Critter damage II: Sour grapes

All summer, I've been waiting with some anticipation for my grapes to ripen. This variety, called Valient, produces blueberry-sized grapes in delicious clusters. There must be 50 clusters this year, and I'm waiting patiently for October, when they will be fully ripe.

Two years ago, I was able to enjoy a bunch of my lucious grapes every day for a month. Last year the crop was even bigger. But just before they were ready to eat, I suddenly found that there was nothing left but a bunch of skeletonized twigs. Every single grape was gone. I have no proof, but I'm blaming the blue jays.
This year, the grapes are being attacked by a new enemy. This has to be racoon damage. I woke up one morning to grapes scattered all over the deck. And they aren't even ripe yet. You may not think I should begrudge a few bunches, but I'm afraid this is just a taste of what's to come. I don't want to lose out on the taste treat of the season.
Now I'm hauling out the big guns: netting. Birds and other critters are terrified of getting caught in netting. I've put netting over my compost bin and voila! no more kitchen scraps dragged from the bin to the lawn. Since draping a large piece of netting over the entire grape vine, there has been no damage, and my grapes are ripening nicely.

And there's a bonus. Tiny grape seedlings have sprouted in my vegetable garden. I'm guessing that last year's hordes of bluejays dined on my grapes and then used the garden as a toilet and left the seeds behind.