HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - Tips on getting rid of Live-trapped raccoons?

Dre325 · 11-05-2009, 01:30 PM

Hey all,

I live in the suburbs and have a pretty big problem with raccoons and opossums in my yard. Traps that kill are illegal in my city, so I bought a live trap and have had some success with it so far. Transporting live animals and releasing them is also illegal here so my problem is how best to kill the animals I've trapped. Shooting air rifles is OK so I borrowed a spring loaded .177 pellet gun from a friend and even from point blank range, wasn't able to put down a possum with a shot to the head while it was in the trap (had to dump it out of the trap and hit it in the head, which I wouldn't want to do with an angry raccoon.)

My question is: what is my best solution? I figure a more powerful pellet gun would do the trick (I'd welcome any suggestions on something cheap...sub $100...that would work). Is there another trick? Someone told me to dump the whole trap in a big garbage can of water, but that doesn't seem very humane to me...

Thanks for any help and recommendations.

11-05-2009, 01:30 PM	#1
Dre325 Spike Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 6	Tips on getting rid of Live-trapped raccoons? Hey all, I live in the suburbs and have a pretty big problem with raccoons and opossums in my yard. Traps that kill are illegal in my city, so I bought a live trap and have had some success with it so far. Transporting live animals and releasing them is also illegal here so my problem is how best to kill the animals I've trapped. Shooting air rifles is OK so I borrowed a spring loaded .177 pellet gun from a friend and even from point blank range, wasn't able to put down a possum with a shot to the head while it was in the trap (had to dump it out of the trap and hit it in the head, which I wouldn't want to do with an angry raccoon.) My question is: what is my best solution? I figure a more powerful pellet gun would do the trick (I'd welcome any suggestions on something cheap...sub $100...that would work). Is there another trick? Someone told me to dump the whole trap in a big garbage can of water, but that doesn't seem very humane to me... Thanks for any help and recommendations.