# Raccoon in Utah?



## HunterTanner (Feb 4, 2012)

I was looking into trapping raccoon, but the guidebook was very confusing about whether or not you can trap raccoon in Utah. It gives the link to some website (also very confusing) and so I was wondering if anyone out there knows for sure. 
Thanks, 
HunterTanner


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Killed this chicken thief sunday!  Hard to tell from that angle but it was a MONSTER sized boar.










-DallanC


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Nicely done Dallan; that is my favorite kind of raccoon! It is my understanding that they can be dispatched by any legal means anytime and anywhere, within the other laws about discharging a firearm, etc. along with coyote, red fox and skunk.


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## HunterTanner (Feb 4, 2012)

*Thanks!*

Alright, thanks for the help!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Huge29 said:


> Nicely done Dallan; that is my favorite kind of raccoon!


Dead ones? Heheh This thing killed our two best hens and mangled a 3rd. I knew he'd be back the next night so I set up around the coop and got his greedy chicken theifing butt. Couldnt believe the size of it. 36" nose to tail.



> It is my understanding that they can be dispatched by any legal means anytime and anywhere, within the other laws about discharging a firearm, etc. along with coyote, red fox and skunk.


Yep, kill'em!

-DallanC


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

DallanC said:


> Killed this chicken thief sunday!  Hard to tell from that angle but it was a MONSTER sized boar.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ooooh!.......is he going to be okay??


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Kevin D said:


> ooooh!.......is he going to be okay??


Sure! He is just enjoying the sun, waiting for a tummy rub while getting a pedicure! :mrgreen:

-DallanC


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## caddisguy (Sep 10, 2007)

Growing up in Utah I jealously read "Where the Red Fern Grows" yearing to get a hound dog like Little Ann or Big Dan and go out hunting *****. I never saw a raccoon in Utah before before 1987.

How did they get here and where the heck did they come from?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

A guy in Alpine (his name escapes me atm) moved here around 1980 from back east, owned a bunch of **** hounds that he loved to run. He brought in a ton of ***** and released them so his hounds had something to run. I went out with my dad and him a couple of nights running ***** for kicks around '84 ... dang I cant remember his name, I was just talking to my dad about this guy sunday too. I'll post his name if I recall it.

I remember him bragging about bringing them in and releasing them. We had alot of chicken theif ***** and even mink that escaped from the mink farm in Highland and followed Drycreek up to the foothills.

-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I personally believe that they were pets that were turned loose after their owners found out that they don't make good pets. 

I remember seeing my first one along the Duschene River back in the early 70's and I have talked to people around the Virgin River that saw them as far back as the early 60's. I have no doubt that someone could of imported them into the state just so that their dogs could have something to chase. 

They are just like crawdads. Give them a good environment to live in and they will soon be everywhere. The big problem with raccoons is that they don't have any natural predators to keep them in check. I doubt that even a cougar would tangle with one unless it was really hungry. I have cornered a couple of them and they are one mean and nasty animal.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Critter said:


> I doubt that even a cougar would tangle with one unless it was really hungry. I have cornered a couple of them and they are one mean and nasty animal.


I've personally seen a **** corpse killed by a cougar. It was a fresh kill in fresh snow and unmistakable with the tracks left behind. I dont know how often a big cat will do it, but they certainly dont kill enough to make any kind of dent in the populations.

-DallanC


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

My uncle lives on a desolate farm in the Basin and had a Great Pyrennhees (sp?) who ate them for snacks, this dog was literally no less than 200 lbs, but he would sure get his face all tore up taking them down.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I was trapping **** in Cache County in the early 70's. I was told at the time by an old trapper that he first started seeing them in the mid to late 60's. He figured they immigrated into Cache Valley from Ogden Valley and the Weber River. 

***** can be pretty tough critters. I had one particular hound that I was proud of because he had left his dental imprints on the hind end of several lions without so much as a scratch in return. Anyway, one day I was walking back to the truck along the creek with this dog after treeing a lion when we jumped a ****. The **** backed under some tree roots and the dog dove in after him. It wasn't too long before the hound's ears were in tatters and he was bleeding from a dozen wounds. It was a pretty thorough butt whooping.

I too have seen where lions have killed and eaten *****. I don't think **** are a staple of most cougar's diet, but they will kill and eat them if their paths cross.


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

caddisguy said:


> Growing up in Utah I jealously read "Where the Red Fern Grows" yearing to get a hound dog like Little Ann or Big Dan and go out hunting *****. I never saw a raccoon in Utah before before 1987.
> 
> How did they get here and where the heck did they come from?


I was catching them in the late 70's on my trap line. They have been in Utah for a long time.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I have heard about 8 different stories about the source of the varmints. ONe old fellar told me that the DWR brought them in for some reason that escapes now. I heard that there was a movie being filmed in Kamas for which they needed raccoons and simple released them when they were done. I guess it is possible that they are all true.


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## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

I remember being able to mail order baby raccoons for pets when I was a kid (1960's). Baby alligators too. The back of Boy's Life Magazine maybe? All my attempts to do so were discovered and stopped.


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## Fin-S-Fish (Nov 5, 2007)

I have to agree no better **** than a dead ****, wish they would all die lol. I don't think I hate any animal as much as I hate *****. Had some blue ribbon show ducks killed by them ***** and despite my best and determined trapping, have not got a **** in the trap yet. They are so erratic, they will come once, disappear for a day or two, or even a month and just when you think it's safe you will have more headless pets. Some eat nothing but the head.......what kinda evil is that? It's impossible to be home every day to lockdown at dusk and the babies need freedom to roam in the yard, not confinement.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

This guy didn't have a tail....


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## Rspeters (Apr 4, 2013)

I used to go live on a farm in Duchesne county in the summer time and I remember one time being woken up by some horrible shrieking sounds out by the chicken coop. A few of us ran out there with our guns in hand to see what was going on, we figured it was either raccoons or a skunk. When we got out there we found 3 raccoons in the trees above the coop. I'm not sure why they were making the noises, but the only thing we could think of was that they were fighting with each other for some reason. We killed them all, with my uncle taking the lead. I remember loading them up in a wheelbarrow the next morning and it took all my, and one other person's, strength to get them out away from the house...those buggers were heavy.
A little while after that we were out in the woods near there and my cousin and I came across four or five younger raccoons that we scared up a tree. I hesitated at first, but my cousin, who lived on the farm there knew a little better than me and decided we'd better kill them all. We made short work of them with our 22s. It's not easy to kill anything that's a 'baby', but knowing the damage they could do to our animals, we really had no choice.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Our neighborhood is full of the little buggers. Sitting on the deck in the evening or early morning they will stroll through the yard. One neighbor had them in his fireplace and another had a bunch get in the eves of their home (Zim may remember that bunch ). Don't leave the pet food in your back yard over night. A bowl of ammonia in the fireplace will drive them straight up the chimney like a rocket !!8)


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

I remember that some pheasant club was once offerring a $15 bounty on *****. I never did turn any in. Set a few traps, even hunted canals in the dark and tried callin 'em. In hind sight, I shoulda got with a houndsman Oh did get a bunch of skunks in the traps though-O,- including a big boy that I swear weighed 20 pounds:shock:


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