JTKelly
Sharpshooter
If they start figuring out the live trap, put a mouse trap in there with the bait. When that snaps they go a little nuts and lose all sense of subtlety.I agree with the dog-proof traps, be prepared to dispatch them quickly as they'll make a lot of noise and trash everything they can reach.
I have a friend who lives in town with a small yard, he's put down 108 coons in the last 5 ish years, in a very very small yard. Have-a-heart type traps will work but coons are smart and learn to move in and out of them without tripping the trap door, seen it on video many times.
Remember to switch up your bait, like everything else they get bored with the same thing. Small marshmallows work well, cat food, they are also attracted to cat-nip, a long with most sweet treats, leftover chicken bones work well but if they're in a cage trap wire them in place so they have to work to try and remove them. Old style leg traps aren't very effective in his opinion, although once in a while ya get lucky, see pic. LoL
The instances of rabies infections is climbing, don't feel bad about putting them down, they're proficient reproducers and they will quickly over run your property if allowed.
I put game cams on my live traps to make SURE I know what is going on and it STILL took me a few days to figure this one out. I'd have two or three traps set out there. First night all the traps were full the next day. Next night one trap was full and one tripped. I figured some one reach through the wire, cleaned the bait and tripped the door.
Then a couple days with tripped doors, bait gone, no critters. NOTHING on the game came.
Tonight I figured it out, squirrels were throwing apples on the traps tripping them so the coons don't get caught. Or so many apples were falling they just happened to hit the trap and trip it.