Location, location, location.......

Early this morning, before most of the Hill Country population was getting ready for church, my husband was driving to the lake with a raccoon in the truck of his car. Even before his feet touched the bedroom carpeting before dawn, my husband was saying "I'm going outside to see if there's anything in that trap."

My husband found one raccoon who couldn't resist the whole fresh egg that was in the very back of the wire trap.... he was sitting in that silver cage and looking out at the corn in our garden that he could no longer reach. Before the raccoon went for the egg, though, he tramped through the corn and pulled up still more stalks which he threw out into the grass around the vegetable garden.

My husband covered up the trap with an old towel, then put the still-closed trap into the trunk of his car which he had covered with heavy plastic. Once they got to the lake, my husband found an old country road that looked like it hadn't seen a car in decades. He backed up into that road, opened the trunk, put the trap on the ground and opened the little door. The raccoon took off like a rocket, he said.... into the woods he went, never looking back. By now, he's probably made friends with other re-located raccoons and they're all sound asleep high up in a tree, resting from their adventures so they'll have energy to search for more midnight snacks after dark.

Our neighbor suggested we put out the trap again tonight, just in case that particular raccoon was traveling with a friend who was smart enough not to get into that trap last night. One more fresh egg for the trap...... I hate wasting eggs like that, but clearly, the raccoon couldn't resist the egg. The other trap my husband set up last night held the skin of the salmon that I cooked for last night's dinner. I thought for sure that the salmon would win over that egg, but that just goes to show you what I know about the nocturnal habits of raccoons.

The traps that my husband is setting up must be held into the ground with iron stakes. Our neighbor D tells us that if there are two raccoons in the yard and one gets caught inside a trap, the other raccoon can sometimes turn a steel trap upside down and then the metal rings fall towards the ground and the little door will open..... and out comes the trapped raccoon. "They work in pairs, usually, and some of these raccoons are pretty smart with gadgets that we buy to keep them under control," said the neighbor. After all the years that D has lived up here, my husband took his advice to heart and so far, it's working out just fine. We're wishing that we had talked to D before our corn got tossed all over the yard.

My husband thought it was ironic this morning that he left so early for the lake..... it was cooler outside at that hour, and there was a nice wind for sailing. "I could have taken the sailboat out inside of bringing that raccoon into the woods." I suggested to my husband that he call our neighbor before doing that to ask him if raccoons like sailboats. (Which I thought was pretty funny, but all I got was a Ha...Ha....)

Out in the yard this morning, I fully expected my husband to say out loud... Oh crikey, she's a beaut!!! as he looked at that raccoon in the trap. But he forgot all about his Steve Irwin imitation because he was just so happy that the trap worked.

When the foxes were inside the barn, we didn't have a problem with raccoons. Now the foxes are gone, and the raccoons have taken over the after-dark prowling of the property. When my husband was shopping for the raccoon trap, he came across one that was more than twice the size of the traps he was looking at. He asked the salesman what the larger one was for. That there's for bobcats.... get one of those hungry bobcats on your prop-ty and y'all won't be worryin' 'bout catchin' raccoons and foxes.

Another day... another lesson.