I hate racoons. I live on mostly wooded acreage (Oregon, imagine that :rolleyes: ) and the racoons are about as rare as dirt. The GSDs have been in more than a few scrapes with those damn vermin. 34 stitches to my young male last year. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I get the lads vaccinated for rabies and other nasties as needed.

They will actually move in troups of 5-7 and hiss and snarl at you while advancing. I couldn't believe it the first time I saw it happen. Weird. . . Anyway they don't much like a #4 bird shot <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> .

I can't get rid of them. I've learned to live with it. They will never attack an adult so you just have to charge them like a screaming DVG banshee helper. They can't pass a good courage test. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

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Maybe someone could find and dig up Old Yeller and clone him

Hmmm...I think my Oscar is probably as close to a clone of Old Yeller as one could get (although he's black <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ). He also has a nasty habit of going after squirrels, possums and snakes... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

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They will never attack an adult so you just have to charge them like a screaming DVG banshee helper. They can't pass a good courage test.

Hmmm...would you mind 'trying' this out first and reporting back w/ details..I'd like to know how it REALLY works before attempting... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I dug out the ol' pepper spray and tested it yesterday. Still works. Last night we went the other way, down in the flat area with less trees, and didn't see or hear a thing. I think they're haunting the neighborhood that I live in because it is thickly treed and shrubbed. I live on the south slope of a hill that has lots of trees. South of my hill, the terrain flattens out and is more open, with more small ornamental deciduous trees in people's yards, and less of the big tall Doug firs, English Ivy, and Rhododendrons that you see all over the place on the hill.
Been doing a little more research on the varmints, and apparently the groups that you see are most likely the mother and babies. Babies are born in April or May, and stay with the mother for about a year. In colder areas, they hibernate during the winter, so you don't really see or hear them out and about. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it doesn't really get cold enough for them to hibernate, especially the urban ones, so you'll see them year round. This is the first time I've ever had such problems with them, and I think it's because of where I live. I've lived in other parts of the city that don't seem to have as many of them, but I think that they thrive here because it's the part of town that has the most native trees and shrubs and "natural" landscaping. I think I'll try and see if staying off the hill at night helps me to avoid further confrontation.

Get some traps or coon hounds tree them shoot and skin them around here we sell them by the LB donnuts work real good for bait