source of pleasure, for some there be an aspect of pride...to have them disrupted or destroyed is devastating. 

I don't have the mind set of those that kill to protect rather than modifying their set up to prevent the upset. Then I am a city person and a veterinarian

For those that kill to protect where does one draw a line in the sand and say... is it OK to kill this species because it is an inconvenience but not OK to kill another one? Is your dog/cow different from the raccoon if it knocks the hives about? Is the neighbour's dog/cow different from your dog/cow? Is it wrong to kill bees as they sting and cause discomfort? Is it wrong to destroy a hive, or a wasp nest, because they are stinging you, your family, your pet? When is it inappropriate to kill?

"We each have different places where we draw that line. It is a reflection of up our up bringing and the values we choose to embrace." 



_You should read that and memorize that honey man before you start deleting comments, not to your liking!


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## jipsy (Jul 21, 2013)

Is there any kind of fence that will keep out racoons and skunks for that matter?


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## pharmbee (Jun 21, 2013)

Ricky from Trailer Park Boys feeds his raccoons, but he pronounces them "rakins". Plus that's in Canada.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

> Is there any kind of fence that will keep out racoons and skunks for that matter?

Sure. I keep raccoons out of my vegetable garden (with sweet corn) with an electric fence. I _struggled _with a regular welded wire 3 ft fence with 2"x4" rectangular mesh even though I had added a charged wire about 6" from the top. The raccoons would still get the corn anyway, probably getting under the fence. Frustrated, I added a standalone wire on separate posts about 8" off the ground and 6-8" away from the welded wire fence. Viola! I get to eat my corn this year.


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

Google golden malrin and coke


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I was home last summer and my dad had a magazine ‘fir and feathers’ I think it was. They were going off on a trap called a ‘dp’. It looked like a little triangle. They said that only the **** could trip it. Their bait of choice was cat food with strawberry jello powder sprinkled on it. Apparently the cats don’t like that smell. Anybody ever heard of this? Been a while but it was about 3 things in that article that I had not heard of that stuck.


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## Edymnion (May 30, 2013)

I grow some of the hottest peppers in the world (like the Bhut Jolokia, over 1 million scovilles, compared to 2,000 scovilles for a jalepeno), so any time I start having trouble with anything mammalian I just pull a couple peppers out of the freezer, take them outside to put in a blender, then dribble it around where I don't want things to come.

Nothing with fur will come close to that stuff.


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