Posted: 2/8/2025 11:47:42 PM EDT
[Last Edit: runs_with_scissors][Edited]
| Had a raccoon show up on camera at my main deer feeder a couple weeks ago. Had planned on setting up a hand trap. Didn’t due to knowing I wouldn’t be able to go to it everyday like I would need to. Was going to set a couple traps over the weekend, Thursday I noticed something didn’t look right in the pictures but they weren’t very clear. Got some better ones Friday morning and noticed she had kits with her. The ethical side of me has me not wanting to catch her because I know I won’t be able to get the kits. So my question is how do you more experienced trappers handle this situation? Guessing my main problem is I was taught not to let anything suffer longer than it should. Which in this case the kits would without the mother. Even though I would eventually have to trap all of them when they get a little bit bigger and eventually end up as one of my customers farm hands supper. |
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SD, USA
| That's always a problem, and you will have to decide for yourself what you are comfortable with. I feel it is important to be hunting and trapping this time of year, as this is the time most birds are on nests or just hatching. Raccoon among other animals are nest predators. It sure doesn't feel good knowing there are baby raccoon starving, but at the same time they want to go and kill a whole nest of turkeys if they can. Raccoons are particularly bad here because of how many there are. If you put bait out around here, you can get trail camera pictures of more than ten of them on a bait. Skunks, badger, coyote and more are nest predators too, but it doesn't seem like there are as many of those combined as there are raccoon. Plus coyote hunting is fairly popular, so their numbers never seem to get too out of hand. Raccoon do get out of control a lot of the time. I don't kill them all, but this time of year especially, they are shoot on sight. |