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When Ground Traps Won’t Cut It: Catching Raccoons at the Source
When it comes to trapping raccoons, a baited live trap placed on the ground can work wonders!
In many situations, it’s a simple, effective solution that homeowners can even try themselves. We do this, too, when the situation calls for it—set the trap in the right spot, add the right bait, and wait for the raccoon to wander in. In these straightforward cases, the results can be quick and satisfying.
But… not all raccoon jobs are that easy.
Sometimes raccoons are getting into places where a ground-level trap doesn’t even register on their radar. Maybe their entry point is up high, maybe it’s tucked away, or maybe they’re just too focused on the cozy spot inside your attic to bother with a snack on the lawn. In these cases, waiting for a raccoon to maybe wander into a ground trap isn’t efficient—and it doesn’t guarantee you’re catching the right raccoon.
That’s where we take a different approach: we bring the traps to the problem area.
Taking Traps to the Raccoon’s Doorstep
When we identify an active raccoon entry point, we can set the trap right there. This “at-site” trapping method eliminates the guesswork. The raccoons that have been going in and out of that specific hole will be the ones to encounter the trap first. It’s efficient, targeted, and helps us quickly move from capture to repairs.
But here’s the catch—this approach is rarely as simple as putting a trap on the ground.
- Working at height – Many raccoon entries are on roofs, soffits, or upper siding.
- Mounting traps securely – A cage trap has to be fixed in place so it’s safe for the animal and the property.
- Navigating tricky building features – Dormers, cupolas, steep roofs, and gutter lines can all make placement a challenge.
This is where the skill, equipment, and experience of a professional trapper come in.
Why Experience Matters
Ryan of the Frontline Animal Removal team has been doing this work for years here in Stark, Summit, and Portage Counties. He knows how to safely set traps on roofs, anchor them in place, and work around structural features to make sure the raccoon’s first step out of its entry hole is into the cage.
It’s part wildlife knowledge, part construction know-how, and part problem-solving creativity. Every building is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all setup.
Two Real-World Examples
We’ve put together two videos that show exactly what we’re talking about—raccoon cage traps mounted right at the source.
Video 1: Ryan found that multiple traps were living in a soffit at house recently. He set some traps so that when they exited the soffit they would be directed to walk right through his traps.
Video 2: A raccoon job where they were getting in at a little hole at the soffit high up at the roofline.
In this setup, Ryan mounted two positive set traps around each side of the hole and two other traps at the roofs edge. This way he catches them coming or going.
Believe us, this is not simple to accomplish from a ladder! It’s a lot of work but gets the three raccoons in short order moving the solution along.
Calling in the Experts
If you have a raccoon issue and it seems like traps on the ground aren’t cutting it, you might be dealing with one of these “hard to reach” situations.
These jobs aren’t just about having a taller ladder—they require safe work practices, specialized traps, and the know-how to make a raccoon walk into the trap without hesitation.
That’s exactly what we do at Frontline Animal Removal—we identify the problem, place the trap right where it matters, and follow through with repairs so the issue doesn’t come back.
Learn more about our nuisance raccoon removal services or explore our home page to see all the ways we help homeowners deal with unwanted wildlife.
Bottom line:
Ground traps are great—when they’re the right tool for the job. But when raccoons are making themselves at home in hard-to-reach places, bringing the trap to their entry is the fastest, most precise way to solve the problem. And that’s something our team does every day.