My mother in law (lives in our apt upstairs) comes down and wakes me up at 3:00 am on yesterday morning scared and says something is trying to get into her windows or is on the roof. I immediately knew I had my chance to FINALLY catch the perps that had been raiding my garbage for weeks!
I ran out with flashlight in hand and sure enough, there were THREE of the bandits! There is a staircase off the side of my garage that goes up to a flat garage roof. From there, they could get on the roof of the apartment. 1 was on the roof trying to hide as the other two were in the eves in a spot where I had torn off a board to irradicate some hornets last year. (I'm always serving eviction notices! Mice, hornets, wasps, racoons, stray cats, neighbor's dogs that crap on my lawn, etc)
Well, the one couldn't fit up there as the other two took up all the room. So I ran down and put my dog back in (he came out to help me). I had a pet raccon as a kid and have seen what they can do to a dog, and I didn't want that vet bill!
So I grab my boy's trusty old Red Rhyder BB gun and up I go, cocked and loaded with my police issue Mag lite in hand! :angry:
I beaned each of them several times but they wouldn't go. Then it dawned on me, they had to go BY me first to get off so they wouldn't leave. They were trapped. I didn't want to just kill them even though coons ARE the biggest predators of grouse nests, so I just wanted them REALLY terrified and to leave and NEVER return.
So I went back inside and got my "nudger", an aluminum softball bat. I cornered the one that was exposed and gave a good lil whack off the edge. He managed to grab the drip edge and last shingle on his way down and hung there for a minute clinging by one hand. My mother in law, upon my order, was in my truck with the 1,000,000 candlepower spotlight lighting up the whole thing. I then managed to whack his last little hand and down he fell, RIGHT onto the umbrella of our patio set. He bounced off of that, down to the ground, and off he went back into the night in a hurry.
Now for the two in the eve. I tried yanking them out with a hoe, but that didn't work. The hoe kept getting stuck. Then I tried "nudgin" 'em with the bat some more but that didn't work either. So finally, I gave up. But NOT before marking them for easy identification later. I spray painted them both white on the sides they showed me. I then went back to bed and sure enough, they were gone 45 minutes later.
Now I'm going to set out my traps (Haveahart, don't fret animal lovers), but should I catch a white racoon......then I know I didn't deter them enough and will take them out to the woods and "remove" them permanently! That's for YOU....PETA!
I ran out with flashlight in hand and sure enough, there were THREE of the bandits! There is a staircase off the side of my garage that goes up to a flat garage roof. From there, they could get on the roof of the apartment. 1 was on the roof trying to hide as the other two were in the eves in a spot where I had torn off a board to irradicate some hornets last year. (I'm always serving eviction notices! Mice, hornets, wasps, racoons, stray cats, neighbor's dogs that crap on my lawn, etc)
Well, the one couldn't fit up there as the other two took up all the room. So I ran down and put my dog back in (he came out to help me). I had a pet raccon as a kid and have seen what they can do to a dog, and I didn't want that vet bill!
So I grab my boy's trusty old Red Rhyder BB gun and up I go, cocked and loaded with my police issue Mag lite in hand! :angry:
I beaned each of them several times but they wouldn't go. Then it dawned on me, they had to go BY me first to get off so they wouldn't leave. They were trapped. I didn't want to just kill them even though coons ARE the biggest predators of grouse nests, so I just wanted them REALLY terrified and to leave and NEVER return.
So I went back inside and got my "nudger", an aluminum softball bat. I cornered the one that was exposed and gave a good lil whack off the edge. He managed to grab the drip edge and last shingle on his way down and hung there for a minute clinging by one hand. My mother in law, upon my order, was in my truck with the 1,000,000 candlepower spotlight lighting up the whole thing. I then managed to whack his last little hand and down he fell, RIGHT onto the umbrella of our patio set. He bounced off of that, down to the ground, and off he went back into the night in a hurry.
Now for the two in the eve. I tried yanking them out with a hoe, but that didn't work. The hoe kept getting stuck. Then I tried "nudgin" 'em with the bat some more but that didn't work either. So finally, I gave up. But NOT before marking them for easy identification later. I spray painted them both white on the sides they showed me. I then went back to bed and sure enough, they were gone 45 minutes later.
Now I'm going to set out my traps (Haveahart, don't fret animal lovers), but should I catch a white racoon......then I know I didn't deter them enough and will take them out to the woods and "remove" them permanently! That's for YOU....PETA!
