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Racoon Management changes for iowa???

Almost to the point of allowing them to be poisoned… I know there is a safe way to do it , without harming dogs.
 
I had someone from dnr come out to my farm for coon damage & got depredation ok’d for them. We usually get between 200-500 per year. It’s insane. They are gone by mid winter. Then they pile back in from over run neighbors and it has to repeat. The most critical times for having less coons is clearly: nesting season of birds & corn planting & later stages of corn growth. The damage the coons were doing to my crops, fruit trees and every nest I came across was staggering. I remember before I started…. Every turkey nest I came across was a yoke filled destroyed mess. Had 4 different groups of geese nesting by ponds & nests destroyed every time. On & on. They do a lot of damage. They also do a lot of damage to corn that the deer get the blame for!! :(
 
I’ve got cameras in 3 states. Missouri leads in racoons by a mile ! Unbelievable… I see 5 to 12 every night on camera!

Cam is near a creek so that might make a difference, but it’s hard to believe there are that many !140FBDED-E091-41F3-9880-9192B4498687.jpeg4C0592F7-E0FE-4369-BAA1-9C947D760B39.jpeg
 
Sligh1 said:
I had someone from dnr come out to my farm for coon damage & got depredation ok’d for them. We usually get between 200-500 per year. It’s insane. They are gone by mid winter. Then they pile back in from over run neighbors and it has to repeat. The most critical times for having less coons is clearly: nesting season of birds & corn planting & later stages of corn growth. The damage the coons were doing to my crops, fruit trees and every nest I came across was staggering. I remember before I started…. Every turkey nest I came across was a yoke filled destroyed mess. Had 4 different groups of geese nesting by ponds & nests destroyed every time. On & on. They do a lot of damage. They also do a lot of damage to corn that the deer get the blame for!! :(
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200-500 is pretty crazy. And I don’t doubt you one bit. How many acres of land did u get that many from Skip? How do u get that many? Trapping mainly?
 
We need to follow South Dakota. I want to trap one of my properties but it’s 2 hours away. It’s also not an “easy” piece to just let someone in to trap
 
Rous14 said:
200-500 is pretty crazy. And I don’t doubt you one bit. How many acres of land did u get that many from Skip? How do u get that many? Trapping mainly?
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This is a big area…. Big. A great big section is what we covered…. Couple thousand acres. We got them from the dog proof traps & shooting em. (& let’s just say - somehow about 20-30 have somehow ended up under my vehicle tires accidentally).
Dog proofs…. I bought about 40 traps - the push/pull type. Peanut butter & dog food. Loaded all the traps by driving around block. Had em by gates in easy to access spots. Next am…. Drive around to check and reset. Usually got 5 to 30 a night.
Then I own a couple grain bins. There’s always residue, spilled grain, etc around it. It’s right by the road. Well it has stairs on the N side of bins to get to top and the spilled grain is on S end…. Sneak up from N & climb up stairs to get to top. 10/22 with two 25 round mags…. Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang, etc etc. Wild!!! So fun!!!! They have no where to go and don’t know where coming from or what to do!! Good wholesome fun the whole family can enjoy!!! ;). It was crazy the damage they were doing and then it was crazier seeing what happens when coons go extinct for multiple years in a row!!!!! A county with almost “no pheasants”…. We have exploded for pheasants. Turkey & hatch numbers are really good. The geese nest with no issues. My corn fields don’t get destroyed. My fruit trees don’t get torn apart!!!! It’s paradise without those dang Gremlins!!!! :)
 
I watched a train of 13 of them come thru during archery season this year on one of my Indiana farms. I try to kill everyone of them when I have a gun in hand but I wasn't about to waste $200 in arrows and broadheads that day. This farm is overloaded, they farmer shoots a dozen or so a year by his house, I take out a few and we don't touch them. Neighboring ground is off limits to people and they thrive there also.

About 8 years ago the coons got distemper in the area and that helped a bit, but those things must breed like hamsters because they recovered pretty quick. I need to start trapping them for sure.

Skip how many coon skin hats do you have ;)
 
madplotter said:
And of course the "humane society" has to sound off. We can blame them and their type for the increase. They killed the fur trade.
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Their logic is text book liberal emotion 101. Just like out of control cats. They don’t want to hear or can’t comprehend how many other animals die because of these predators. Like this quick search on cats.
How many nests & birds are killed from raccoons?!?! Frogs, lizards, snakes, small animals, etc…. Staggering amount!!!!! It makes zero sense if the logical argument is able to be discussed.
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On a warm night, lows above 40 or so, you can play coon puppy distress calls and they will come right in. We used to do it floating down a river and more than once they jumped in the river and tried to get in the boat. If it’s a cold, frosty night, they will hardly come down out of the den tree but they will sit on a limb and let you walk close enough to shoot them.

Wish I lived up there. Seems like having a thermal on top of a .22 mag may be the ticket to helping get some permission farms.
 
Sligh1 said:
Their logic is text book liberal emotion 101. Just like out of control cats. They don’t want to hear or can’t comprehend how many other animals die because of these predators. Like this quick search on cats. How many nests & birds are killed from raccoons?!?! Frogs, lizards, snakes, small animals, etc…. Staggering amount!!!!! It makes zero sense if the logical argument is able to be discussed.
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I don't think you'll ever be able to put liberal and logic in the same sentence....
 
Has rabies ever been a problem in Iowa?

Back in the mid-80's the racoons were out of control at my place in PA and got rabies. My neighbor had to put his dog down after a rabid racoon attacked it while it was tied to a dog box by his wagon shed. I was outside and heard the commotion, I looked down there and grabbed my rifle and ran down. By that time the coon was in the dog box fighting it. It was crazy, round and round they went inside the box, I finally had a clear shot and put the coon down. Same year I looked out the kitchen window and saw some mallards carrying on in the creek, then I see a coon chasing them. Grabbed the gun and ran down, the coon was going in circles growling trying to grab its own tail which wasn't even there anymore. It ran into some briars and when I went closer to look for it, he charged me. Kill em'
 
203ntyp said:
Has rabies ever been a problem in Iowa?
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I posted an article to the trapping thread where the IA DNR said distemper went through the raccoons recently and they think it might have had an impact on the grey fox population. Rabies isn't unheard of, but I haven't seen widespread outbreaks.

Last winter I trapped something like 30 raccoons from our barn. This year only one so far so maybe they are avoiding the barn, or maybe the weather has been mild enough that they are still out in the fields, or possibly there are slightly fewer, but I'm still getting them on trail cams yet.
 
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