Success

Last night was our first attempt at live trapping the raccoons who have been hanging around our bedroom door at 3 am. They were early last night as we were awakened at 2:30 am by Lily whining and the live trap rattling. I ended up having to take the trap off the deck and putting it in the yard west of the garage where the dogs wouldn't be able to see if from their enclosure in the morning.

So here is the little guy in the live trap before his relocation ride. He is a juvenile probably born early this spring. He is intensely unhappy with his current condition. The good news is that there is no death sentence in this case.

Lily is a coon dog but she has never been trained to hunt. Her reaction this morning surprised us. As I noted earlier we had placed the raccoon on the west side of the garage in the yard about 75 feet from the front door. It was around the corner and behind some bushes so there was no way she could see it or know where it was. Carol had Lily on the leash this morning to take her for a walk. Lily got out of the front door, her nose went up in the air and she started barking. This was not Lily's normal bark. This was the tracking bark of a coon hound. She was ready to go. She jumped off the porch steps and headed around the corner toward where the raccoon was being detained. If she could have gotten enough traction she would have pulled Carol off the porch. As it was I had to give Carol the lead with Teddi attached and take Lily. She continued to try to go that way and was vocalizing her desire to chase that raccoon through the woods.

The raccoon has been successfully relocated to a cornfield west of interstate 74 and south of Henderson. It is doubtful he will return to our house but who knows. Tonight the trap will go back out and we will see if we can be successful again.