Do you have a Wildlife Management agency, or official, where you live? I would think there must be someone who oversees the wildlife area you mention, or a state office of wildlife management. I would contact them and ask them how to handle this. If there isn't a wildlife specialist to speak with, then an animal control official for your town/area should be able to help.

Whatever agency/official you are able to contact may even be able to trap the raccoons for you and move them.

I wouldn't try trapping and moving the raccoons alone, and I definitely wouldn't try going under the house yourself.
Definitely get some professional help to do it. Animals get very defensive when cornered, even moving a trap needs to be done carefully.

Good luck with this. I don't know how long raccoons might take up residence under a house, but with any luck they'll move out soon!

Before doing anything you need to prepare something to close the opening. If you do not have something ready you might have a worse animal living in your crawl space.

Contact your DNR before doing anything to the racoons. Moving them out of their territory can be a death sentence. If you can get all of them out of there and close the opening it would be better. In some states it is against the law to move any animal. If you watch you may see them all leave. It is probably a mom and babies.

Rain, to do it right, you need a permit to trap and move them in Oregon - the recommended relocation distance is 15 miles or they will be back. Your DFW office may have live traps to loan.

You don't want to get into your crawlspace with the possibiity of the animals there too - they bite.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon DFW

Thanks everybody. I'll make some phone calls Monday. They've been there three years. I've seen the pair. I don't want to hurt them, and would actually like having them around -- if only they would consent to living in the doghouse instead of underneath mine.

I don't understand why relocating them would be a "death sentence."

Hi again,

Glad to hear you are going to get some help with this.

Since they've been going in and out of the crawlspace of your house for three years, I'm not so sure you would want to continue to have the raccoons "around" after you get them out of there, even if what you mean is in the woods around your house. Even if you block the entrance to their den under your house, that has been their den for three years, and they may continue to feel pretty entitled around your property. They could become a worse problem than they have been.

I would think it would be better for all concerned to have the raccoons moved if only to prevent them from becoming a greater nuisance. Animals are relocated all the time and they have very good survival instincts. These raccoons have obviously been finding their food in the woods and ponds, whatever around your property, so they know how to do that. I think that wildlife management people usually know the territory where they are going to release animals, whether there are food sources, plenty of cover and trees for dens, etc.

Good luck with this -

Part of the death sentence is that you would be moving them into another racoons territory. Since you are seeing more than one what you have is a mom and babies. The babies will try to stay with mom until she runs them out. The mother would probably be able to fend for herself but having to learn where the food sources are after a move may be too stressful for they young ones. When racoons are stressed they are more suceptable to distemper.

Since raccoons are territorial animals in moving them away you will be opening your area for another raccoon to establish a territory. So even if you move the family away unless you close the opening you are likely to have more raccoons or other creatures such as skunks move in.

Hello again,

maifleur has some excellent points.

I guess my concern is that the pair of raccoons has been living under your house for three years. That is, I think, a big consideration in how to deal with them.

I found a website that might be helpful. It does encourage what maifleur does, closing the opening. The website can be found if you google "Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks" and look under "wild things" and then "raccoons." There is a lot of good information there, including some on relocation.

My only concern for you is that the raccoons won't want to leave your area.

Good luck with this, hope it turns out to be an easy problem to resolve after all.