# Nuisance *****



## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

Anyone else read the Standard Examiner yesterday(Monday), specifically the editorial from the lady who feeds *****? I don't know why, but it kinda got under my skin. She claims to be "sharing," as she calls it, by setting food out to the *****. She claims that they don't bother her, and that there's no need for wasteful killing, and that they were here before us etc., etc. When I lived on the east bench of Ogden, not only would the ***** come and eat my wife's cats' food, they also beat one up pretty good. Seeing your wife bawl over that is upsetting. Needless to say, she has a different outlook on things now. I wonder if the rest of the people in the world could benefit from some re-education, so as to avoid making the situation worse by feeding them regularly, and telling them that is okay to be around humans. Do most people really not understand the nature of animals?? Or am I just off my rocker? What does Utah think?


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

I didn't read the article, but I'm with you on your thoughts. Actually, she will get a rude awakening one of these days, or nights. Then she will have a double take on what she is doing. Her neighbors should be setting traps and capturing them up as quickly as they come through the yard. For sure, someone is going to have a pet attacked by one or more of them, and there is always the possibility of rabies.
Let's hope no children get mixed up with one. They are cute to look at, but vicious when cornered.
Actually I like the looks of their pretty eyes.......one on either side of my sights.


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## stick_man (Sep 10, 2007)

From what I heard, they are not native to Utah. Growing up in Utah I never saw any until the late 1980's. I had heard that some guys wanting to run their **** dogs brought some in and released them. Now, I see them all over the place, unfortunately within city limits so I can't even give them any "lead therapy".

They are rodents and multiply like it. I would much rather see the dozens (or hundreds) of pheasants and quail and ???? that a single **** eats (as an egg) than one of the dumpster-diving overgrown ringtail rats.


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## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

stick_man said:


> They are rodents and multiply like it. I would much rather see the dozens (or hundreds) of pheasants and quail and ???? that a single **** eats (as an egg) than one of the dumpster-diving overgrown ringtail rats.


Amen to that! When I lived in Georgia, I saw first hand what a **** can do to a turkey population. I personally would rather see more roosters, than the ringtail rats!


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I used to trap back in the 70's and people would stare at me in disbelief when I told them I was catching a few racoons in Cache Valley. Nobody doubts anymore.

I generally have a live and let live attitude towards about all wildlife in Utah. Porcupines, ground squirrels, rockchucks, even skunks and coyotes usually get a free pass from me. The same doesn't apply to racoons however. They are like a plague and I never turn down the chance to get rid of a few.


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## billybass23 (Sep 11, 2007)

I too have the same feeling towards *****. Not really hate, but I've seen what they do when they find a way to get into a chicken coop. I'll trap em all if I could. Plus I like the furs on most of em, makes a sweet lookin hat!


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Amen to what everyone said; as far as the origin; I also have heard two different stories, they could all be true. One was that a film was being done in the Kamas area that required the use of the ***** after the shoot they simply released them; heard that from a person from Kamas. An elderly gentleman from SJ told me that the DWR brought them in purposely to have them keep the population of ______ can't remember what he said it was....I think the latter story is somewhat unlikely. Regardless, eradicate them. Several people often answer the complaint about significantly reduced pheasants in the state as habitat being the number one reason; I say WRONG; that may be a factor, but far from anywhere near the impact of the truly number one factor. While pivot irrigation certainly has its issues, it has still not caught on where I hunt in the basin and especially in teh Corrinne area; habitat has not changed one acre for 20 years (as of last year before the big P&G announcement). The difference is the raccoon; that is all we see on ditch banks are there tracks no more bird tracks all **** tracks; they have devistated the population of pheasants. I would dare say that they do more wildlife damage than porcupines, skunks, fox and yotes combined IMHO; they simply don't get the attention like the yotes as I think more people focus on deer. I can't say anything nice about them; no they aren't cute either fixed blade; fortunately he only reads posts <3 lines long; so he won't even see this.


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

***** will devastate Turkey nests and take the young poults from their roosts. I am sure that they have done vast damage to the Pheasant population and will contribute to the reduction of the populations of various species of Grouse and Quail here in the state of Utah. When **** fur was in demand in the fur industry, the populations were kept in control. Now they are exploding in numbers. In some areas back East there have been attempts to introduce diseases to control the populations. Rabies is fairly common in ***** and care should be taken if you come in contact with one. They will and have killed cats and small dogs in residential areas. It may become feasible for the state or sportsmans organizations to pay a bounty on *****, like is done with coyotes in some areas. Maybe we can have a revival of the Davy Crockett craze like we had in the 50's and every kid wanted a coonskin cap.


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## FROGGER (Oct 1, 2007)

About 2 years ago my wife and i were living in a home with several fruit trees... one of the large cherry trees was a day ar two away from being fully ripe. We had plans to pick everything on Saturday (it was Thursday) When i returned home from work on Friday night i went to the tree to get a sample and found the entire thing empty of cherries other than at the very top. I assumes it was the wife and went to ask her. She had not pick any, i went pack out to investigate about an hour or so later and to my dismay there was a family of raccoons in the tree gorging themselves on the cherries... All said and done there was a large adult and 4 babies... and they cleared the tree in less than 36 hours...


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## WasatchOutdoors (Sep 26, 2007)

We never saw much by way of racoons until the 80's but now our family farm in Perry is literally overrun with them. We trapped over 70 of them last year and haven't seemed to have made a dent in the population. As far as the origin of them in Utah, from what I understand, they have just migrated east. They thrive in suburban areas, and with housing developments filling in more and more of the areas that used to be open country, it just asically created a migrational highway for them. Either way, they're here to stay now.


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## Petersen (Sep 7, 2007)

According to the DWR Web site: "The species has not always been abundant in the state. Until the 1930s, raccoons were common in eastern North America, but rare in the west. The species has recently increased its range and abundance, however, and is now found throughout much of the continent."

I suspect that the raccoon population in the state is mostly the result of them adapting to living around cities and of people letting their pets go. Back in the '60s, pet raccoons were all the rage in Utah. By the late '70s, growing, localized populations of them started appearing, and 15 or 20 years after that, they were most everywhere.

Whatever the reason, though, the huge numbers of them we have now don't belong here. I understand that they really cause a problem with nesting birds at Farmington Bay and northward. Unlike what was previously mentioned, raccoons definitely aren't rodents (the taxonomic order Rodentia), instead, they belong to the order Carnivora, which includes bears, weasels, cats, badgers, wolves, seals, dogs, etc.

A couple of summers ago, we had one slide open the screen door to our bedroom and come in the house at about 3 a.m. Our dog stood guard for about a week after that before it would finally sleep through the night.


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## Great Basin Canada (May 7, 2008)

When I took mammalogy from Steve Durant at the U in the '60s, according to Steve there were no raccoons in Utah. In the early '70s , when I was working for the Division, a couple were trapped along the Green River near Ouray; shortly afterword, there were reports of '***** in the Raft Rivers. Between the raccoons and red foxes (which were rare back then), ground nesting birds like pheasants and ducks are in trouble - both are extremely persistant and successful hunters who methodically hunt a piece of habitat throughly as opposed to a coyote who is more of an opportunist.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

The only good thing I can say about the pesky critters is they bring a pretty good sum when skinned, fleshed and stretched. The market looks like it might net a trapper around $18 p/pelt.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

Bears Butt said:


> The only good thing I can say about the pesky critters is they bring a pretty good sum when skinned, fleshed and stretched. The market looks like it might net a trapper around $18 p/pelt.


That $18 in the last auction was a rarity. For years they have been going for about $8 a pelt. They are a lot of work and no guarantee that you will even get the $8. There is a lot of factors that determine the price including the weather in Russia and China. They are the largest buyers of them.


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## billybass23 (Sep 11, 2007)

We always trap a bunch a *****, in fact got a good one yeserday and skinned it out. So what are we looking about ten dollars for an average pelt this season?


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

billybass23 said:


> We always trap a bunch a *****, in fact got a good one yeserday and skinned it out. So what are we looking about ten dollars for an average pelt this season?


Was it even prime? I wouldnt expect them to prime up for another month at least around here. One caught this time of year I would bet you will only get a dollar or 2 for it.


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## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

Petersen said:


> Whatever the reason, though, the huge numbers of them we have now don't belong here. I understand that they really cause a problem with nesting birds at Farmington Bay and northward. Unlike what was previously mentioned, raccoons definitely aren't rodents (the taxonomic order Rodentia), instead, they belong to the order Carnivora, which includes bears, weasels, cats, badgers, wolves, seals, dogs, etc.


This doesn't surprise me, I have heard of people shooting them while out shooting ducks too. I've seen tracks at Howard's Slough, and would love the opportunity to have a bonus bag of a ****!



Petersen said:


> A couple of summers ago, we had one slide open the screen door to our bedroom and come in the house at about 3 a.m. Our dog stood guard for about a week after that before it would finally sleep through the night.


Doesn't surprise me either, but WOW!! :shock: And you thought you had to worry about burglars getting into the house!


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## HuntingCrazy (Sep 8, 2007)

A good way to get rid of some *****.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4275442


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## billybass23 (Sep 11, 2007)

it actually didn't have a bad fur at all, saw it in the trap and wasn't even thinking about skinning it until got up to it and saw it. Not too bad for this time of year. I'll let you know how much I get for them.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

billybass23 said:


> it actually didn't have a bad fur at all, saw it in the trap and wasn't even thinking about skinning it until got up to it and saw it. Not too bad for this time of year. I'll let you know how much I get for them.


Was the leather side white or still black?


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

HuntingCrazy said:


> A good way to get rid of some *****.
> http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4275442


I am liking this project much more now!


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## billybass23 (Sep 11, 2007)

if I recal it was white. I'm pretty new to this whole trapping and skinning deal, so I'm not claiming to be an expert, but it looked alright to me.


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## Lycan (Sep 22, 2008)

HuntingCrazy said:


> A good way to get rid of some *****.
> http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4275442


I live in a neighborhood that borders the river bottom, a golf course, and some orchards. We've got raccoons like crazy. I've swerved to hit a few of them when coming home late at night, but so far no luck. They've been getting in the trash cans and I know some of my ignorant neighbors leave their dog and cat food outside, just further encouraging the little thieves.

When I was a kid we had a mother raccoon make a nest in our attic. They made so much noise and my dad had to replace quite a bit of ceiling from their urine rotting the boards. The lady who is feeding them is either totally oblivious to the damage or has been lucky enough to not have them take up residence in her attic/basement/shed.


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## James (Oct 7, 2007)

There were no racoons in Cache Valley when I was a youngster. I can't remember for sure the year, but it would have been mid 60's when I first saw a racoon that a trapper had caught up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Then I started to see tracks now and then up South Canyon. Yes, in those days we had lots of pheasants, and now we have none, except for the escapees from Whites game farm. 

I won't say the racoon is the whole reason we don't have pheasants now, but it sure doesn't help matters. Several things have happened to decimate the Pheasant population here. Increased irrigation and three crops of alfalfa a year doesn't allow time for a brood between crops. Wintering Bald eagles catch them. We never had Bald Eagles to contend with in the 60's. There are more fox and coyote now than there was in the 60's. Along with the pheasants disappearance the Jack rabbit dissappered too about the same time. The Jack disappeared about the time snowmobiles became very common in this area. That also coincides with the Bald Eagle syndrome. 

Racoons are an undesirable pest. They will ruin a lot of crops. They will get into dog food or cat food or anything else edible left where they can get at it. People who feed them should be spanked. :twisted: 

Anyone who likes to hunt birds, or raise corn, should make it a point to hunt, and trap racoons with a passion.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I saw a cute little **** last night, actually he was kind of large, it was my favorite type of raccoon, bloated belly, tail floating, head under water, it almost brought a tear to my eye at the joyful site!


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## stick_man (Sep 10, 2007)

In my mind, there are two kinds of raccoons... good ones and soon to be good ones. The good ones are found along side of the roads. The dream is that some day all raccoons can be good ones. :twisted:


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## Fowl habits (Dec 4, 2007)

does anyone know where to sell them, i have been trapping in the neighborhood for a couple years now, they love to get in the chimneys here so everyone knows to call me but i've just been skinning them and turning them into **** skin hats, but it's getting to be to much work to tan them and sew them up it would be nice just to sell them off and get the pile of them out of my freezer.

i trap with a half bag of coconut covered marshmellows and a hand full of purina dog food that seems to provide the best results


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