Releasing live-trapped 'coons?

to be in compliance with the law....

captured nuisance wildlife must be
A. released at sight of capture
B. released in same county as captured WITH LANDOWNER CONSENT, this includes public properties. You must have consent from the property manager.
C. Euthanized

and the local Conservation Officer must be notified of your actions within 48 hrs.

Coon is good any time of year, just make sure you boil it for a while to get a lot of the bad tasting fat out of it. Throw it in the oven or crock pot, and bbq when tender. Good stuff!

Russ, if you want to meet me somewhere, I've got the makings of an electric fence. I'd rather not move everything with me to NH.

I've got several fiberglass posts, a ball of wire (nylon with wire woven into it, and a couple of fence chargers- one 12v operated and one that plugs into 120v AC power (not 100% sure that one works).

Let me know. I'm not sure how soon I'd be able to meet you anywhere, but I'm hopeful in the next few days/weeks I'll need to bug out of the house for a showing or two.

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Trapperdave, those were the sort of regulations I wondered about. Sort of expected something about that silly, but still had to chuckle at the first one.....release at the point of capture?? Sort of misses the point of capturing him in the first place, doesn't it?

I'll check with the property manager at MMSF tomorrow. The second one we released today seemed agitated while he was in trap being carried out of the garden and placed in the pickup, but when we released him in the forestry, he was pretty casual about getting away, just hurrying a little for the first few feet, then strolling away gradually, stopping to sniff at the plants and giving us an occasional glance as he wandered away towards the creek.

It was only about half grown, so didn't have the fear of humans that an adult usually has developed.

I suppose the youngster would have faced about the same competition for finding a place to den in the area where we trapped it as it would in the new area. I do see where that would be a factor for an adult transferred from an area where it already had a den site established. I do see the other factors being involved here, and may go back to the lethal methods, as suggested.

Just was reluctant to take the life of a critter without some legitimate attempt to find a non-lethal alternative. Not completely opposed to doing so, just not my first choice among the options. And it would be easier if they weren't so darn cute.

But the B-I-L worked very hard to put in this garden and did everything that could be expected of him in protecting it, and the critters are cleaning him out.

ive been told if you dont take the little nasty creatures at least 15-20 miles from there den area that they will find there way back home . i tried the catch and release thing a couple years back ,then i was told if i was caught releasing them i would be paying a nice hefty fine.so my advise to you is this, trap,shoot shut up and dig.worked for me.

Nobody cares about them until you get caught... I'd be carefull about bragging about certain things on the internet. Cases have been initiated based on postings on internet message boards.

As Hank Jr. says "Don't give em a reason, to come gunning for you." Chances are slim but one you should really think about before spewing it on a public forum.

Called the forestry management today and received permission from the assistant manager to release them. His only request was that I do so in an area remote from campgrounds or developed areas, which made sense. Transported last night's catch soon after.

I can understand the reasons cited for not releasing them, but have to disagree with the reasoning for the most part.

The ones we have caught so far are the young and stupid, and they would face the same stresses of relocation, finding new den sites, and about the same likelihood of spreading any disease they have whether I trap and relocate them ten or twelve miles or not.

So far, their stress levels appear to be almost nil. When we release them, they take a few hurried steps them almost immediately slow to a walk and stop and sniff their surroundings, then waddle off into cover. Tougher to transport my cat to the vet.

We'll hopefully be going with the electric fencing option soon. I do see that as the best long-term solution, and it sounds a whole lot easier than digging all those holes.

If a plump adult does end up in the trap, it probably won't get relocated any further than my freezer.

Yea, but it may be cheaper to feed the coons!

In my mind releasing the vermin will only further the decline of game and non game species in the given area, including songbirds and other egg laying species like reptiles and amphibians. The populations of fur bearers have never been higher in my 40 plus years of life.