Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

The little woman and I just got back from a two night stay at Rough River State park lodge, and we had two great days on the lake with perfect weather. I rented a slip at the marina for two nights at ten bucks a night, and when we got off the boat the first night we left it uncovered, and we stored our picknik basket under the sundeck, since it only had some utensils, salt and pepper, and a partial loaf of bread. The next morning I saw the muddy paw prints on the seats and sundeck. At first I thought it had been a cat, but when I opened the sundeck lid I saw that a critter had been trying to reach under the side access door to the sundeck, but had only been able to reach one of the styrofoam noodles and he shredded the end of it somewhat, leaving a small mess. I took a closer look at the prints on the seats and sure enough, they were the small handlike prints of a coon. I guess he could smell the bread and was trying to claw under the door to get at that basket, but all he could reach was a noodle...heh heh. I got lucky with only one very tiny puncture on one of the rear seats from very tiny sharp claws. The second night we not only covered the boat, but made sure there were no enticing foods left on the boat. Lesson learned.

We had that happen to us once. We also got by with minimal damage. The State Parks are safe havens for racoons and thea thereafore have no fear of being around humans,their campers and their boats.

Yep...we're pretty fanatical about making sure there's not one ounce of food anywhere on the toon over-night.

REPETE wrote:Yep...we're pretty fanatical about making sure there's not one ounce of food anywhere on the toon over-night.

Yes, if you leave bait they will take it!
Jack

We have Mink on are dock and Rat traps and Peanut butter on the boat. no problems yet...

My insurance agent said that they would not put a claim in if the raccoons did damage on my boat....but they would if it was squirrels.
Don't know what the difference is, but if you do get damage from them, tell them it was a squirrel

Brings to mind a squirrel story...My former son in law called me up one day to ask if squirrels could swim. I replied, "most all critters can swim by instinct if needed, why?" He said he had a huge ass squirrel swimming around in his pond and looked like he might have had a fish in his mouth. Now right here I didn't believe I had heard him right....a SQUIRREL? Eating Fish?!! Ha Ha what a green horn. He had never heard of a muskrat before. Damn those huge ass, fish eating squirrels....!!!

Thanks, Obama.

[quote="fiddlebick"]Brings to mind a squirrel story...My former son in law called me up one day to ask if squirrels could swim. I replied, "most all critters can swim by instinct if needed, why?" He said he had a huge ass squirrel swimming around in his pond and looked like he might have had a fish in his mouth. Now right here I didn't believe I had heard him right....a SQUIRREL? Eating Fish?!! Ha Ha what a green horn. He had never heard of a muskrat before. Damn those huge ass, fish eating squirrels....!!!

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