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I know many of you here have LOTS of experience with wildlife critters. So maybe you have some advice?

We live on a heavy wooded property (an oddity in our area) - so there are lots of deer and small critter types: possum, raccoon, skunk and fox. My frequent nemesis is a persistent raccoon who has me concerned because of the high rabies reported locally in these animals. During warmer weather the barn doors are left open and pony is locked in at night. Feed room door closed. I know the pony dribbles his pellets out his stall feed opening onto the aisle - which I suspect has been a treat for this raccoon.

So during a recent evening check I hear this chirping just outside the open barn door. Honestly, if it wasn't for that chirping I may have physically stepped on this raccoon. I yell and make no impression for it to leave so I use the water hose to chase it away. Perfect - now the raccoon runs across the driveway directly into the open garage. So I apply curse words because now I cannot enter the house via the backdoor. Luckily my truck was unlocked outside so I start honking the horn to get the raccoon to leave the garage. The circus continues when DH opens the kitchen door to ask WTH am making this racket. I call out not to come down the steps because the raccoon is at the bottom behind the lawn tractor. DH makes some banging noise and the raccoon exits out the side door.

Next I immediately purchased $35 of Cayenne pepper and some Vinegar from Amazon. I feel like I'm laying down garlic for vampires as I pour cayenne pepper around all the barn doors for this pesky raccoon.

Today (barely 3 days later) at 11 AM sunny day THAT raccoon is hanging off my hummingbird feeder on the deck. I apply more curse words. I run out yelling and he gives me the middle digit and climbs down to go up a nearby tree. Our deck is about 5+ feet up on pillars which he climbs like a tree. So I dump more cayenne pepper around all the pillars and stairs while raccoon is watching me from above. About 15 minutes later - he is BACK swinging on the feeder. I chase him down again and now mix up some stinky vinegar water and pour it out over the deck area. I know he will be back.....

Last summer I had dibbled hot tabasco sauce along the deck railing but it stained the white vinyl rail. DH was not happy trying to get the stains off. Humane Society will not set a trap because it may be a female with babies ... yada... yada.

I do not want to trap myself because I know these animals can be quite nasty when trapped. My personal experience at a friends boarding stable where there were problem raccoons - they trapped a huge one in a humane trap and it was one mean nasty raccoon. Did I mention the snapping teeth? I do not want any close encounters for myself, dogs or pony.

So if anyone has any other safe suggestions - please let me hear them.

(edited to say - I never leave the Hummingbird feed out overnight. I learned that lesson too.)

Oh my.
Have you tried moth balls? I've had success with them keeping smaller animals out of my woodshed.

Raccoons are tricky... I had the best luck blasting them with the cold water hose out on the farm.

My first Utah house had a cat door. The raccoons discovered it one night and woke me up having quite a party in the kitchen, much to the outrage of the cats who were alm huddled on my bed not offering to help usher out our three house crashers.

I locked the cat door. They ripped it out of the wall.
I nailed a board over the cat door. The raccoons ripped it off. I put a pile of bricks in front of the nailed up cat door. They tore them down and ripped the board off again. I literally had to refinish and re-render the patch of wall to put a stop to them getting in the house.

Mountaineer - that is seriously scary for them getting into the house! Years ago, one got inside the feed room and trashed it leaving a poo pile on the floor. I agree about chasing with the water hose as that helped the other night in the barn. Last summer we used it several times to get one off the deck. They are persistent critters. DH also chased one out of the garage with a loud leaf blower. That technique did make an impression because it may have been a juvenile. I typically expect their activity in the evenings so they surprise me when I encounter them around noon time. Now that summer is almost here I will be armed with pepper, vinegar, mothballs and water hose. Thank you for your experience!

I have no advice, just want to say good luck keeping the critters away.

We're also on (wooded) acreage here. I've trapped and relocated bunches of critters over the years, mostly when I'd do night check in the barn (ring-tailed cats, skunks, possums, rat snakes, raccoons, feral cats) although in the last 2 years I've relocated a couple of rattlesnakes during the day (I do like snakes), plus pesty squirrels. The challenge with trapping full-sized 'coons yourself is that (a) the adults are heavy and lifting the trap is tricky (b) they move around a lot once inside the hav-a-heart traps so gloved hands kept out of reach is essential (c) the decision becomes what to do with the trapped coon.

My suggestion, in lieu of trapping yourself, would be to hire a trapper to get this 'coon (and possibly his kin) away for good with a hav-a-heart trap, knowing that he/she would likely be dispatched once the trapper is off your property. Shooting is the surefire way, but obviously not possible if you're in the city limits, and certainly not in or near the barn.

I don't know of anything that really keeps 'coons away once they have found some tempting items to try on your property. They're smart critters. Best of success to you.

I want to see a pic of the racoon being naughty!!

You need a coonhound:).

I know raccoons can be pests but it’s just not something we deal with here on our farm. They happily stay in our trees not venturing close to the house. Henry did get within about 10 ‘ of one baying at the top of his voice with the raccoon not paying much attention at first. He was on leash and not able to tree the critter. Gravitation to food source and can be quite the pests when they’ve been habituated.

Good luck with your raccoon issue. Might reach out to coon hunters. They do trap them to use for hunting training. My farrier traps and gives them to a hunter he knows.