# Do raccoons ever bother a smoker at night?



## noboundaries (Dec 13, 2013)

Seems like the heat would keep them away, but as two raccoons are feasting on the cat food in our backyard as I type I just wondered if they would ever bother a smoker on an overnight smoke.  I don't think so but they always surprise me.


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## GaryHibbert (Dec 13, 2013)

Hey Noboundaries

Being as its 30 below and we have abaout 3 feet of snow on the ground, racoons are not a big problem here as we speak  Sorry, can't help you LOL

Gary


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## noboundaries (Dec 13, 2013)

GaryHibbert said:


> Hey Noboundaries
> 
> Being as its 30 below and we have abaout 3 feet of snow on the ground, racoons are not a big problem here as we speak  Sorry, can't help you LOL
> 
> Gary


Yeah, darn.  I might have to wear long sleeves this weekend with my cargo shorts and Birkenstocks as temps are going to be in low 60s here in NorCal.  I feel for you Gary!

Ray


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## venture (Dec 13, 2013)

No racoons in my area now.

What little experience I had with them down south?

They wouldn't bother your smoker.  They would just steal the whole thing!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Good luck and good smoking.


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## aeroforce100 (Dec 14, 2013)

My 12ga make sure I don't have a problem with raccoons, anymore.


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## radioguy (Dec 14, 2013)

If you're suspect then dust your cooker and surrounding area with flour.   

RG


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## noboundaries (Dec 14, 2013)

Thanks for the chuckles all!  I'm making a list.  Snow, chain/padlock/anchor bolt, birdshot, flour, and cat food.  Lets just hope the little rascals don't come packing heat themselves!


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## biteme7951 (Dec 14, 2013)

I will say you folks do have some racoons out there. I friend of mine posted this from his tent while spending the night near Santa Barbara.



Barry.


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## cappyr (Dec 14, 2013)

*Early one afternoon me and my buddy were sittin' by his smoke house si[pin' from a mason jar and shooting the breeze.  Three coons came outa da woods and headed for his muscadyne vines.  The coons found them selves hanging in the smoke house in less than an hour and they starred in our smoked coon gumbo the very next day along with the smoked sausage and Andouille we had we were already smoking.*


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## noboundaries (Dec 14, 2013)

Wow BM7951, "Night of the Racoons!"

They sure are adaptive little rascals.  We live in a tract home and the nearest woods are a golf course about a half mile away and two small nature reserves about a mile away in different directions.  Neighbors have seen raccoon moms and kits coming out of the storm drains to forage in backyards and trash cans.  With the cat food available they've stayed out of our trash cans.  Now just want to make sure they don't become brisket snatchers!


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## radsmoke74 (Dec 17, 2013)

This is a very interesting ?. I actually posted on here in another area about the same thing. I had a cpl of over night smokes that had been tampered with and I suspected a raccoon as well. In the end what I found was a large Tom cat as the guilty party. I have a ceramic smoker so the putter shell is never really that hot and the cat was getting on top and opening the top vent and also messing with the bottom vent and temps were either getting way to hot or shutting off completely. Anyways I guess the poor cat couldn't resist the midnight snack tempting him inside the mysterious round contraption with smoke rolling out the top and he got busted finally setting right on top trying to figure out how to open the darn thing lol. Even though my experience with smoker tampering was a cat I have seen raccoons raid an igloo cooler at a camp ground like they had just hit the jack pot! So I am certain they would try to crack open a smoker at 2am and I am certain they would eventually make their way inside.


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## pacedawg (Dec 17, 2013)

Same here, I have had local cats, opossums, raccoons and even a bobcat lured in by the smell. Last week, something large enough to move my Brinkmann offset pushed the grill back about a foot. I did not see that one as it happened in the middle of the night. I live in central Florida and am not 100% sure what is was. I am hoping it wasn't a bear. I have seen a few very large white tail bucks in the area- maybe a potential?


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## pacedawg (Dec 17, 2013)

By the way, the critters have never opened the grill overnight but I have found the grease cup knocked off several times. I have also never done an overnight smoke so the grill was just cooling off and most likely still giving off scents.


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## bikenstein (Dec 17, 2013)

I have plenty of coons possum, beavers, rabbits, deer etc.Never had a problem with an overniter. Just don't let your smoker cool down. I did rebuild a gas grill about ten years ago. I cooked a beer can chicken that day and overnight a possum or coon bit one of the new aluminum lines flat but didn't get in the grill. That was the last cook I did on that grill, I was so mad. Used charcoal and wood since. 













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__ bikenstein
__ Dec 17, 2013






Armadillo holes in my back yard. Guess who's next in the smoker? I've only had barbecued armadillo once, tasted close to venison.


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## little smokey (Dec 17, 2013)

High powered pellet rifle puts them to bed nicely in my backyard so no problems since.


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## noboundaries (Dec 17, 2013)

Well this has been WAAAAY more entertaining than those furry, masked, grubby handed bandits that help themselves to the cat food then wash their hands in the water dish on the back deck while watching our TV through the slider.  They don't even run off when we get up to shoo them away.  I think the trick on overnight smokes will be to keep the cat food dish full.


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## noboundaries (Dec 17, 2013)

Oh, and being that I live in California, the land of fruits and anti-gun nuts, if I shot one I'd have to drag it in the house and put a 45 in its hands to claim self-defense!


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## stank56 (Dec 17, 2013)

I had one climb on the roof of my house one night and it stayed up there 2 days. That was until I took a push broom and launched it off. Boy was it surprised. I live in town and my 12 gauge is just to loud to touch it off. Oh btw, never had one mess with my smoker.


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