Need racoon and sweet corn advice.

[sixdogs]

Racoons have been in my sweet corn and it's starting be be an issue. My plan has been to go out at night with a bright light and a 12 ga. and take care of things, but I don't know enough about their habits. At 10, 11 and midnight they must be waiting me out and I can't find them. Maybe later?
I figure they are coming from the neighbor's place a mile away buy not sure. They do drag some corn in the opposite direction of the neighbor so unsure in that. There is no good housing/habitat immediately around my place but I live in a flat plains area surrounded by untold thousands of acres of grain corn and beans.
What time do you think they would be making the garden rounds?

 

[Donsyl]

I would get a live trap or two. Racoons love peanut butter.....use that as bait........used to have problems with them getting my chickens and caught them and replaced them in a better environment

 

[gauthier]

Heres how you deal with coons in your sweet corn patch,,,been growing corn for many years,have tried this and that,but this works,,,you pick your sweet corn before the coons eat it! About as soon as coons start eating your corn,it is ripe,you may need to let them have a few ears,but...

You freeze it,than you eat your corn,not the coons,,try it.

 

[simplemike]

Here is a trick a farmer buddy I work with uses , since I live in town and don't have these problems. He has tried lots of ways to outsmart the racoons like planting in the middle of his field corn, didn't work said they went in 12 rows through the field corn to get the sweet corn. Best results run an electric fence hot wire about a foot off the ground.


Mike

 

[gauthier]

Yeah,that can slow them down,but it won't stop them once that corns ripe.

 

[Bird]

At 10, 11 and midnight they must be waiting me out and I can't find them. Maybe later?

I don't know whether coons in different places keep different hours or not.:laughing: When I was a kid, my Dad's best friend raised, trained, and sold coon hounds, so I've gone hunting with him a few times and we never starting hunting until about midnight.

But in the late 90s, my brother's wife fed the coons in their backyard (she got 100 loaves of bread a week from the bakery thrift store) and they had a dozen or so coons show up every evening just before dark.

 

[whistlepig]

A bowl of dog food in the back yard with a light over it is the proven method around here.

 

[brucew44guns]

I have the live cage type trap, got the trap door on it. I pile up a bit of dry corn in front of the opening, put a metal pan with some corn in it at the back of the cage, and set it near where I see the worst damage. next morning I usually have a coon. After 4 or 5 are caught, the trouble all stops till I've ate whats left. They sure can wipe you out fast, but I imagine a few of them have wished they had stayed home after they came here.

 

[sixdogs]

A bowl of dog food in the back yard with a light over it is the proven method around here.

Ok, now we're talking turkey here.The idea is I stay inside and cozy and wait for them to show up. I like that. Maybe a baby monitor for the sound aspect?
Will they scatter when I open the door?

Over the years I have tried catch and release and I'm such a softie I re-locate spiders. But I fear the racoons will just keep coming and not get the hint. I don't have any big box traps and it seems like I could go through a lot of effort for a negative gain.

 

[whistlepig]

Ok, now we're talking turkey here.The idea is I stay inside and cozy and wait for them to show up. I like that. Maybe a baby monitor for the sound aspect?
Will they scatter when I open the door?

Over the years I have tried catch and release and I'm such a softie I re-locate spiders. But I fear the racoons will just keep coming and not get the hint. I don't have any big box traps and it seems like I could go through a lot of effort for a negative gain.

Raccoons and skunks are shot on sight around here. I love animals myself and moved to the country to be closer to them but skunks and raccoons are way out of balance.

Skunks:
Dig under my foundations in my house and barn.
Spray my house dogs at least twice each year.
In the spring they dig up all the baby cottontail rabbits in my yard out of the nest and eat them.

Racoons:
All containers, garbage, horse feed, cat feed, dog feed, have to have the lids fastened down with bungee cords. Only enough cat food set out that the barn cats can eat in a few minutes.

And these days I am seeing a lot of diseased raccoons.

The dog bowl and light are in my back yard.

 

[CurlyDave]

Something I discovered accidentally is that wildlife of almost any size between coon and deer will set off the Harbor Freight driveway alarm. About $20.

Just set the detector out in your corn and the chime in the house. It works by radio, so no installation is required.

When the coons arrive, the bell in the house will wake you up and you can blast them.

I am wondering if it is legal to use these deer hunting. Set one out by your stand, with the chime close enough to hear, but far enough so the deer will look at it and not your stand...

 

[sixdogs]

Something I discovered accidentally is that wildlife of almost any size between coon and deer will set off the Harbor Freight driveway alarm. About $20.

Just set the detector out in your corn and the chime in the house. It works by radio, so no installation is required.

When the coons arrive, the bell in the house will wake you up and you can blast them.

I am wondering if it is legal to use these deer hunting. Set one out by your stand, with the chime close enough to hear, but far enough so the deer will look at it and not your stand...

Another good idea.
Prob not legal for deer. Most states ban electronic assistance.

 

[gauthier]

That is a good idea,got my illuminated crossbow scope and my head light,thats what I need I can now see!

 

[LD1]

I second whoever mentioned the electric fence.

We use it for mom and dads garden (I don't have a garden).

It was one of the units that he bought at TSC about two years ago due to coon problems. It uses an automotive batterty that we just sit it plus the unit in a full sized cooler and run the wires out of the drain hole.

We ran two wires, one just off the ground about an inch or two, so they cant step over it without it rubbing their underside. The second about 6-8" above that. Just high enough that they cannot jump it. It works like a charm. No more coon problems at all. And it does give quite a jolt when you touch it.

The batteries last about a week before needing charged, but this year, we added one of them cheap solar maintainers to charge during the day. Havent had to charge it with the AC charger yet.

You can also get AC units as well, if your garden is close enough to a power source.

Other than that, I'd say get a dog. I dont have a garden but if I did, I doubt I would have any problems. My little 45lb shar-pei lab mix gets at least two coon a year, as well as numerous groundhogs, possums, and a few skunks. And his invisible fence only lets him have 1.5 acres around the house, so it's not like he is hunting half the county side. The only thing I can't figure out is how he manages to kill the skunks and not get sprayed????

 

[Uncle Wayne]

The electric fence works for me. Once they get in the corn they'll pass right by everything else to eat the corn. We've tried traps with salmon, peanut butter, you name it. Once the Alabama coons get a taste of corn, they don't want anything else.

But the two strand electric fence has kept them out for 4 years now. If they can't get to the corn, they'll eat whatever you have in the traps. We'll usually catch 6 or 7 over a week's time once we catch the first one.

 

[om21braz]

Another electric fence vote - my dad has used an electric fence successfully for several years. On small garden though - 50' x 100'.

 

[legbuh]

I haven't had to deal with this yet because the deer simply eat our corn before they get 3 feet high. lol..

But, my father in law out in his place did live traps. He'd simply crack an egg on the trigger every night and walk away. In the morning, walk out with the 22 and "BAM". Then that night, repeat. Usually he found after 3-4 the quit coming back, or that was the "family" that was eating his corn and they simply no longer existed.

You only have to do it while the corn is ready/almost ready.. pick as much as you can (as mentioned before) each day.

Whatever you do, don't try to release a coon in a live trap.. I went out with him a couple times and they were like tazmanian devils... really freaky!

 

[texasjohn]

OK, sixdogs...what's wrong with them that they don't tell you when there's coon in the corn:confused2:.... maybe you need sevendogs:laughing:

You got two choices... destroy the coons before they destroy your corn using ideas already in this thread.
Live with them and salvage whatever corn you can.

 

[skipmarcy]

Another vote for the electric fence. I have 2 gardens done with 1 charger - the house garden is 50'x100' and the cash garden is 100'x200'. I have one of the solar/battery units and this is the 4th year on the original battery, looks like I'll probably have to replace it next year. I run 5 strands - the 1st about 4" up, then a ground run about 4" above that then another hot 4" up, 21" up and 35" on top. This keeps everything out except of course deer and even they don't get around it much, very rarely see any deer tracks inside the gardens once the fences go on for the season. I leave the 2 long sides up year 'round on each garden, just take the ends down to run thru with the tractor fall & winter. I used my subsoiler to bury the 12 ga underground wire to connect the 2 gardens - is about 80' between the 2 closest corners. Got 2, 5' ground rods per garden on diagonal corners. Haven't lost a single ear to critters the 4 years now, have had it happen to us in years past - the coons will get it exactly the nite before you plan to pick it. A few years that we had a dog we'd move his doghouse down the driveway to the garden when the corn was getting close to picking - that too kept them away.

 

[sixdogs]

OK, sixdogs...what's wrong with them that they don't tell you when there's coon in the corn:confused2:.... maybe you need sevendogs:laughing:

You got two choices... destroy the coons before they destroy your corn using ideas already in this thread.
Live with them and salvage whatever corn you can.

Yeah, I do have six dogs but the corn patch this year is farther away from them and they don't get out at 3 AM to patrol the corn. They're Springers so more interested in birds.
It has always been a live-and-let-live thing with the coons and the corn. I planted plenty for them plus plenty for me. We got along. This year they trashed stuff before it was fully ripe. Go figure.
Next year it's an electric fence as described above and a bowl of dog food under a light at night.:thumbsup:
I have a hot rod/street rod so I'm itching for a coon tail for the antennae. That's the plan.