Backdoor yourself for fun and ???

[Doug Coulter]

Do that, and I'll remeasure a few of mine and post - up in the new thread. I think I found that it's not so much resonant as it just turns into a lousy capacitor.

In the meantime, here's a demo of the 'coon deterrent system. Kind of a crummy edit in kdenlive. Seems the pi camera is close to the human eye in that it's more sensitive to green and I couldn't quite get the response flattened out.
https://youtu.be/vJE4qipKZ1U

[Bob Reite]

I forgot. What do you have that the raccoon would be interested in? The garden? Yeah, I do recall they are omnivorous.

[Doug Coulter]

Not a clue. There's the garden, and I'm already eating some stuff from it. Um, I'd dumped various kitchen refuse into it over winter, think it was about all gone before it got tilled - there was no clue to a human it was anything but garden dirt (no pieces, no smell). I had dumped out the pot from a dead potted plant so there was an odd looking patch of potting soil...from an old aloe plant that died after having lived almost as long as me. He was near that spot.

I really don't want to shoot this guy if I don't have to - I've done with other ones with that 22 lr and it's not enough to do the job humanely (if there is such a thing).
Last one took 5 solid hits...not good.
But "real" guns...hassle, hearing damage on one shot, might miss first shot, slow to re-fire (if not an AR type thing), way too much range - 15 deg off high and left hits one neighbor, the other way another (they aren't close but...inside the kill zone for .308 or a 6.5 Swede (my fave) for a "lucky" shot that misses tree limbs) - just not a real good plan when half unconscious at 4 am. That's no place for oops.

So, this guy has been back and scared off again - and I now have better pix, I'll post if I get a nice one with mammal content. I cut the frame rate down to 10 and now the pictures are good quality. And now that I know his (?) pattern, maybe a little flash powder and an electric match in the right place would cause him to lose curiosity? I already know the electric fence won't work on them, even with a near-ground wire. An m80+ within a foot or so...??? We can gradually escalate the discourse like this picture:

I WAS being nice.

This is, of course, for old coot entertainment. No way a few cauliflowers, herbs, tomatoes etc are worth this in bucks or time, but yet...it's fun.

[Bob Reite]

LOVE that tool expectations photo! As far as shooting the raccoon, if you aren't interested in the pelt, use a shotgun! Otherwise practice more with .22 LR. Easier with a scoped rifle.

[Doug Coulter]

Oh, under decent conditions I've set records with rifles, and my .22 is pretty nice - I rigged a mount for a "real" 3x9x40 scope I keep on 3 and it has a lot of light gain - and I've floated the barrel - it's good to way under an inch at these ranges.
But somehow, half asleep and offhand with one hand holding a flashlight...I'm not so good, especially if the target is moving. And having to remember to hold around 1.5" high to compensate for the scope mount height at that range.

I recall one hilarious event at a long range benchrest match - we were shooting to the limits of the Roanoke Rifle and Revolver club benchrest range, about 400 yards - practicing for a later egg shoot event. (hang up chicken eggs in pantyhose at .5 or 1 klick and shoot them...it's like golf, the lower your shot count...)

A ground hog appears at right around 400 on the left side of the berm and saunters maybe 100 yards to the woods on the other side, with 15 people with the best gear money can buy and great abilities shooting at it.

No harm done....to the groundhog. We were all very embarrassed. These were all guys who shoot in the tenths of moa at 1-200 yards. The size of your one-hole 5 shot group at that range decided....

Sure, I'd hit 'em in the butt, but then have to do some cleanup. It's real hard to hold still after running 25 yards in your undies and using one hand on the gun.

Now, give me bags and a chance to catch my breath, and even my AR can do this at 100 - in around 10 seconds, and that's really 5 shots. It's actually an embarrassingly large group for say, my Cooper bolt single shot in the same .223.

Yes, I really did this. It was a good day, perfect ammo, tuned gun, and even one of my friends made one like this for himself too.

BragTarget.png (127.01 KiB) Viewed 4722 times

[Doug Coulter]

By way of explanation (or excuse?) the garden in question is past the Volt and tractor, on the right. Walking into the tractor,, an implement, a pile of cinderblocks, tripping over the piece of rail...reminds one of "none at all" damage to those things. You on the other hand....
Last year I couldn't walk that far without resting (COPD, emphysema, cardio, whatever). Now I can but...I'm not in the world's best shape yet. It was one thing when I lived in the workshop/fusor building but now...it's a bit of an obstacle course when time matters and it's dark. Maybe I should get a third light for this side....

A bit of a narrow and changeable path here. Lined with pointy strong stuff that's never twice in the same place.

[Doug Coulter]

Deer at the salad bar:
https://youtu.be/TPaHcC46W9E


Didn't have to get all the way out of bed. I didn't lose too much beauty sleep (not that any amount of sleep will make me beautiful).
Cut the frame rate to 10 fps and I get a little bit better videos.

[Bob Reite]

I gave up on my garden for awhile. Focusing on the chickens. Maybe when I have enough chicken poop composted I can try for a garden again.

[Doug Coulter]

And you gotta compost that stuff...one of the funnier (in hindsight only) mistakes I made way early on was stocking up on supposedly good (commercial) compost for a greenhouse addon I'd built to the trailer I now use for physics/computer storage, but then lived in. I removed a living room window that connected to the new space, and cut a hole between the studs for a hanging cloth type door. Nothing was close to airtight - on purpose. There was a big openable vent in the greenhouse roof to eject hot air, closeable for cold, but it was always connected to the living room.

Well, that compost I bought to mix with sand and peat - was fowl. Not composted very well....the ammonia....holy, well, you know. For over a month.

I tore that off the house due to another mistake. I'd sloped the outer south facing glass to get more sun. Well, that sure wasn't needed. Talk about roasting. Sharing living space with it all just didn't work well.

I now do all composting in place, or did for quite awhile (didn't this year, didn't think I'd have a garden either). It's slow, but it works. Stuff animals might want I bury shallow, the rest just pile it on there, Ruth Stout (of rodale press) style. It decays, there is no loss of compost water etc - it all just goes in fine. And when I had the thing in full swing, I got a round bale of spoiled hay from a neighbor and used the Stout method - just put it on there so thick your plants are growing in little holes in it. Weeds...just add more, or pull them since their roots never quite reach the dirt, so they're easy to pull. But of course, you have to do it.

Frankly, when I lived in the city and had a couple 8'x8' square raised beds (I had criss cross boards in there so each was really 4 4x4' and I never ever stepped in the soil) and did the "square foot" method, things were better and easier. I got seduced by all this room here....that method simply uses supercharged "perfect" soil and puts the plants really close - broccoli for example at 10" or so spacing...and your plants, given a running start, eliminate the need for weeding entirely. There are some weeds, but they're pretty sickly down there in the dark. The desired plants make a light proof canopy of overlapping leaves, and don't mind being close due to the quality of the soil. Maybe if I do this again on purpose I'll do it that way - it worked very well and was super easy to manage. Basically, a greenhouse without the house part.

[Bob Reite]

Oh yes, I know not to put raw chicken poop in the garden, you'll burn your crops! Needs to be composted for at least six months to be "ready" for plants.