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Just for fun and interest - the local TV critters. The Roamers

Bear - not seen, but encountered their scat.
Mt Lion - not seen, but heard and seen prints.
Black Tail Deer - passes through frequently.
Coyote - seen singles sometimes during the day. Hear most nights the howling packs.
Opossum - road kill.
Racoon - females nightly visitors.
Skunk - sometimes see, but mostly smell.

Opossum - road kill.
Racoon - females nightly visitors.

Two of the nastiest creatures the good lord ever strung a gut through - Fortunately no Opossums over on the 'East Side' but the Raccoons are a shoot on sight creature.

The males are very nasty. Females not so much, but of course they spawn the males.

The males are very nasty. Females not so much, but of course they spawn the males.

One of the reasons i am NOT a fan of killing the cougars - they keep the nasty critters in check.

When I was young, we rented a farm next to a neighbor that had coon hounds. He was a dedicated coon hunter. He lived for it. We youngsters got to go on many a night hunt with him and his pals. I got the duty to shoot the coons out of the trees because no one else could shoot a pistol worth a darn. To be sure, raccoons are anything but the cute and cuddly animals that so many think they are. It was important to kill them cleanly, otherwise they could tear up a valuable dog/dogs something awful. Learned a ton of respect for them, though. They really are an amazing animal.

A few raccoon and possum, up here in the north woods, but not many. Wrong habitat for them to do well. Much more plentiful in the farm country and hardwood forests to the south of us.

Raccoons are not native to Ephrata and the city has a big problem with them. I asked the Department of Wildlife what to do and they said they were fur-bearing animals and I needed a permit which they would not give me. I asked the local sheriff and he said "just shoot them". When I reminded him it is illegal to discharge a firearm within the city he said "not for raccoons".

Gotta love small towns.

When I reminded him it is illegal to discharge a firearm within the city he said "not for raccoons".

You might want to have him show you where this is 'written' before shooting one. i am also surmising because they are considered a 'furbearer' they can most likely NOT be shot as vermin. I wouldn't ever want to go to court over something I did illegally with my only defense being what the Sheriff said, I.E. "Not for raccoons" because I highly doubt he would be there to repeat it - or remember it......

Mags wrote:Just for fun and interest - the local TV critters. The Roamers

Bear - not seen, but encountered their scat.
Mt Lion - not seen, but heard and seen prints.
Black Tail Deer - passes through frequently.
Coyote - seen singles sometimes during the day. Hear most nights the howling packs.
Opossum - road kill.
Racoon - females nightly visitors.
Skunk - sometimes see, but mostly smell.

Mt Lion (cougar) - my neighbor encountered one in his back yard, a man over near Bend, WA was killed by a cougar
recently, they say he was only the second person in Washington killed by a cougar in the last 100 years.
Deer- occasionally see on the hillside, once saw one in my pasture, Ruby (the horse I had then) was not happy about it.
Coyote- hear them frequently, especially in the Winter. Once had one follow me for awhile when I was riding Ruby, it
was just curious and I think it maybe had babies nearby.
Racoons- they're around, only seen them a few times
Skunks- never seen but smell them frequently
Porcupines- seen a few times, my neighbor had a dog that couldn't resist them, the last time one got him they had to
take him to the vet, 3 of us couldn't hold him down to remove all the quills he had in his face.
Groundhogs- used to see them all the time in my backyard, haven't seen them for several years, don't know what
happened to them.

Sir Henry wrote:Raccoons are not native to Ephrata and the city has a big problem with them. I asked the Department of Wildlife what to do and they said they were fur-bearing animals and I needed a permit which they would not give me. I asked the local sheriff and he said "just shoot them". When I reminded him it is illegal to discharge a firearm within the city he said "not for raccoons".

Gotta love small towns.

Research shows that the population density of raccoons is actually higher, now, in urban and suburban areas than in the countryside. They've adapted too well to city life.

Research shows that the population density of raccoons is actually higher, now, in urban and suburban areas than in the countryside.

Yep - and Western Oregon is literally over run with them - whats worse is they are loosing their fear of humans and will surround a person at night and stand up on their hind legs - I have had this happen and they don't move real fast or far when chased. The problem is the 'suburbanites' feeding them scraps and thinking they are 'cute'. Once fed they will NEVER leave until dead. They will attack and kill small dogs and cats - and eat them. They are the 'scourge' of some suburban areas.

Exactly right. My friend down near Madison gets raccoons in her yard and for years, despite my warnings, she would deliberately fill up her bird feeder with table scraps for them. One night, though, one actually jumped on her, growling, in its haste to be fed. She wasn't hurt, but was badly frightened. No more feeding them, now.

We have coon, possum, feral cat, feral dog/coyote, bob cat, skunk, and some bear issues here in the county.
We also have a few other varmint issues, rabbits, moles, voles, etc.

Here on our slice of heaven, we usually just have to deal with the coons, possums, cats, and voles. Now and then a coyote. None of those require a permit. When we first bought the property, there were bear issues, mainly due to others in the general area not following the set guidelines, so they were attracting/inadvertantly feeding yogi. Duh.