A Gaze of Raccoons Coming Every Night

[pianoman9701]

A friend of mine has a gaze of 5 or 6 raccoons visiting each night and knocking over the fountain in his water feature. My friend is ticked. If my friend were to put a pellet in the head of the biggest raccoon, would the others get the message and steer clear? Anyone have any other solutions for my friend?

[addicted]

A younger dumber me once put an arrow through one for the same reason. 30 minutes later his buddy was back and caught a similar fate. So they definitely didn't learn.

[ducks4days]

They will eventually come back. They always do.

He is better off trapping them.

[CP]

They used to frequent my house regularly until my daughter’s pit/cattle dog took a couple of them on.  One of them lost a piece of his tail.  Haven’t seen them since.

[MADMAX]

I’ve heard a havahart trap and a recycle trashcan full of water works well

[brew]

If your friend live traps/relocates them make sure to take them a long ways away....I used to work on McNeil Island and we would live trap them, shoot a stripe of paint on their backs and "relocate" them approx 3 miles away.  2 days later they were back

[Loup Loup]

Please do not “relocate” wildlife. This goes 10x for coons.

[JakeLand]

Please do not “relocate” wildlife. This goes 10x for coons.

this
.22 short through the ears does the trick

[redi]

It is highly illegal to transport/relocate wildlife.

[Stein]

Sounds like you need 6 pellets.   

[Widgeondeke]

I know a guy who let his kid hit    the entire family of coons with his BB’s.  They stayed away for a few years

[pianoman9701]

My friend is aware that relocating trapped wildlife is illegal. He plans to kill them. Thanks for the input.

[metlhead]

I've never once had a dead racoon return. No shortage of em and you'll be doing local birds a favor. Quietly manage predators and everyone is happy

[CasterlyRock]

If you don't want to / can't shoot them a large havahart trap with a can of cat food in the back is about as effective as you need.

When you catch them in the trap you can submerge it in a tub of water for a quick and ethical death or at that point a well placed pellet or 22.

Shooting them with pellets on the fly is funny and all when we were kids, but you're going to have a hard time killing them with that unless you're an absolute crack shot. They're not going to really "Get the hint" in my experience.

A wildlife control office will probably not charge very much to handle it. Call WDFW for a list, it gives them more business and helps show WDFW more human-predator conflicts (for whatever that's worth).

If they're anywhere near me, I can't charge, but I'll always help those who genuinely need it, send me a message.

[jackelope]

Your friend should invest in more pellets. I know they’re intelligent animals but I don’t think they’re intelligent enough to realize the fate of their friend may also be induced on them.