coonies
yea does little critters do like to raise cain. I’ve had them steal the whole bird fedder out of the mango tree and it was suspended in the air. although the great dog Moose made them go and hide when we camped on lulu when visiting mike. Back in the 80’s they would go through peoples ice chest in flamingo and take out what they wanted and then close the lid when they were done. People would come and complain to the rangers that some one had stolen their food! The good thing is every once in a while a bobcat comes through the northern islands (picnic north)and thin down the population. Now im up in alaska we don’t have coonies but a bigger tipe of coon which will definitly open up a hatch for food so we use the plastic bear proof containers and store them away from camp
Raccoons
They are indeed pesky critters.
Thay can indeed climb any rope. As a matter of fact; last year I watched one climb down approximately 25 feet of parachute cord to get to a trash bag suspended from a tree limb. The tree limb was approximately 50 feet above ground level.
The same raccoon was unable to get into our cooler; it being so tightly secured with bungees cords that my wife could not remove them.
The raccoon’s solution; he/she starting dragging the whole cooler across the gravel bar, and into the woods. It was actually making good progress
till I “intervened”. I know for a fact that the cooler weighed in excess of 35 pounds.
BOB
Repellant
To discourage chewing, put Bitter Apple on the rubber hatches. Pet supply stores sell it.
To keep the critters away in the first place, perhaps some moth balls taped to the hatches and kayak itself would do the trick. I have used it at home to keep skunks from digging holes and entering the crawl space under the garage building.
Mothballs work for armadillos, too
We have problems with them digging in our garden.
.22 CB bullets. No louder than a pellet
gun. Nicknamed City Bullets.
pests
Yea, shoot em.
Rubber hatches too???
I never camped at Pavillon but did many other places in the ENP.
Raccoons never managed to open my VCP rubber hatches, they tried many times since their prints were all over the kayaks in the morning but never got in.
That’s indeed bad news, that can ruin a trip.
A little insurance…
…that I’ve seen used is to turn your (rubber hatch) boat upside down at night…
Then they have to work on their backs…
mousetraps
take up little room and give the raccoon an added challenge, say 4-6 per hatch encircling the hatch…when they snap it might wake you alerting to the threat…we experienced a troop of 7-9 raccoons at mid-cape out from flamingo trying to get into everything, turning on the radion and a battery powered light kept them away after we scared them off.
When camping on lakes…
…I’ve taken to anchoring my boat 20’-30’ offshore with my food stored in the hatches, which seems to be enough to discourage critters from bothering with it, despite the fact that most of them can swim. Between the food’s packaging, the dry bag and the hatch cover, it apparently cuts the scent down to the point that they aren’t attracted enough to swim for it. It takes nothing more than a rope and a rock to anchor a boat.
My QCC
hatches did not get opened by racoons on Pavillion this past new years. There are hardly any racoons or trees left after the hurricanes last year. There were some as soon as we left to retire for the night that tried getting in the kayaks but other than sandy footprints, no problems.
On Tiger however, did hear wild hogs at night checking along the shore looking for food. I had never heard hogs on Tiger before this last trip.
A trick someone I know uses: leave a bowl of vodka out and in the morning you can just step over their sleeping bodies.
At the risk
of repeating myself, I would pay good money for video of , too! ;^)
Pete in Atlanta
We have the same problem here
In the Gulf Island region in British Columbia, racoons have been known to get very crafty. Rubber hatches have been opened and one of the biggest things that seems to attract them is fresh water (most of the islands have none). We left a silver wine bag filled with water on a picnic table one night (not thinking anything of it) and in the morning, it had been ripped open and was bone dry!
Since there are no bears on the islands, I know that some keep their food stuff in their tents.
Thankfully, the racoons haven’t seemed to figure out how to open Pygmy hatches yet.
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
Not a racoon, but…
Pardon me for being a bit off topic, but I love this picture and this thread reminded me of it.
We found this little fellow one night after it had crawled into a friends open hatch and then couldn't get out. We ended up placing a paddle in the open hatch and within moments it scampered out (but not before I managed to snap a photo):
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/userimages/mouse-trap.jpg
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
*****
If you really want to keep
the little darling out smear some habanero sauce, Mentholatum, or Dr. Bengue’ ointment around the seals. This also works for keeping snakes out of a tent. wash hands immediately after applying. If you don’t for some reason your hands tend to want to rub your eyes, which will instantly cause an immense wailing and gnashing of teeth!
LOL GREAT!
hatches
Would mentholatum damage rubber hatches?
Really, this thread is just too much fun and full of stories and pictures to let drift onto page 2…Lyn
Story: The Coon of Farm Island
There was a big coon that pretty much owned the camp site on Farm Island (Moosehead Lake). We stayed there over a week and battled this guy every night but one.
We had one wooden food box the coon was especially fixated on. He’d bypass other stuff and go for that box. I theorize that somebody must have once used it for a cutting board or cleaned fish on it. The box was about 24"x16"x16" and weighted twenty or thirty pounds loaded with food.
Several nights into our stay there, we were determined to keep Mr. Coon outa this box. Tied it up with three or four ropes, then put it ontop of some other gear and moved a heavy State-provided picnic table on top of the wood box.
Sure enough, come the middle of the night, and the coon is making a racket in the camp, banging stuff around. After 30 minutes or so, I got up. The box was gone. I shined my light down the path to the privy, and there was the coon dragging that box away. Probably the largest coon I ever met. Coon stopped dragging, took a step toward me, and fixed me with a stare that said, “It’s mine! You want it, you’re going to have to fight me for it.” Plenty of rocks around that Island, and one the size of a duck pin ball was soon headed his way. He side stepped it and took about two steps away from the box, still giving me that stare. Like, “is that all you got? Ain’t scairt.” Another rock and the coon turned away and took about six steps before looking back, to see, what else, another rock, at which point he moved off. Not ran away, mind you, just sort of shuffled off like, “Geez, what’s the big deal, you got other boxes.”
Next day, we’re pissed about this coon keeps waking us up. We decided to see if we could find the coon. Turn the tables on him, so to speak. We followed an amazing trail of trash off through the woods. Over time, it was obvious this coon had hauled much booty from that site. When the trash trail ended, we started looking for a nesting spot. We spent an hour out there, shoving sticks down holes, banging on logs with our ax, and generally creating a ruckus, but of course could not find this wiley coon. However, that night was the only night of the trip Mr. Coon failed to visit our site. Maybe we ruined his beauty sleep or something. We thought we had him rousted. But the following night, our last on that island, the coon was back again and again we had to do battle to keep our diminishing supply of vittles.
So, planning to go visit Farm Island? Better pick up on some of the anti-coon tips in this thread before you go. The .22 solution sounds good to me.
~~Chip Walsh
cute
cute fellows !!! I’ve allways liked racoons.
Cute until they have eaten 3 days
of your food, about $60 . I stopped hunting years ago, but if the state ever has an open coon season on Hunting Island , I’m there.