Hey beerthief

I have for years always had a cheap set of security cameras (hardwired not wireless ) and they have always made my pesting quest super easy lol.
Just rewind the 1 gig hdd and no questions when or where they came in, what pest it was, or what they got into. I have always been able to find them on clearance sales and discounts . I found a 4 camera small setup with night vision once at newegg.com for 89.99 on a special sale and purchased 9 units haha.

I have never had to wait up for very long ever since. I even put out bait and used a small driveway detector alarm with an audible doorbell cue and when activated stepped outside to take care of things so to put it lol.

Just a few ideas for you that made my life alot easier years ago. I have never had any regrets since and do not think I will ever be without them again. I did trail cams for a while but just to much up keep in batteries and such.
 
Try one of these handcuff traps, keep them around till you are done with your coffee.

 
They ( The foot holds ) sometimes aren't as stealthy as I like if in a situation with close neighbors haha. They work great in the sticks where I am now though.

Yes, put them in a corner where the coons and you can’t be seen if that’s a concern. Best part about the trap is you don’t have to stay up at all.

I have rats once a while in my yard but staying up to shoot them is a ton of work and lost a lot of sleep. Finally gave up and traps worked wonders. In warmer weather they survive in the live trap so I can practice point blank range hold over.
 
With the bird feeders full the coons come out just after dark (about 7 pm right now . so while im grilling i can shoot them easy @ 20 yards or less . they are not shy at all , if i make noise they only run about 20 yards and turn and watch me till i go in . it is almost like posing for the hit .
 
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Coons love to check my chicken coop for weaknesses.. I got that coon proofed. My bird feeders were a different story. I installed motion sensor lights pointed at my bird feeders.. at first it scared them off. Once the got use to it and stared ignoring the lights turning on... It was over... The light turning on gave me more than enough light to see through my scope.. lights out for them..
 
yesterday i filled the bird feeders (5# of seed in two feeders
THEN last night the coons emptied both feeders !
Tonight is coon eradication .
interesting , the coons are like "deer in the headlights " they stair into the flashlight , like posing for the shot ( led flashlight with zoom )
 
I am installing security cameras in a few days to get a better idea of the population and patterns. This year I got quite a few. I lost count but around 7-8. I definitely see less now, or they don't come until way later into the evening. The cameras will tell.

It seams, to me, they differ in behavior. Young ones just run out sometimes, totally careless. The bigger (I guess older) ones are more cautious. I watched one two days ago on thermal, as it was watching me. It was almost full moon. It kept peeking on two legs and would not go for the marshmallows while I was out. This lasted for almost an hour. It would peak, wait, leave, and repeat. It was behind thick bush and I only saw it on thermal, not on the IR. The other guy never saw me because it was coming from a different direction and went straight for the bait. He got a hornet.

When I see them taking the bait, I make some noise. 90% look toward the source of the noise and present for a perfect frontal shot. 10% takes off. Darwin doing its thing.
 
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"I grew up eating raccoon and sweet potatoes," Drayton says. "Once you put those sweet potatoes around him, and you parboil him, and you bake himlet me tell you, you have a good eat there. But none of the young people know how to do that.
Despite what you might think, raccoon tastes pretty good when cleaned and cooked properly. Like dark-meat chicken or turkey, though it is greasier and more tender than either".

IDK, I'm kind of old school and if it isn't destroying something then I let it live. If it is costing me money then I will kill it and eating it is a bonus.

It seems that the main draw back is that they could have Rabies but that isn't really shown in a animal that is acting normal. Yeah, I guess that in the long run I wouldn't take the chance unless I was really hungry.
 
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