Category Archives: Outdoor Life

Raccoons are common all over the United States. Although they have an adorable face and are fun to watch at times, they will cause havoc in your shed or attic and knock your garbage can on its side. They’ll even steal your bird seed and dog food, and because of rabies can pose a safety risk to your family and pets. If thieving trash pandas are giving you a hard time, you’ll be glad to know one of the best ways to get rid of them is through trapping. Here are some tips to help you through it.

Choose the Right Trap

Many people get upset when they fail at raccoon trapping, but don’t realize the problem is that the cage they choose was too small or not designed to catch the little bandits. To give yourself a fighting chance, you need a sturdy, metal cage that is big enough to hold a raccoon. The most common metal cage used for trapping is at least 32” long and 12” x 10” wide and tall.

Place Trap Strategically

If you want to catch a raccoon in a trap, you have to place the cage in a strategic location. The crafty nocturnal creatures are very clever, which means you have to be too, if you want to trap them.

To do this, you’ll need to put a trap in an area that you know raccoons are visiting. However, you can’t just drop a cage and think you’re going to get a mammal in it. Instead, you have to place the trap in an area without making it look suspicious. For best results, place the cage in a frequently populated area, but place it a few feet away from where you’ve actually seen the raccoons. Usually just a few feet off the beaten path should do the trick.

It’s worth mentioning you shouldn’t put the cage near anything you don’t want a raccoon to destroy. You also need to make sure the cage is in a shaded area, so it won’t be roasting in the sun.

Prepare the Area Around the Cage

After you’ve decided where you’re going to put the raccoon trap, it’s time to prepare the area around the cage. Remember earlier when we said you can’t just drop a trap in the woods and hope for the best. Well this has to do with the intelligence of raccoons. So after you’ve chosen the right location, you have to spend a few minutes preparing the area so it looks as it should and nothing sticks out.

When everything looks good move the cage to the side and dig a hole for the trap’s pan. Add a lure to the hole if you want to increase your chances of snagging a ‘coon. If you’re going to use a lure, there aren’t enough good things to be said about skunk essence. It works like a charm. If you don’t use a skunk lure think about adding white bread, sardines, or marshmallows. Raccoons love marshmallows.

After you’ve dug the hole and used a lure if you want, it’s time to set the cage back in place. Don’t cover the hole completely with dirt, or you’ll risk decreasing the effects of the lure. But do make sure to toss dirt all around the cage and use any brush nearby to cover the cage. Usually, it’s necessary to cover the back, top, and both sides of the cage with brush

Make sure you’re happy with the way the cage looks before you leave. Make any adjustments needed and then mark the area, so you don’t have to remember exactly where you left the cage. One good way to mark a trap is to tie tape around a tree or branch about 3’ feet away from the cage. Make sure to tie the tape off about 6’ high, so it’s at eye level when you’re walking towards it.

Conclusion

While raccoon trapping can be difficult, it is a great alternative to using weapons to kill the animals if they are being a nuisance or pose a health risk. But, if you do choose to trap raccoons, you must be aware of trapping laws in your state. Make sure you have a furtaker’s license, if needed, and check the traps every 24 hours.

Because trapping raccoons and other small animals takes patience and persistence, you might need to adjust your techniques to catch the mammal. Good Luck and Be Safe.

Wilderness survival can be one of the most challenging adventures of a lifetime. Being in the wild and with nature can be a profound experience.

However, things in the wilderness may not be just about sightseeing, exploration and fun. If one desires to venture the wild and to keep alive staying there, he should know wilderness survival skills.

Get Trained:

To learn the basic wilderness survival skills, one should enroll in a survival skill program offered by a survival school. Participating in survival training seminar could also be an option. Various schools and institutions may have their own survival programs. Nevertheless, the programs offered may integrate the basic survival skills.
Survival schools may give instructions on aboriginal survival skills. One can check out survival schools or survival programs in local community or schools. It is also possible to learn the wilderness survival skills by reading survival articles on some websites and practicing them in local wilderness areas.

One should know the how to, where to, and what to in when it comes to wilderness survival skills. When staying in the wild, it is all about survival. Tending for the personal needs is of the utmost concern. Self-defense may also have to be learned as the dangers in the wild will likely be numerous and unexpected. Optimism is the best attitude that can be employed in addition to courage, faith and hope. There are various things that should be considered when having a trek or staying in the wilderness.

Skill is Important

The importance of wilderness survival training is that individuals will have a greater chance to stay alive in harsh conditions thanks to first-hand experience with the necessary techniques. By participating in a wilderness survival course, individuals may realize the importance of life in a more traditional way while learning first hand from an expert. Individuals may also have a better insight on what to do in the event a survival situation may come unexpectedly.

Learning the necessary skills that can be applied in the wilderness is perhaps one of the great academic achievements in life. Although most people tend to avoid dangers as much as possible by living in an environment where they think they are safe, people should also comprehend those things in life, particularly those that are extremely challenging, demand physical and mental competence. Involving oneself in wilderness survival program can help him overcome the various challenges in life.

Practice Skills

One can develop or nurture his abilities physically and mentally when his focus is all about survival.

Before you begin your trip into the wilderness, there are some basic skills you must learn. There are four basic needs that must be met to survive. Warmth, water, sleep and food must be provided for wilderness survival.

It can be very challenging to maintain body warmth at night in some areas.

The human body has a very narrow temperature range. You must maintain your temperature in that range for survival.
Water makes up the majority of the human body. Although you can survive for a day or two without water, you should not wait until you are out of water before you start looking.

A lack of sleep can greatly affect your cognitive ability. You may experience hallucinations and be unable to make a rational decision as to your wilderness survival.
Humans can go without food for a couple of weeks. Food may not be your first priority, but considering that you are using many calories on your trek, you will need an adequate amount of emergency food supply to maintain your stability.

Summary

Wilderness survival requires a great deal of preparedness. You need to prepare for the worst case scenario and hope it doesn’t happen. Be sure you have the right gear with you. Learn what would be the proper equipment for your trip. Your requirements for a week long backpacking trip will vary greatly from a day trip on the trails. Never go out on a trip without letting someone know where you are going. They need to know your route, your destination and the expected return time. There are services that will call family and/or friends if you do not return on schedule or within a reasonable time frame.

• Dave’s Note: To me I think adaptability and mindset are high on the list – right after air.  To illustrate that point, I have a link to an interesting article on the multiple uses of tampons (don’t worry plugging gunshot wounds is not on the list – that has been discredited)