Raccoon/Opossum bait station, (graphic)

[BRAAP]

Since we moved onto our humble 3 acres 12 years ago amongst all the 80 acre lots here on the west foot of Mt Hood in Oregon my wife has been after me to reduce the Raccoon population. They come into our Breezeway between the garage and house to raid the dog food, startled my wife a couple times as she walks out the door into the breezeway literally within 2' of them as they are chowing on the doggy food, no attacks but spooks her on her way out to work in the morning. We have always had few raccoons, opossums, skunks, deer, pack of Coyotes, Cotton tail rabbits, even a herd of Elk pass through once in a while as well, I enjoy the wild life but now time to thin the vermon, neighbors complaining of Raccoons Opossums raiding their eggs and even Chickens as well as some of the ducks.
Set up a bird feeding station strategically located for being able to pop Starlings from a couple good shooting spots with safe back drops. Raccoons have also been destroying this bird feeding station, running off with the Suet cake cages, I find them empty cages atop the kids play structure etc. (Fathers competitive spirit, he has challenged me to a month by month starling kill competition, he lives 2.5 hours south of us, I'm winning so far this year, 111 to his 40ish since Jan, though this month he is doing much better than I). So I built a cheesy yet effective Raccoon bait station, harvested 3 Racoons before the end of Raccoon season and 4 Opossums with the AA S510 shooting .22" JSB Exact at 930 FPS.

Bait station is set up exactly 14 yards line of sight from upstairs bathroom window, aim is 25 degree decline down.
Bait is 1/2-2 cups dry dog food in a pile with a tablespoon of Tuna on the far side of the dog food hoping they will go for that first aligning themselves head on to my shooting station for a clean top down head shot, humane kills preferred.
I am using a HarborFrieght wireless driveway alert system. Sensor is placed in a bucket that is laying on its side to protect sensor from the elements and limit the field of view to just the bait only. Small piece of black electrical tape over the red LED so it wont distract the vermin when the sensor goes off, the wireless chime I keep in the house on the night stand.
Don't have night vision yet, really want to do a Rolaids NV set up, later this year I guess. for now I have a bubba style night light that just barely illuminates the bait so I can see the target through the scope, yet not too bright so as to discourage nocturnal vermon. Currently using a string of white Christmas lights in a Igloo Lunch pale with the lid cracked open approx 1" spilling just a little light onto the bait. Surrounded that with a few boards to help keep the light only on the bait.
Alarm has worked FLAWLESSLY, never falses unless the battery int he sender gets low, when it goes off quickly get out of bed, disarm the alarm, go into the bathroom that has nice dim red LED night light to keep from stumbling, grab the gun already in position, quietly open the sash, sight down to the bait station to see what varmint is enjoying a late night snack. All kills have been between 01:15 and 03:00 am.



First Masked bandit, with his position and my vantage point was looking straight down on top of his head, first shot was just behind his nose straight down, exited out through his tongue out under chin,  used the wrong Mil-Dot, supposed to be one dot under, I held one dot over. He ran to nearby tree with a hole through his snout. Put on shoes went outside and with red LED Tac light was able to pick him out the tree 10' up at 18 yards distance. Not cool wounding a critter like that, arrgghh... 


2nd masked bandit, correct Mil-dot this time, perfect shot placement, he dropped then started the death spasms kicking flopping. Pellet passed through the upper skull , through brain and lower brain pan into mouth/throat bleeding profusely out the mouth, (very messy) instant death. 8-)




Third Masked bandit, exact same scenario as second, also bled profusely out mouth from pass through the brain into mouth/throat, dropped then death spasms. Third one was quite a bit bigger than first two, this one weighed in at 32 lbs. my father says it must be part bear..

[L-phant]

Nice Shooting! I have a few Opossums on my property that raid my compost quite often. This bait station looks like something I should definitely try!

[HatsanPhantom]

Good job on that bandit..you finished what you started and that says alot.
Way to do it

[BRAAP]

Good job on that bandit..you finished what you started and that says alot.
Way to do it

Thank you.

[BRAAP]

Nice Shooting! I have a few Opossums on my property that raid my compost quite often. This bait station looks like something I should definitely try!

By all means, try it.

Opossums. An Opossum enjoying the Tuna, presented a nice profile shot, aimed just ahead of the ear/behind the eye, BOO-YA... one shot one kill. Dropped to the ground then started the death twitch/squirm.





Next night another Opossum came by 03:05, a bit smaller than previous mornings take. Came in opposite side of the feeder, presented me a good profile looking down at a 25 degree angle, aimed just behind the eye, "pffftt"... "POP!"  He gone.




Few days later 11:05pm bait station alarm went off, large Opossum feasting on the tuna set out an hour earlier. Face on shot looking down, head shot in the middle. Dropped then about a second later started the death squirm rolling about the yard, proud male with quite the set...  Took him with the AA S510.
Bait station alarm system has been working flawlessly, no falsing, sensitive enough to pick up the birds that pick up the scraps in the morning just after sun rise.




almost 2 weeks later, Opossum #4, 02:25 bait station alarm went off, got up thinking it was the cat again, nope, Opossum. Small sized presented with a nice left profile shot, aimed directly between ear and eye .... POP..... He gone.

[HatsanPhantom]

Sheeesh..i need a bait station..again good work

[BenjiHunter]

Great shooting!!!

[BRAAP]

Sheeesh..i need a bait station..again good work

Yes you do. 
The alarm I'm using is this unit discussed here;
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=66784.0


Started dinking on an improved bait station a little few days back, foldable self contained unit, bent up some conduit for a 4 legged frame to hold the alarm and low candle power flood light, stands 32" high, will have small roof to cover bait during inclement weather. Picked up a rectified transformer of appropriate voltage for direct power alarm vs battery that needs replace every month or so, possibly back to battery once I get a Rolaids NV up and running for full cordless portability.

[dk1677]

Nice shooting!

[stonykill]

nice shooting. Great pics. Thanks for sharing!

[DougGuy]

I have a possum living under my shed in the back yard, the little b***ard chews holes in the plastic garden netting and gets right in.  He tripped the big Victor rat traps with peanut butter, that's how I know it's the possum, they would have killed/caught anything smaller. 

Thanks for the post, I have been thinking of a nighttime ambush much like your setup only smearing peanut butter on the end of one of my raised beds that is about a 6 yard shot outside a bedroom window on the back side of the house.

The .177 Crosman Pumpmaster 760 that I started with worked ehh so so on squirrels and one small rabbit, but it's not near enough gun for a possum.


The brown truck is bringing me a brand new full tuned Flying Dragon .22 cal XS46U rifle on Thursday, this might be it's first hunt, unless a squirrel invades the garden like they do..

[BRAAP]

***Edit***
Not worthy of posting.

[stonykill]

well done. That is a nice coon

[HatsanPhantom]

Good shooting

Bandit down!

[BRAAP]

Took a break from bait station, broke it down few weeks back, now it's time to bring it back online.
Filled bird feeders last night, came home this afternoon to find solid wood roof hanging off one of the feeders and all the sunflower seeds gone, also found signs of a medium critter digging around dirt in a couple locations near by, Raccoon, Opossum, or Roid pumping Nutter.


Set up the bait station again, fresh battery in the HF Ding-Dong alarm and a new night light from Dollar store, great balance of just enough light to see the target zone through the scope without being too bright to scare off the varmints.

Fingers crossed the bandit returns tonight, dry dog food, Cheddar cheese, Turkey Deli meat...

[BRAAP]

***Edit***
Not worthy of posting.

[HatsanPhantom]

Bandit down!

good shooting

[stonykill]

well done!!

[BRAAP]

Thank you gentlemen.


11:31 pm bait station alarm went off, Skunk chowing down.  Don't want him to spray, just go away. Fired a shot just over his head into the spool next to him, he flinched though kept eating, fired another warning shot, same. Coughed loudly, that spooked him away...... Back to bed.

30 minutes later he's back. Took the shot this time, pass through the head, emptied his brain cavity completely, he still sprayed during the death flop.   
Back yard is stinky stanky stinky... Wife is out of town till Friday night, hoping the smell dissipates by then...

[dk1677]

Lyme helps, from a gardening dept. ( Good luck with your wife, been there    ) Nice shooting too!