Seeking advice/knowledge - Dealing with Raccoons.

[Raleigh]

Looking for advice to deal with raccoons.

Quick Background.  Location is in the country, has house, house trailer and a number of barns all of which they have in the past or currently inhabit by them.  Property is surrounded by corn/bean fields, have about a dozen neighbors in a mile radius.  The property I am dealing with had been vacant for 3 years so they have made themselves at home here.  I know there are at least 2 females each with 3 or so new offspring and I am sure there are some others I have yet to stumble upon.

I'm planning to build a new house out here in the next year or so once I get things cleaned up and demoed.  I'd like to get rid of them long before then as they get into anything I store out here.  If I can eliminate their presence without killing them I will take that approach. 

So anyone have experience deterring/eliminating raccoons?   

[shardian]

Racoons LOVE cat food. Not so sure about dog food...but I don't think they are all that picky really. 

FYI, my wife had one for a pet when she was a kid and loved it. If you get them from infancy, they are very friendly.

[Dartful Dodger]

Trap and kill them.

[Guaranos]

Your best bet is to surprise them by running up and grabbing their tails.  They get scared and run off.

[Raleigh]

Don't plan eating, don't want as pets, not stupid enough to sneak up grab, don't own a gun to shoot them...

I figure I will trap the ones that are currently here and extricate them.  Hopefully being around now I will not continue to get new ones, unfortunately there are still just too many places for them to occupy for the time being.

[Dartful Dodger]

It's a pain to move them.  They’ll pee as soon as you get them in the back of your truck, and you could get in trouble for transporting/releasing them.

It's better to drown them while they are still in the cage.  No blood and the cage is more or less ready for the next set.

[ChadTower]

Two ways. 

Short term:  put a predator there.  Dogs are perfect.

Long term:  Get rid of their food source.

Until one or both of those things happen, and possibly for a while, the raccoons will remain.

[Raleigh]

I will end up getting a dog closer to the time I will be living out here full time.

It will be impossible to get rid of their food source here.  There are corn fields all around, there are ~50 fruit trees on the property and besides traveling to the neighbors all of their local diet on the property is from nature.

Hopefully once I eliminate the current population I don't continue to get new ones.  I grew up out here and don't recall having an issue with them, it just appears to become a haven during it's vacancy.

[ChadTower]

Then you're not going to eliminate the population.  The best you can do is displace it onto a neighbor's property, which of course they're going to try their damnedest to put it back onto yours.

The only real potential solution short of wiping them out is dogs.  Not a dog, multiple dogs, with hunter tendencies and proactive rabies vaccinations.

[RayB]

Your best bet is to surprise them by running up and grabbing their tails.  They get scared and run off.

I tried that with a squirrel once. It did not run off.

[ChadTower]

The squirrel sprayed him.

[RayB]

No, it basically did this to my hand:

[Guaranos]

Your best bet is to surprise them by running up and grabbing their tails.  They get scared and run off.

I tried that with a squirrel once. It did not run off.

Squirrels are crazy.  My parents caught one in a have-a-heart trap the other day by accident, and it killed itself before they could get it out of there.

[Xam]

Beware! Racoons are very intelligent...and they are hell on wheels if you piss them off.
I 've seen coons beat the crud out of dogs much larger than they are.
A coon will eat pretty much anything edible (they love hotdogs).

Best advice I saw here was to eliminate the food source. A dog may help ward them off....only because they would rather avoid confrontation.
If you can't eliminate the food source, traps are you best bet...just remember, they are clever.
If they are getting in your garbage cans, try sprinkling red pepper on it.

Xam