Hi guys i havent been on in awhile but I have been doing some adc work. Any how. My question to you guys that do this full time.

If you had to grab a coon bare handed would you prefer, gettin him by the skruff of his neck or by his neck its self. Thanks there is a story to follow this up but im lookin for some professinal advice. Thanks again steve

i would use a catch pole regardless.. if youve never handled a coon with your hand you should go out with an "experienced ADC guy" and see how its done.. just my $0.035

I know of a guy who has done this many times and has the scars to prove it.

To handle a coon is a bit difficult because they can just about turn around in their own skin. The way he grabs them is to first pin them down in order to get a good grip , then gather as much skin as possible and then get more skin. You have to get them VERY tightly with no loose skin at all or they will be able to move to bite you.

IMO , a catch pole is much better than scars.

I totaly agree with the catch pole as a 1st choose. But lastnight i punch out an went out to the parking garage. I jumped in the elevator an went to the top floor when I stepped out there were both of my supervisers an the security superviser an about 5 sucurity guards.
They all no I trap so they acked me to help. anyhow a long story short. There were to coons on the 6th floor of the parking garage. I walked them into a litle glass room in front of the elevator. I triied to pin 1 of them down an it wasnt happenng with this stick I had.

So they both went into the corner scared half 2 death. And were lying strait up in the corner. So I decided to grab the 1st one an it went good. But I grabbed him by the skruff an like crager said they can darn near turn around in there skin.

An pound for pound that coon faught me the whole way down all 6th floors. an I had a death grip on him with booth hands.

By the time I got to the 2nd coon he was alitle more pee owed.
So I had my superviser go get a long pease of wire and a 4' peace of pipe an made a catch pole an had no problem.

But the reason why I ask, cause there is alot of skin behind the neck. I wonder if I would have grabbed in by the neck if it would be more controlled.

Not that I plan on doing this again anytime soon. what do you guys think or should I not ask

My only suggestion is spellcheck.

There is a video of mike flick grabbing a live coon in someone's garage. i think he said you gotta get the feet off the groud quick!

I don't know what feet have to do with it. I've had them twist around right inside their own skin and bite the arm that was holding them. Does anyone out there know where you can grab almost any animal and not get bit?

Catch Pole, Trap or DEAD is the only safe way to pick up a adult coon bare handed, If they are the size of a grapefruit or what I call "ankle biter" size these are cool they sound tuff but when you pick them up they cry and whimper for their mom and I use leather work gloves picking them up.

This is a funny subject. One not long ago I would have answered "of course you can you big weinnies."

However in my older wiser state... note I did not say getting slower state... I would have to say not anymore. The medical bills will not pay for the extra money for those few coons you NEED to grab by hand.

The last few years the coons are getting faster... Note I did not state I was getting slower...

You can usually get away with grabbing a coon pretty well until they have reached their first bredding season. But if you grab a 3 or 4 year old boar or sow with a litter very many times you will get older and wiser in a hurry too, and maybe even a little slower.

hahahhahaha sorry but that was pretty funny!

Maybe , and this is just a guess , If you were able to grab their head so that your hand completely covers their head and jaw so it cannot open.

But I am not about to try it out.

I work at a vet hospital, and have to restrain very p-o'ed kitties for vaccines and blood draws. We call it the "Texas Stretch": Get as much skin and fur as humanly possible as close to the back of the head and ears as you can. Then take the other hand and grab their hind legs. Stretch them out nice and tight and shake their head to distract them. This keeps the front feet a little further away.

However, I also have scars...

Absolutely no good reason to handle an adult coon. Operating a wildlife control business is not a game or hobby.... professionalism is important, as well as YOUR safety. The possibility of getting bitten or scratched, then the animal escaping comes to mind. This REQUIRES rabies post-exposure treatment, typically running from 2 to 5 thousand dollars or more. Does your animal removal cost cover that? Don't get caught up in the moment... no need to play Superman. Stan has the best advice: Catch pole, trap, or dead.

Pretty good Ron. On 6/19/09 the bill was $4663.00. That was a pit bull bite.

It sound's like the whole thing could have been handled differently,and in a much safer manner. That wasn't the first time those Coon were in the parking garage looking for groceries. Let them go on their way, and if you are properly licensed and qualified to remove them, put a couple cages out there the next evening, and check them before the garage get's busy in the morning. In my opinion you were extremely lucky no one including yourself got injured.

Before I get into this let me just say I agree that in 99.9% of all cases the best way to handle a live coon is with a catch pole. But...in the 16 years of doing adc work full time there were 3 cases where I had to actually catch the coon by hand. If you grab a coon by the tail and lift him off the ground you can handle him with out getting bit. You have to hold him away from your body as he'll grab anything within reach and you have to shake him down at first as he'll try to climb up his tail to get to your hand but he tires quickly and he will quit trying to do that. Each time I used a transport cage with a large door (24 in.) and litterly through him in with enough speed that he couldn't react fast enough to stop himself from going in.

Bob

Congratulations, Protrapper. That is the correct answer to the question on safely grabbing animals. It doesn't work on everything of course. You grab a squirrel by the tail and you have a squirrel tail! It does work on a lot of animals, though.

I've done it a few times in my not so professional days as a hunt all night sleep all day coonhunter. The trick then was to wave one hand in it's face while the other came from behind and grabbed as much fur and skin as it could right at the base of the skull.
At least until a buddy of mine got bit. We thought nothing of it as that was a somewhat expected thing for a coon to do. That is until the coon died a couple days later and he decided to have it tested. No more grabbing coons by hand for this old coonhunter. Or tree climbing or tree cutting either.