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When the House Resources Committee took up SB 1286 this afternoon, Sen. Gary Schroeder’s bill to classify raccoons as “predatory wildlife” to ease control of the pesky animals, four members of the committee donned coon-skin hats in honor of the bill. “What creativity - I love it!” Schroeder responded. The bill, which easily passed the committee and which earlier passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, was backed by the Idaho Fish & Game Commission. “We have a year-round season on raccoons,” Schroeder told the committee. “If you have a hunting and trapping license, you can take as many as you want, any time of the year. … The season’s open all year long and you can have as many as you want, and they’re common nuisance animals in both urban and rural areas.”
Reclassifying raccoons as predators allows both citizens and control agents to dispose of raccoons without worrying about possession laws or limits. Here’s how enthusiastic committee members were about the bill: Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, said, “We have a lot of them in our district, and they are creating quite a problem, right where I live.” Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, “I know it’s not the correct protocol for the committee, but if I could I’d like to vote twice, once for me and once for my wife - the raccoons are terrible with her corn in her garden.” The bill now heads to the full House.
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Preacher1 on March 13 at 10:09 p.m.
Raccoons are not only pesky but they pose a real danger to humans , pets, and other wildlife -many carry rabies. ‘Coons are ridiculously easy to trap, as they have an insatiable curiosity and appetite. Use “Havahart” or similar live traps, as you will quite often catch a neighbor’s cat or small dog. Put canned fish -mackeral, etc.- in an empty soup can and push it to the rear of the trap. If you can hang it from the trap’s top -with the bottom of the can about an inch off the trap bottom, so much the better. It is wise to push a 24” piece of 1/4” re-rod down through the trap and into the soil, to keep the coon from tipping the trap over while trying to escape. A couple of regular marshallows with a few drops of vanilla extract dripped onto the candy makes a deadly bait also, and it’s a good idea to rotate baits now and then: coons learn very quickly! You can kill the coon safely by dropping the trap in a deep hole in the creek, or with a .22 short in the back of the skull. But don’t handle live coons: they are DANGEROUS! To handle live animals, you need strong, hi-top leather boots, a sturdy stick about 3’ long, and for distraction. a mouthy dog that hates coons!