The coon thread was shut down
I caught a racoon the night before Thanksgiving in a Hav-A-Hart LARGE trap especially designed for racoons.
Seeing how smart they are and how they grab everything. When I picked the trap up by the handles, the racoon immediately copied what I did, and he was grabbing the carry handles through the bars. I will tell you that you need a double door on your trap. The inner door has to be smaller mesh to keep the racoon from getting his hands on the latch mechanisms in the first place. You should have 2 latches for more solid latching of the door, and, it is harder for a coon to open both latches at the same time should they find a way to get their fingers on the latches.
If you are dealing with a racoon that has been trapped before, you'll have to anchor the trap to the ground, otherwise they'll just tip the trap over to get the food. Or tip the cage to move the bait to the side and eat it through the bars. So you'll also have to have the bait in some type of container and anchor that container to keep the coon from just tipping the trap to slide the bait container to the side of the cage.
I will probably add another handle to my Hav-A-Heart cage because just one handle in the middle is too unstable. When the racoon moves around in the cage the whole thing sways and you risk dropping it. I think I'll attach 2 cables to the 4 corners of the cage, and conect them in the middle with a velcro strap.
My experience was that the racoon really liked Friskies brand cat food - the salmon flavored Friskies. It's something like 44¢ for a can.
Also if I were you, I'd check the laws.
In Illinois racoons are categorized as a fur animal. There are some specific nuisance laws that were passed concerning them but I found out that if I were going to turn him into a hat - I'd need a trapper's license. If I didn't get a trapper's license and I attempted to convert him into a hat - I'd be poaching.
Also, as far as removing a racoon as a nuisance, I needed to contact my Illinois Department of Natural Resources District Wildlife Biologist to request an animal removal permit. And their literature says "If the situation warrants the removal of the animal, the biologist will issue you an animal removal permit."
It just pays to know what you are doing and what charges you may be facing - fees & fines and so forth if you violate the regs.