Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Raccoon Number Four Was Mean

It hissed, growled and lunged at me. That is the thanks I get for a peanut butter treat with a surprise ending. I had to pick up the trap with a pitchfork. As you can see some tupperware was sacrificed in the trapping. Raccoons number five and six were seen cavorting on the deck in the dark light of morning. Only two more to go? Or am I catching the same three again? I know the first two rubbed a patch of fur off their foreheads trying to escape. This one isn't numbers one or two.

The trap has been reset with a peanut butter treat in a tall piece of tupperware again. That seems to work and I forgot to pick up some fresh corn on the way home. The tupperware will have to be sacrificed for a good cause. My sweet corn is fixing to bloom. Maybe I will be raccoon free long enough to eat my own corn. Only two more to go and it is another month until the sweet corn is ready.

Damn varmints! I'm thinking of buying a gun.




















The blue morning glories have started to bloom. I thought these were going to be moon flowers. Oh well. I had extra and planted them in a few other locations.


























La, la, lala, only two more racoons to go. Oh dear god. Collar no! Stay away from that thing. There is a skunk at the top of my driveway and Collar is crouched ten feet away watching.

I figured as much. Two ground wasp nests had been dug and one paper wasp nest had been deflated in the last week or so. I knew a wasp eater was around. It looks like a baby skunk. That can only mean there is bound to be more than one around. Oh dear god!

Damn varmints.


















La, la, lala, I get to have such pretty weeds in the wilderness and no one will complain that my garden is illegal and make me mow it down.




















But why do I have so many annoying varmints this year?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I do not have most of these varmints, except for bats,rabbits, birds and wasps. I have a Great Pyrenees that takes care of all of them. However, I cannot have an outside cat either. Kitty has done a good job of staying in. We are seeing deer like crazy though. They are after the apples and peaches. Maybe it was so warm this winter that we had more survive.

Dianne

Mel said...

I'll see your raccoons and raise you eleven opossums, orphaned, with a stinking mom carcass to far under the house to get to. It was quite the summer. We have one very messy raccoon pooping all over the place and I'm sorry our trap is too small to get it, because I want it gone. A skunk would send me over the edge.

It's always an adventure, sharing your world with all the varmints, isn't it? Hope your done with the mean ones.

Christopher C. NC said...

Funny Dianne. I don't have those varmints ... just these..... I could count my blessings that the deer don't linger or do much damage worth noticing and the groundhog I have seen on the grass across the street several times has not discovered the roadside vegetable garden.

Mel I'll match your dead possum minus the orphan brood and raise you a pack of foxes, coyotes or both. I don't know how to distinguish their howling and yapping. Yes it is an adventure, like going to the zoo.

Lola said...

Thanks for the laugh Christopher. You & your varmints. Do watch the raccoons as they do have a problem with rabies. Oh Lord, now the skunks, that takes the cake.

Barry said...

Chris,
I am reading of your adventures with some trepidation, as I am in the process of acquiring and restoring/rescuing a nearly-10 acre ranch in southern Oregon. I'm going to be between a small river and national forest land, so it may test my varmint-vamoosing abilities soon. The arsenal will likely have to include some serious stopping power, as I'm told that bears and occasional mountain cats range in the area. [May just be locals putting me on]. I fear skunks more than raccoons - both can carry rabies, so beware (and yes, be armed).

Murr Brewster said...

I don't mind our raccoons. They got my husband to stop peeing behind the shed. That's more than I was able to do.

sallysmom said...

Chris, you have been absolutely swamped with wild things this year. Has it always been this way or is this unusal?

Carol Michel said...

La la la, varmints, indeed. I am so far only seeing rabbits and I feel sorry for them in this drought so I have sacrificed my green beans to them. I hope they show appreciation in some way. Hey, maybe they can keep the coons away from my sweet corn?

Lisa at Greenbow said...

When you catch that skunk in your trap be careful taking it away. :)

Anonymous said...

You can always mark their back with a bit of spray paint before releasing so that you know whether you're retrapping the same one. Also- rabies in raccoons has become quite common in some areas. Please be careful.

Anonymous said...

I hate to say this to a cat person, but you need a hound! Keep the next one that shows up! :)

bev

Lola said...

Raccoons can kill other animals.
Mail I sent to you came back.

Anonymous said...

Your blog reminded me of something my Granny and Papa used to do. They planted the sticky vines all around the perimeter of the garden because the racoons won't go through them. All of the cucumbers, squash, and gourds were around the fence line. They never tried to grow melons in W.Va., but that would likely work too. They did have a fence and at the gate was a ditch with poles across so the goats and pigs couldn't get in. It might have kept out racoons from that way too.

Anyway, guess I'm too late for this year. Plus, your varmits make for a very interesting blog;-)

hugs, deb