Update - Raccoon Skirmishes

The main focus around here this week has been raccoons, not quilting. This post from Sunday provides details of our situation.

We got the traps from friends on Sunday, but did not set them until Monday. We saw immediate results! Before 10:30pm, we  heard the first trap triggered. I went out to investigate and sure enough, we had our first victim.

At this point I had no doubt that we would have another one in the second trap before morning.

Next morning, I headed outside to see our little bandits. Here is the trap that I saw with my own eyes containing the entrapped raccoon. An empty trap.

I sure was scratching my head. There was the evidence of the trap having worked - the slanted panel is what snaps shut when the raccoon entered the cage. I got down closer to see how in the world he escaped.

It is not easy to see at first glance, but careful inspection will show you the 4 wires that this little dickens gnawed through to make his escape. There is even some fur on a couple of the ends where he shimmied through. Blast and dang!

The second trap had been triggered overnight, and this big boy did not try chewing his way out. But he was certainly in a bad mood! When we got close to pick up the trap to remove him to his new home, he snarled and hissed and made all sorts of vicious advances toward DH! We prevailed, however, and he is now living in a new wide open habitat more suited to his kind.

That brings us to Tuesday night. We were down one trap, but we set the one and on Wednesday morning we had ourselves another detainee!

This one was more docile than the previous one, and he (she?) now lives in the same wide open habitat as his friend.

I have been going back through pictures on my phone to find raccoons from previous years. Here is the one I wanted. We sat on our screened porch last June and watched this mama raccoon bring her 4 babies out for a feast at the sunflowers in the bird feeder. They were as cute as can be, but I have a fairly good idea that those 4 babies are now hungry, destructive adults that vandalize my flowers.

Four on the ground; one in the feeder.

We did not set the trap last night because we were both going to be too busy this morning to remove a captive, so we will get back to it tonight. I am confident we will get quite a few more before this is over.

Sharon is due here any minute now, so I best get cracking! I have no clue what I will be working on today.

Happy Quilting, Friends!