I will make a positive set at every opportunity. ( I only wish that all the technicians, including my son, would do the same ) I'm not sure if all of you have experienced the really crappy feeling you get when you have spent more time than you should have making that perfect positive set, only to have the target animal make you look like a complete incompetent.

Example: You've got this female raccoon that ripped apart the air vent on the garage and has had her litter somewhere in the adjoining attic. You make a positive set on the air vent and the next day you go back with great confidence, only to find that she figured you out. She blew through the soffit and took all of her offspring with her. The customer is thrilled and you're sitting there thinking, "If the animals are smarter than me, why don't I just commit suicide and join PETA?"

I have had this happen with nearly every single species. ( Except opossums. Thank God for opossums ) So, if you're like me and sometimes find an animal that somehow outwits you, well that is exactly what this wonderful game is all about!

X2. it amazes me, the caution some animals show while others of the same species are so bold.

Thats one reason Ive never liked one way doors for squirrel and such.They will do more damage going around it than the damage that you were called to fix in my little opinion.

A female with young will be more carefull than any other time of year. Posative sets will work, but most of us are so complacent after achieving high catch ratios with dirty traps at other times of the year, that we neglect to remember how eviction liquid works. A dirty trap is a ball of odors, which make the mama coon real carefull. She may also be trap wise on top of it.
Use an odor free trap and I am sure you will see an increase in catch ratios.

Explain all the options you can think of. Then, when the one that you didn't think of happens, tell the customer you have to charge more.

My thoughts exactly Mike, how many times have you set a baited "dirty" trap at the entry point only to have the problem miraculously solve it self this time of year! Just as well smear some vanish on the hole and use the trap somewhere else lol

At some point in the set up I usually tell the customer that I want to concede right off that the animal is smarter than me so there won't be any need in pointing that out to me during this process. I'm going to get him/her with persistance and unless you run me off you and I will be here when he/she is gone.
I try to do the positive sets because it targets the house burgler not one walking thru the neighborhood and they let me know when I'm done.
I do hate it when I spend a lot of effort making something fool proof only to find a fool made it.

X 2 lots of experince in those words !

Boy Mike, you sure did strike the right chord there. It suddenly becomes very clear to me why I am more successful than my technicians. Clean traps is something I know about but simply do not stress enough with the guys. Thanks to you, that's about to change!

That is why I frequently get strange looks at the local car wash

Vanish = $39 per 4 ounce
Raccoon Eviction Fluid = $39 per 4 ounce
Boars delight = $12 per 4 ounce

Enough said?

The size of the adult mother will determine the success of an eviction. (I personally use coyote gland lure)A big old girl has probobly gone to war with every critter out there..... she aint scared of nothin. Thats where the eviction process becomes iffey.

I agree Mike, seems to work only on small or yearling sows on fri I put down my own mix in a attic on the way out of town customer calls and says he just watched the sow carry the pups down and in to a feild, this was in broad daylight !

I like to pick out a big boar coon ,one that's old and sticks like he spent all winter on the bottom of the pile . Now there's some good strong fresh stuff . I also included the first animal in my service call , so it really doesn't mader if I catch any to me . As long as the problem solved and I can do a good repair that will hold up . If they end up digging a new hole in a differnt spot that's fine ,just don't open my fix then that's a problem

Yea, I love the process when it works. I absolutly hate it when it doesn't

I honestly dont use eviction paste all that often as it seems 50/50 so half the time its making a return trip to set a trap when I could have just as well done that in the first place. The words written earlier were simply an analogy to acknowledge the point Mike was making. I do try it first in situations such as flat roof/ no attic, vaulted cielings and chimneys with no acess to the bottom etc. It still may cause an extra trip or two but usually its easier than cutting holes and repairing them. Vanish is the only product I have even tried, so I didnt mention any others as I have zero experiance with them.

I seem to notice the size of the young determins success of gland lures making the coon move the young. A big ol sow knows she can't be there all the time and she knows it. Now the size of the sow does cause the size of the fight in her to be bigger but she is also smarter. I like Travis have only used vanish. Sometimes I have went back and terrorized the coon family with a wildlife caller and occasionally I have thinned the vanish taken a hypo with a heavy gauge needle pushed it thru the dry wall and squirted it on top of the babies. It has never failed when I did that.

why don't I just commit suicide and join PETA?"
Well, you can't join PeTA after you're dead! But you can get a lobotomy and be a perfect candidate for PeTA.

PETA chicks would jump your dead bones.

A lot of comments are about how effective vanish will be. I suspect that it is not likely to work with male raccoons.Will coyote gland lure work with male raccoons or is it another product for female with young ?

thanks Bob