stowaway

Brewster Minton · Post by **Brewster Minton** » Oct 16th, '09, 11:35

While laying in my bed last night I could hear scratching by my head in the V berth. I waited and it kept happening so I went up on the front deck{in 40 mh winds} and opened the anchor locker and looked around with the flashlight. I did not see anything. Being it was 3am I went down and got back in bed frozen to the bone. I went back down to the boat this morning with my fish cutter Justin and we went up front quietly and opened the hatch and WOW a full sized racoon was looking up at us. We left the hatch open and left hoping he will find his way off the big boat. I sure am glad he did not jump out at me at 3am or I would have wet my diaper and jumped overboard. The latch was not locked. Maybe I will lock it in the future after he leaves.

AndreF · Post by **AndreF** » Oct 16th, '09, 12:25

They will make an un-holy mess, for sure.

CaptPatrick · Post by **CaptPatrick** » Oct 16th, '09, 12:36

Other things that go bump in the night...

A few weeks ago, after several episodes of having both dog and cat food bags clawed open at the bottom & blaming it on the cat, find tracks around the shop from a coon. Aha! Not the cat at all, the damned bandit is getting in through the entry that the cat uses...

Make a few adjustments in storage habits for the animal food and say OK.

Well, the cat doesn't always finish the food in his bowl, and late one night I hear the bowl clanking around on the concrete floor. The spot where I keep his bowl is just below the edge of the stairs leading down to the shop. I figure the coon is back & I'm having an overwhelming desire to kill something.

I retrieve my 40 cal Sig Sauer and quietly open the door and ease over with a good two handed tactical stance. Bringing the gun to bear into the target zone.

As I look down the sights, ready to move my finger from it's safety position to the trigger, I decide not to pull off the shot and slip quietly back into the room, also quietly shutting the door behind me.

The coon turned out not to be a coon, but the damn largest buck skunk I've ever seen. Could've popped him easy but then he'd have died an instant death and that sphincter muscle would have relaxed and I'd of had to move out for the next few months...

Oh well, really didn't need to kill anything that night anyway...

pacific marlin · Post by **pacific marlin** » Oct 16th, '09, 12:52

I have this vivid picture in my head,

Capt Pat, stood in the doorway wearing the old cowboy type long jons,

boots and stetson, covered in skunk sh*t,

I'm not gonna sleep well tonight!

CaptPatrick · Post by **CaptPatrick** » Oct 16th, '09, 13:37

Capt Pat, stood in the doorway wearing the old cowboy type long johns, boots and Stetson

That's it, & they're a faded red too. Top left hand button missin' on the rear panel...

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Oct 16th, '09, 14:04

Glad you wear PJs.. I sleep naked. Picturing you naked in that situation makes me smile.. but not for long!

:-{)

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Oct 16th, '09, 14:15

IRGuy wrote:Glad you wear PJs.. I sleep naked. Picturing you naked in that situation makes me smile.. but not for long!

:-{)

.... too much information

randall · Post by **randall** » Oct 16th, '09, 15:00

we had that raccoon on mikes boat. couldnt get him out of the cabin so we took em for a ride.

CaptPatrick · Post by **CaptPatrick** » Oct 16th, '09, 15:31

randall wrote:we had that raccoon on mikes boat. couldnt get him out of the cabin so we took em for a ride.

And he now sleeps wif da' fishes....

pacific marlin · Post by **pacific marlin** » Oct 16th, '09, 15:45

Is anyone here an Artist, capable of doing a cartoon pic of Capt Pat,
stood in that doorway, barrel still smokin'.

Could get it printed poster size and sell it...all proceeds to this site,

would keep Jehovas witnesses, burglers etc away if you stuck it on your
door.

I'd buy one.

Brewster Minton · Post by **Brewster Minton** » Oct 16th, '09, 16:01

Ill take one!!

randall · Post by **randall** » Oct 16th, '09, 17:47

CaptPatrick wrote:And he now sleeps wif da' fishes....

nah...we gave him a fighting chance to make it to shore. wouldn't surprise me. we spent a half hour trying to rescue him after he "jumped" overboard. they swim surprisingly well.

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Oct 16th, '09, 20:34

Brewster

Many years ago a family of racoons made a home out of our 31. They snuck in through the side panels and then into the engine box and down into the bilge. My father was checking the oil one day and there is fur all over the engine. Started poking around and found mom, pop and a couple of kids. We flooded the bilge with Amonia and moth balls, and left a hatch open so they would leave. The damn things stayed down there until it got dark then they scooted out.

Racoons love boats for some reason. Had a friend one time was on his way out Barnegat Inlet. Well it was a little sloppy in the inlet that day and I guess the racoon that moved into his bilge got a little sea sick. Next thing they new there's a raconn sitting on the engine box. Then the fire drill started, four guys and a racoon all running around on the deck of a 25' boat chasing each other. They somehow caught him in the Fluke net and quickly dumped him overboard. The last they saw of him he was swimming for the North Jetty.

Dug · Post by **Dug** » Oct 16th, '09, 22:06

Funny this comes up!

I discovered the evidence of intruders last weekend. What a friggin mess. Just glad it didn't eat the cushions or take a dump in the v-berth.

I closed the door and windows and boxed up the food in a plastic locked box. I will head down in the am, and give it a check out.

They seem to like peanut butter crackers and pop tarts.

Eeeesh.

Dug

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Oct 17th, '09, 12:16

Pat: Shot a skunk under my bedroom window,from my bedroom,(357 w/ a snakeshot round)must have shot his spcinter off... No smells!

How would you like to have this problem??

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But theyre so cute!!NOT
That sailbote is 3 boats away
Wayne

randall · Post by **randall** » Oct 17th, '09, 12:37

i've had some interesting interactions with seals in the water. the fact they attract great whites aint lost on me either.

Brewster Minton · Post by **Brewster Minton** » Oct 18th, '09, 07:25

He came back or never left. Going to get him today.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Oct 18th, '09, 08:09

They take a bit of persuading to get them to leave.

Had to evict family of them from my house a couple years ago. They moved into a somewhat unreachable place in my house. Finally I trapped the father, then the mother. The little guys I sort of trapped, I nailed a cage to my roof, a little guy went in started to cry up a storm with the remaining two crying outside it, till another coon came over, climbed up the house grabbed all the little ones , wrestled the other from the cage and ran off...last I saw of them.

Waited a few days and proceeded to cut thru my wall to clean out the area they turned into a den...several bags of debris...what a mess and stench.

Buddy had them in his boat two years in a row...they made one hell of a mess, between ripping the cushins apart and eating thru wires. Finally he got the parks department to trap the coons...but they are supposed to release them right outside the boat. However, the rangers agreed to leave for a little while. Funny the coons where gone by then...oh well.

Yeah...they need a gentle hint not to come back.

Brewster Minton · Post by **Brewster Minton** » Oct 18th, '09, 10:53

Animal control came and took him away. The guy said he would release him on the property so I fixxed the hatch so he can not get back in.

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