When I got home from work on Friday I heard what sounded like a kitten coming from the back corner of our garage. I had thought I heard it before a few days earlier so after getting the kids upstairs and eating I went back to see if I could figure out what it was and where it was. I quickly located the source it wasn't a kitten though it was a family of raccoons that had taken up residence in an unused chimney flu that opens into the wall of the garage. My guess is the original owners intended to put wood burner down there but didn't. We knew it was uncapped on top and it was on our to do list but we had not gotten to it yet. We had a metal plate on the garage end so they couldn't get into the garage so momma must have been climbing up and down the chimney to get food. She had been getting into our garbage for a few weeks so we had finally bungee corded the can so she couldn't get in there.
I called DNR for our area but they just told us to hire a nuisance wildlife company to come and get them out. Wes didn't want to do that so I called my aunt Tami who has raised several orphaned coons and asked her opinion. She thought if we could live trap the momma we could get the babies out and release them together. Her son Jared had a live trap we could borrow so mom and dad picked it up and brought it with them on Sunday when they were down for a visit. So Wes baits the trap with some wet dog food as Tami recommended and rigged it so it was right outside the opening in the garage and took the cover off down there. We left it alone for several hours but other than peeking a head out once in a while they were not taking the bait. Wes had read that they hated the smell of ammonia so he took an old rag and soaked it and tied it to a string and put it down the flue hoping to chase them out into the cage. My dad had some heavy duty fire gloves on (they go up to your elbow) and a garden hoe on the other end ready to trap momma and change the trap so we could get the babies out. Well that would have been great except apparently momma was out hunting because she wasn't in there just the babies. Dad was able to get both babies out and in one of the smaller live traps. We put them under the deck and put two larger traps on either side with food in them hoping to catch the momma that night. Well color us surprised Monday morning when we go to check on them if the whole trap with the babies in it is gone! Momma coon really wanted her babies back. We didn't have time to look for them then so we went to work and Wes checked that evening and found the trap and babies between our yard and our neighbors in a wooded area, she had carried it pretty far up hill. He decided to go ahead and release the babies and put some food and water there hoping mom would came back and get them since it was almost dark. I think she did they were gone the next morning and I haven't noticed and coyotes around so hopefully it was the mom that took them. We've capped off the top now so she can't get back in there and the garbage is closed tight so hopefully she won't have reason to hang around.
I called DNR for our area but they just told us to hire a nuisance wildlife company to come and get them out. Wes didn't want to do that so I called my aunt Tami who has raised several orphaned coons and asked her opinion. She thought if we could live trap the momma we could get the babies out and release them together. Her son Jared had a live trap we could borrow so mom and dad picked it up and brought it with them on Sunday when they were down for a visit. So Wes baits the trap with some wet dog food as Tami recommended and rigged it so it was right outside the opening in the garage and took the cover off down there. We left it alone for several hours but other than peeking a head out once in a while they were not taking the bait. Wes had read that they hated the smell of ammonia so he took an old rag and soaked it and tied it to a string and put it down the flue hoping to chase them out into the cage. My dad had some heavy duty fire gloves on (they go up to your elbow) and a garden hoe on the other end ready to trap momma and change the trap so we could get the babies out. Well that would have been great except apparently momma was out hunting because she wasn't in there just the babies. Dad was able to get both babies out and in one of the smaller live traps. We put them under the deck and put two larger traps on either side with food in them hoping to catch the momma that night. Well color us surprised Monday morning when we go to check on them if the whole trap with the babies in it is gone! Momma coon really wanted her babies back. We didn't have time to look for them then so we went to work and Wes checked that evening and found the trap and babies between our yard and our neighbors in a wooded area, she had carried it pretty far up hill. He decided to go ahead and release the babies and put some food and water there hoping mom would came back and get them since it was almost dark. I think she did they were gone the next morning and I haven't noticed and coyotes around so hopefully it was the mom that took them. We've capped off the top now so she can't get back in there and the garbage is closed tight so hopefully she won't have reason to hang around.
The whole in the garage wall
That's a lot of raccoon in a little hole.
The babies after we got them in the trap
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