How to keep raccoons away from your yard, according to wildlife experts

Plus, the methods you should avoid.

Key Points

• Raccoons can harm your yard and garden, so it's best to keep them away using expert tips.
• Secure your garbage in a wildlife-proof container and only put it out in the morning.
• Maintain your yard by cleaning up bird seed spills and using motion-activated sprinklers to scare raccoons away.

Let's be clear: Raccoons aren't inherently bad. However, their presence can have an unwanted impact on your yard, as they may tear up your lawn, rip open your garbage, or damage your property in pursuit of a new nest. In these cases, the raccoon is only doing what it knows—looking for food, and finding shelter.

Fortunately, there are ways to make your garden less appetizing for a wayward raccoon. Here, we spoke to wildlife experts about the best, most humane methods for deterring these animals, as well as the tactics you should never try and implement.

Meet Our Expert

• Brad Gates, owner and president of Gates Wildlife Control
• Bill Dowd, president and CEO of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control

Related: How to Keep Squirrels Out of Your Garden

Secure Your Garbage

One of the most appetizing food sources for a foraging raccoon is a garbage bag that's been left unprotected. Instead: "Store [it] in a wildlife-proof container with a secure, tight-fitting, or lockable lid, and keep the bin in a garage or shed," says Brad Gates, owner and president of Gates Wildlife Control.

Timing is also important. Raccoons and many other foragers are most active at night, so it's best to only put your garbage out for collection in the morning.

Tips

Consider adding bird netting or chicken wire to cover vulnerable areas of your garden where raccoons might dig. This can serve as a physical barrier and prevent raccoons from accessing your plants or digging up your lawn.

Check Your Bird Feeder

"People love to feed birds, but bird seed will tip out of the bird feeder, and that’s going to attract raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes," says Bill Dowd, president and CEO of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control.

However, that doesn't mean you have to get rid of your bird feeder altogether. Like most forms of raccoon prevention, it all comes down to maintenance. "Make sure you’re out there on a daily basis cleaning up any of those spilled seeds," adds Dowd.

You can also add a steel raccoon baffle to your feeder pole to stop raccoons from raiding the seed supply.

Related: How to Keep Squirrels and Other Animals Out of Your Bird Feeders

Maintain Your Lawn

Grubs are another food source for raccoons, and will attract these animals to your yard. Worse, once they arrive, they'll dig up your grass looking for the critters. Fortunately, good lawn maintenance can help prevent grubs through practices like deep, infrequent watering or introducing beneficial bugs that serve as natural predators.

Keep an Eye on Your Produce

Your tomatoes and apples are delicious and will look beautiful on a plate, but raccoons love them too. Staying on top of your harvest will help reduce this food source, but you may want to look into other preventative methods as well.

"One tool that does consistently delivers results is a motion-activated sprinkler," says Gates. "When an animal enters the detection zone, it triggers a sudden burst of noise and water, which startles them enough to make a lasting impression."

Monitor Potential Den Sites

Raccoons will often nest under decks or within sheds. "Homeowners need to be diligent, and check to see if there's any digging [marks] or animals living under there," says Dowd. Anything without a foundation is fair game.

If a raccoon has taken up residence beneath your home, then it's time to consult the professionals. A humane wildlife control service can help safely relocate the animal.

Don't: Trap Them

What you shouldn't do is try to relocate a raccoon on your own. Trapping these animals can put them in real danger, and it won't solve the problem either.

"When people see a raccoon in their yard, they'll panic and think, 'Why is that animal in the city? It should be trapped and taken out to the country, and live happily ever after,'" says Dowd. "That's just not the case."

If an animal has been foraging for food from garbage cans, then it won't know how to hunt in the wild or how to interact with other species. As a result, many relocated animals die. Traps can also be inhumane, as trapped raccoons can die from heat exhaustion during the summer or freeze to death in the winter.

Traps can have the opposite overall effect as well. "[They're] actually going to attract more animals, because you’re putting bait in that trap," adds Dowd.

Additionally, trapping an animal is illegal in many states—so it's a bad idea all around.

Don't: Use Scents

Raccoons are highly adaptable, so while there are plenty of prevention methods circulating online, they won't all be effective in the long run. "[They] easily avoid targeted scent areas, like ammonia-soaked rags," says Gates.

Mothballs are another common solution that many might try after seeing it online. "They're not only ineffective, but they've also been proven to be carcinogenic, and should be avoided entirely," he adds.

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