There are many people who love the idea of placing deer feeders on their properties. Some will do this just because they like being able to observe the deer prancing around their yards, but others will do so to keep them coming around for hunting purposes when the season is right.
No matter what reason you are using them on your property, it’s going to be annoying when the food is being eaten by raccoons. Raccoons are scavengers that look for food wherever they can get it, and they love finding easy to access types of food.
What can you do to keep the local raccoon population from continually eating all of the food in your deer feeder? Well, there are actually some good options that you can consider that will get the job done.
Read on to learn about different ways to keep raccoons away from the deer feeders that you have placed around your property. You should be able to find a good method that will work for your situation.
1 – Consider Trapping the Raccoon
One of the first ideas that people look into when they have problems like this is to go ahead and trap the raccoons. If you can trap the raccoons and relocate them to another area, you might be able to get this problem taken care of fast.
Trapping a raccoon shouldn’t be overly difficult, and there are quite a few different types of raccoon traps out there that you could explore. Some people will even build their own traps, but you can make it simple on yourself by buying commercial traps meant for small animals such as raccoons.
The only real issue with this is that you need to check your local laws before you move forward. There might be laws against harming or relocating local wildlife species, and this could prevent you from doing what you want to do without getting into trouble.
At the very least, you should talk to the proper authorities about things before you make the decision to go through with trapping the raccoons. You want to be given the green light before you do anything, and it makes sense to want to do things within the confines of the law to avoid fines or other issues.
2 – Hunting Raccoon
Hunting raccoons is likely something that will come naturally to you if you’re using deer feeders as a hunting tool. Your first instinct might have been that you should just hunt them and be done with it.
This isn’t a terrible idea, but you do need to keep in mind that the local wildlife control authorities need to be contacted first. You might have laws that will prevent you from hunting specific animals, and this needs to be taken into consideration.
If you have determined that it is fine to hunt the raccoons according to your local laws, you can move forward without being worried. It shouldn’t take much time to hunt the raccoons, and you can use whatever methods you think will be best.
Hunting the local raccoons will make it far less likely that they will give you problems with your deer feeders. However, it’s also important to consider that there will often be many raccoons in a given area.
Raccoons are so incredibly common in both rural and urban environments. There is always the chance that you’re going to be dealing with them for a very long time even after hunting three or four of them.
Just keep this in mind and understand that hunting won’t always be the simplest answer to your problems. There are other potential solutions to consider that might take less of your time.
3 – Poison the Raccoons
Poisoning the raccoons is a possibility, but you’ll need to ensure that it’s legal to do so before you move forward. The basic idea is that you can place food in the deer feeders that the raccoons aren’t going to like.
Some people have formulated specific things that will work to eliminate raccoons without harming the deer at all. For example, many people tout a food mixture known as “monkey chow” that can kill raccoons without being harmful in any way to the local deer population.
You can check with local experts to see what types of things will work to eliminate raccoons. Be sure to get something that isn’t harmful to deer so that you can avoid any issues.
Overall, this option is likely going to be easier than taking the time to hunt the raccoons yourself. If you wish to eliminate them, using poison might be the right way to go.
4 – Make Use of Raccoon Deterrents
You could choose to make use of raccoon deterrents that will keep them from being able to eat the deer food easily. There are a few options, but most people wind up using what is referred to as “shark teeth.”
Placing “shark teeth” on the sides of the deer feeders will make it painful and difficult for raccoons to climb the deer feeders. Many raccoons will just give up when they realize that it takes too much time and effort to try to break into the deer feeders.
If a raccoon does try to climb one, it’s going to get cut up by the shark teeth that you have placed on it. Overall, these should work out pretty well, but there are still more deterrents to try out.
Simply greasing the legs of the deer feeders will make it so that raccoons and other animals won’t be able to climb it properly. This prevents them from being able to access the deer feeder, and the local deer won’t have a problem due to their height.
Another option is to use a guard on the legs of the deer feeder to accomplish the same thing. Typically, these guards will be cones that prevent raccoons from being able to climb up the deer feeders.
5 – Pay Someone to Manage the Local Raccoon Population
Paying someone to manage the local raccoon population is another idea to consider. Some areas will have local trappers who will be willing to trap and get rid of raccoons for a cost.
This is a good option for those who don’t have a lot of time to deal with issues like this themselves. You might be a busy professional who spends a lot of time at work, and this might appeal to you due to it being a simple solution.
The only real downside is that this might be a fairly expensive thing to have to do. If you’re worried about how much money you’re spending, looking into something else is recommended.
Final Thoughts
Now you should know all that you need to know about getting rid of pesky raccoons near your deer feeders. If you’re able to implement the methods mentioned above, you should be able to get good results.
You don’t have to put up with annoying raccoons messing with your deer feeders all the time. There are a number of things that you can do, but you do have to remember to ensure that certain things are legal to do in your area before moving forward.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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Dustin
Monday 14th of November 2022
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