After confessing to capturing some 50-odd raccoons and possums, a nice lady approached me about helping her rid her place of nuisance critters. She kindly offered to pay. While extremely flattered, I had to decline her request, as this gets you into a whole new ballgame, when you start charging to trap critters.
A license is required for commercial critter-trapping. Getting a license always requires some kind of test, and I was really hoping my test-taking days were over.
I did see a classified ad in The Dispatch for a licensed trapper, and I”m thinking he”s the kind of guy you ought to call if you are unwilling or unable to trap critters yourself.
Sam and I got into home critter removal out of necessity. Before we did some remodeling, we had this little bitty porch out back where we fed the cats. The raccoons and possums decided they would feast themselves, as well. They had gotten so brazen that when you walked out the door to shoo them away they”d come toward you; so, unexpected, uninvited nightly guests for dinner became a nuisance.
One night there was a commotion from the screened-in porch. I alerted Sam, who grabbed a gun, ran out the back and circled the house to the screened-in porch. I stationed myself inside the house with a flashlight, ready to push open the sliding glass door and expose the critter.
The plan worked like clockwork except there was no critter. Slowly, as I was surveying the porch with the flashlight beam I heard Sam yell, “There he is!” Kaboom.
The raccoon fell from the ceiling fan where he had been hanging and bolted straight through the screen. I stood with gaping mouth that a shot had been fired and that the porch screen was now flapping in the wind.
Another time, Sam put out some poison; a raccoon expired in the attic and was eventually exposed by the pungent odor wafting through the bedrooms.
I decided to do a little checking on the legality of shooting raccoons in your house and on your property. I called an expert at Mississippi State, Dr. Ben, who informed me that raccoons are fur-bearing animals and therefore come under hunting laws, complete with seasons and those licenses again. He did say that in a case of being threatened, one could protect one”s person and property.
I also checked with an attorney, and though hunting laws are considered “strict liability” laws, meaning no excuses hold water with anybody, homeowners had been defended in courts of law for protecting their person and property. He did warn that officials better not find critter meat wrapped and frozen in the freezer.
Not a snowball”s chance there
That”s when we went to the “Have a Hart” trapping mechanism that can be purchased at any hardware store worth its salt. Happy hunting.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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