Those cute little critters have torn up my bird feeders and gotten into the storage shed more times than I can count. I've seen them crawl on top of each other to reach the feeders! They've even figured out how to get the snap-on lock lid to pop off of the outdoor garbage container! I've done everything I can think of to racoon-proof the property, which finally seems to be working. And lucky for them-- They are such destructive little devils that I've had fantasies of sitting up late at night with a shotgun full of salt pellets and spraying their butts.

That said, I saw one tip-toeing across my front porch this weekend. It was early in the evening, maybe 6 o'clock--still lots of light outside. He looked to be a youngster, not fully filled out yet. I was about 10 feet away and looked right at the little bandit and said, "What the hell do you think you're doing on my porch?" He looked at me like "Uh-oh," turned tail, and scurried off.