I'm trying to catch a coon on a sand beach in a bay.Saw him at low tide digin in water so i tried a can of local chopped clams coon walks right by door every 2 days,tried marshmellows,anise extract,and even lennons all call muskrat lure and still passes within 8 inches of front door every 2 days,what else should i try,why isnt he the least bit curious.I got the cage under dock where dock is 3ft above sand.

Maybe try a DP.

If it's on sand you should be able to read it's tracks. Is it showing any interest at all in the cage? If not I would assume then you are dealing with a fat and sassy coon that doesn't feel the need for your bait. If it does show an interest in the bait you may need to start feeding it right outside the door to get it used to the cage. That may take longer than I would want so if I could get away with it I'd go straight for the footholds and nail it at the waters edge.

Never mind I see your in New Jersey, no footholds.

Have you tried urine yet? Follow the tracks and see if you can set on its den.

What are you using for trailing scent?
and
It was digging in water and ......did it cause a problem nearby?

So you tried a couple of things that didn't work, welcome to our lives. ( And we have to support families on this kind of thing )
Fortunately for you, you have not come close to exhausting all the things you can try. I'm not going to list them all because I would die of old age. Just look at some of the posts on here, you'll get the idea.

I work at a ferry service and tried to get in the floatin terminal until passengers spooked it at 5am and it ran down a 100 ft pier passed the people,boss called me cause he knows i trap and says he wants it gone.(no pressure there)Paul ADC work always sounds fun but its a hard way to make a livin,anytime anybody ever asks me to catch a critter for them it always seems to be the smart one it makes me crazy.

Egg at the door and two in the back of the cage.

I get your point loud and clear. I always get the dumb ones and the rest of the guys always complain about it.

I tried to explain it to them; If you took my animals and I took yours, I would still get the dumb ones and you would still get the hard ones. Now once you figure out why that is, you are on your way to success.

I've watched animals make a fool of me for more than half a century so by now I've kind of leveled the playing field.

The coon may have been caged before and released. That's why I don't release coon. The educated ones take more time and time is money.

I am thinking the same as Ponyboy, Jersey is a catch and release state. Try to make the trap not look like a trap. You can put it in a trash bag, and line the bottom of the cage with trash. Works sometimes when homeowners educate them with tractor supplier traps...

Thanks for the advice.If I cant catch him maybe he'll just move on.

put some baits out away from the trap and see what he likes, then place those baits in front of and into the trap if he will not eat the baits at the trap he is trap shy or trap smart 2 different things.

if the coon is either one, go with another method, it is not the baits.

Sounds familiar. I just got a coon on a beach here in CT. and it took two weeks of changing bait. He went for the sardines with maple syrup. I hate sharing my sardines.

What's happening w/ the coon now?

They are grabbers/reachers too. have you tried anything other than bait to peak his interest in the cage itself yet?

Also, where have you placed the bait?

I have been chasing one around a development for 3 years,,,,,, If I put a cage over a hole it will dig out elsewhere.......
Dang thing always tears in though a shake roof...........

Vinke, cedar shakes dipped in coon lure on the floor of the cage. She won't suspect a thing.