Animal damage

[Fireman]

Last night we were hit by what I believe to be coon, puncturing 160 of 179 bags out. Last year we had a hard hit of about 200 out of about 900 bags, but right at the tail end of the season. Looking at the bite marks in the bags, I have to believe it to be coon for the spread of teeth marks. Has anyone heard of anything to deter this? Someone was telling me a few weeks ago to put mineral blocks out. That the reason critters chew on bags and tubing is that they can taste some trace amounts of salts and minerals in everything that sappers use. We had also thought about spraying the bottoms of the bags with a jalapeno spray. But we still have tubing to worry about (we run both bags and tubing). I have come to accept that bag bites are a risk. I am going to call the Division of Wildlife in the morning to see what they have to suggest. A lot of family and friends say Shoot them! But I work for a municipality and need to keep clean. Don't need an unwanted game warden visit. I am going to buy some mineral blocks too and see what happens. Just curious if anyone else has tried anything.

[slybird353]

You could just head over to Tractor supply and buy a live trap and relocate the guys. Hopefully they will not turn and bite you when you open the trap door to release them. Hopefully the coon is not rabid. I say shoot it though.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/outdoor-advantek-catch-and-release-live-animal-trap-36-in-w-x-58-in-l-x-17-in-h

[heus]

Are sure it's not squirrels? They leave pretty good size bite marks. They got 50 of our bags on Tuesday.

[Maplewalnut]

I would not put out mineral blocks. Dont forget they are used as attractants also. If you have one today you may have 10 visiting regularly tomorrow. As well as deer and squirrels and possums and......

[tcross]

certainly don't put out mineral blocks... you'll have more raccoons and plenty of other critters both small and large tramping through your lines/woods! trap them if you can and relocate! I've had squirrel problems but not raccoons... could be due to my neighbor raising nationally award winning blue tick coon hounds :)! guess all the darn howling is worth having them there! he runs them often and I let him run them through my woods whenever he wants!! perhaps that is an option?

[Bruce L]

Shoot them, just don't advertise that you did or how many you got. We went to a zoo onetime, my wife stopped to take a picture of a porcupine up in a tree. I mistakenly said that I would just call her over before I shot the next one out of a tree. A "tree hugger" overheard me and was trying to dress me down until I explained how much damage they do to not only maples but all trees in the spring that can lead to the death of the tree.

[upsmapleman]

we call it the 3s method. Shoot,shovel,shut up. If it squirrels you would see them during the day. Are they alright at dark but damaged in the morning. Bear are our problem but so far this spring they have not been out.

[Fireman]

The responses have made me laugh for sure. I like the shoot and shut up. I did call our Division of Wildlife who put me through to my local game warden. I talked to him, and he told me that Ohio changed their nuisance laws a couple of years ago. Now, you call your game warden, explain the situation, where the situation is, and he says "Yep, you have a problem. You now have permission to trap or shoot whatever small game you feel is necessary". It was that simple. He advised me not to relocate any animals as it is illegal. He also asked me to not go hog wild and take out more than what is necessary. Seemed like reasonable request to me. We did notice that on 2 occasions, we left close to dark, and came back in the morning and had damage. We have not seen high or low of any squirrels. Even when sitting out to hunt them. I talked to some trappers in our area and they said with as hard of a winter as we had, the coon are starved and very thirsty. Our sugar bush is between the food sources and the creek for water. I hope trapping the coon solves our issues. We have changed out some bags 4 times now. Thankfully, they have left all the brand new tubing alone.

[markcasper]

Do you have wild turkey in your area? They love bags of sap to go after and I have seen video of them doing it. 10 years ago they nailed me bad to the point that I never tapped those trees in that area again until last year. Last year I didn't have any issues though, but last year was a bizzarre season weather wise kind of like this one is showing to be. Bear in the tubing is my biggest PITA! They 1/2 wrecked one woods of mine sometime last fall/summer which still is awaiting to get fixed and tapped. We are ok until most of the snow leaves, but anytime after that is subject to them waking up. Again last year, I lucked out fortunately. It is a real time consuming issue to deal with the effects of wild life.

[Maple Hill]

Do you still have any snow? Any foot prints?

[markcasper]

I forgot to ask....or tell. We take the damaged bags and stuff the replacement inside of the damaged bag. Helps keep it from happening again as there is now a double layer of protection. It is pretty normal to replace 10-20% of bags through the season just from handling them.

[Randy Brutkoski]

After the season i am setting up claymores all over my woods. That will take care of them rat basterds.

[hodorskib]

I have had squirrel and bear damage this year on my bags. However, out of necessity (running out of replacement bags) I tried Gorilla Tape on the bags with smaller holes. I did not have much faith in it but thought it was worth a shot since I had some in the garage. Too my surprise the tape has held really well over the past three weeks and every bag that has tape on it has not been touched since. Just make sure you wipe the bags down so they are relatively dry. Will make sure I have a roll on hand at the start of next year. I do like the Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up idea too!