The Raccoon War
Anne Marie ran to the end of her patience with the raccoons. Tired of worrying about missing chickens, or possibly missing chickens, or mangled pheasants, she indicated it was time to send them on a permanent vacation.
We rented a live trap for a week. We put a peanut butter sandwich and marshmallows in it. Evidently, raccoons have a sweet-tooth and really go for this stuff, but cats won't, which is important around our barn.
Within a couple of hours, we had our first catch... a opossum. Not what we were after, and not very cute or endearing, but we decided to take it for a ride, since we had it all boxed up.
When I told Lauren before dawn this morning that we'd caught an opossum, she said "I want to see the opossum. Wait, I'll get my flashlight". Not shy and retiring, is she? In fact, we drove out into the forest together and let the opossum go several mile away.
Now, the trap is out again. Hopefully, we'll defeat the real enemy this time.
This could be problematic... I happen to love peanut butter marshmallow sandwiches. Before I know it, *pow* I'll be boxed up and released in the woods far away!
Comment by Dave'ola — 09/20/2005 7:48 PM
We'll continue to put the trap out the rest of the week to see if we catch any more raccoons, or maybe we'll catch David, since he loves peanut butter and marshmallows. Anne Marie even suggested trying peanut butter and banana to see if we can catch Elvis.
Comment by Michael — 09/21/2005 6:52 AM
Hmm, catching David in that little trap might be a little to small for his frame, since he's not magical as David Copperfield, might have to put a call out for a much bigger trap, Michael - say a "Bear trap!" and extra sandwiches for the occassion? Hmm second thought, that makes me hungry...!
Comment by Jeff — 09/21/2005 11:03 AM
So very sorry to hear that the raccoon got a hen--that's terrible! I'm the blog mama for Happy Chickens, another Eugene blogger. Cheers to you, and hope I see you at a blogger meetup!
Comment by happygardeningmama — 09/21/2005 10:35 PM
You can borrow my trap for free. Raccoons prefer sardines, by the way.
Don't forget to obtain your free permit to trap to trap and relocate.
(The other side of Fern Ridge should be good enough.)
Comment by Bob — 09/27/2005 8:43 PM
[...] Then today, Anne Marie and I were returning a opossum to the wild when I discovered that Lauren had at some point switched the gas tank switch and we were now out of gas without any warning. Happily, I had my bicycle in the back of the truck and I was able to ride back home to get my car and some gas. Not a huge crisis, but enough, since my adrenaline had already been used up the previous night. [...]
Pingback by Following Edge » A crisis at every turn — 10/01/2005 4:53 PM
[...] Almost exactly three weeks ago, Anne Marie noticed our silkie hen and another silkie chick were missing and, believing the raccoons had gotten her, started The Raccoon War. [...]
Pingback by Following Edge » Stealth Chicken — 10/11/2005 7:21 PM