Coons pestering the chickens

[PtMD989]

Anybody have a load for .50 cal MZ. I'm thinking of trying some BBs in a sabot that are covered with wax maybe over a 50 grn pyrodex pellet.


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[RED333]

You have a pistol?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/foru...ds-For-Pistols
I have a load for 44 mag and 45 Colt, I used the 44 to dispatch a opossum the other knight.
Kept him still with a flash light.

[country gent]

I would load trhe 50 grn pellet a heavy wad over the top cork, casket material, tablet backing. This will protect the shot and help maintain an even "push". I would recommend lead shot over BBs as bbs are steel with a light copper coating. A few Shotgun shells sacrificed for their shot or hit up a shotgun loader for a small amount. A couple 3 pounds of #4 or #2 shot goes a long ways here and the slightly smaller shot dia will give more pellets to the loading. and then an over shot wad of lighter material to hold it in place. A mandrel can be made to roll a paper tube for around the shot and ends enclosed. make tube .250 -.3125 longer and backed can be folded over mandrel to make a nice cup then a card wad to seal front end and a small touch of white glue or wax to hold together. I would still use the card wads the tube nees to be bore dia or just a little more and the card wad will insure the shot charge stays in place better.

[w5pv]

Dem coons love to bite the chicks trough the head and kill as many as they can,they don't eat just kill them.

[DougGuy]

I used the 44 to dispatch a opossum the other knight.
Kept him still with a flash light.

Don't kill the possums, they are quite beneficial, unlike coons, rats, feral animals, etc. Possums don't carry diseases that coons do, they also compete with rats for the same foods so where you have possums you won't have rats.

Coons fall rather quickly to a .25 caliber PCP air rifle, and they are just as much fun as a ML.

[Hannibal]

Don't kill the possums, they are quite beneficial, unlike coons, rats, feral animals, etc. Possums don't carry diseases that coons do, they also compete with rats for the same foods so where you have possums you won't have rats.

I've read opossoms eat ticks as well. Seems to be a bit of controversy about this, but until I'm convinced otherwise, I'll leave the nasty buggers alone.

[bedbugbilly]

Unless you're going to be sitting up all night waiting, try a live trap. I usually use a watermelon slice, a cantaloupe slice or a can of tuna fish and have trapped many that way. from there you can either "dispose" of them or transplant them to another area. We have a lot of them and they cause a lot of damage to buildings, etc. - don't have chickens or similar. They are nocturnal and it is rare that I have been able to shoot one in the daytime. Several times, I have shot one though in the daytime - and it was evident that they were suffering from "feline distemper" which they are prone to. I had one with distemper get up on the railing of the deck on the back of my house one time - it would't move and was very aggressive. I dispatched it with a .54 cal Hawken I had and a round ball - when I hit it, it flew back about three feet from the impact - sort of "over kill" to say the least. A 410 or a 38 does the job nicely.

[Hannibal]

Has anyone found anything that 'coons like that a opossum WON'T eat?

This has been the biggest problem I've had with traps.

[dondiego]

A possum will eat anything edible and many things that aren't! I shot 7 coons out of my mulberry tree yesterday at about dusk with my 20 ga. O/U. I had to reload fast and the auto ejectors were a help. Two that were not in the tree escaped. I threw them in a young bean field the next morning and buzzards were there within an hour. A pair of bald eagles and a juvenile eagle also showed up. All coons were gone in 3 hours!

[PtMD989]

Thanks for the replies. I think I can get lead shot from my dads basement. Maybe able to get the cork from my dads basement also. In the meantime I got the Benjamin Sheridan .177 loaded and waiting. The FIL probably waiting right now for a shot at the varmint. He prefers 12 gauge.


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[Rojelio]

Has anyone found anything that 'coons like that a opossum WON'T eat?

This has been the biggest problem I've had with traps.

Yes, use peanuts for bait and you'll quit catching possums. Coons love peanuts. I always used raw peanuts in the shell but roasted peanuts might work.

[Hannibal]

Yes, use peanuts for bait and you'll quit catching possums. Coons love peanuts. I always used raw peanuts in the shell but roasted peanuts might work.

There are videos of Opossums eating peanuts on YouTube, but cheap as they are I'll give it a try.

[country gent]

Check your states laws before relocating a wild animal in most its illegal to do so and carries heavy fines. Racoons are a bad one to relocate due to the diseases they carry. Your car ride might just of a diseased animal may just allow the carrier to spread disease another 10-20 miles in one night. I would also recommend the live trap and shoot shovel and shut up. For coon baits fish oil From tuna fish cans works (but also draws more than the ones already there) weve had luck with marshmellows, peanut butter, chicken ( again the scent tends to draw more) or if you know where they are getting in simply set the trap so they have to go thru it to get in. Our problems with the chickens was skunks and coons stealing the eggs.Minks weasel owls hawks would kill them off quick though

[Rojelio]

There are videos of Opossums eating peanuts on YouTube, but cheap as they are I'll give it a try.

See if you can find raw peanuts in the shell. Coons love them and I never caught a possum using them. The ones on youtube were eating shelled roasted peanuts probably salted. I never used those.

[nagantguy]

I have a sure shot solution;I have one 10 week old treeing Cur pup left from the litter,a female my girls call pinky, they all took turns in the chicken coop to ensure they won't hurt the birds but they are hell on coons,mom and dad dogs are these little guys will tree anything but get a coon tail sighing 50 years of them and they go into tazmainian devil mode! Anyhow pm me if your anywhere near MI or in serious need of a coon dog that will tree or stand alone kill coons!

[curator]

"I would also recommend the live trap and shoot shovel and shut up." Good advice! A .22 rim fire rifle using CCI "CB caps" is nearly perfect for dispatching these critters. About the same noise as a pellet gun but twice the power. Here in Florida it is illegal to relocate trapped raccoons and live-traps are the only legal trapping method. Be careful when handling the carcases as they do carry some transmittable disease and fleas abandoning the cooling critter will jump on you too. I also agree with the Possum protection, even if these ugly buggers are a bit of a nuisance. They are totally immune to pit-viper venom and eat rattlesnakes as a regular item in their diet.

[richhodg66]

That's very interesting about the raccoons eating peanuts but possums won't. I have set live traps for coons and almost always a possum ends up in the trap somehow. I don't know if I've ever seen raw peanuts for sale here. Back in S.C. it was very common as people boil them.

We live on 18 acres of woods way out of town and he disappeared recently, but we had a tomcat that came and went and had possums and the occasional raccoon eating his food. Racoons get shot on sight, possums I generally stamp a foot and yell 'scat". I've heard all about how they don't carry rabies and they are so stupid and docile that they're basically helpless, I'd feel bad now killing one I didn't have to.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Shooting coon with a muzzle loader sounds fun, but traps are the way to get rid of them. Last year i trapped 45 coon, around the silage pile and sweet corn , all with the dog-proof style foot traps using dry cat food as bait. No wonder we don't have many pheasants any more

[RED333]

Don't kill the possums, they are quite beneficial, unlike coons, rats, feral animals, etc. Possums don't carry diseases that coons do, they also compete with rats for the same foods so where you have possums you won't have rats.

Bravo Foxtrot Sierra!!! Killed two eating eggs, they die.

[RU shooter]

Coons are rather curious animals , I remember when I was a teenager I ran traps a few years for coon most of the sets were baited with a big dollop of peanut butter on the base of a tree and a piece of tinfoil hanging free on a string above as a visual attractant , Quite a few times the birds ate all the bait and still caught a few coon in those sets with just the shinie foil twisting and moving in the wind.

Back to the original question , why not just load up a round ball with say 20 gr of 3F would be about 800 or so fps not all the loud either .