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View Poll Results: Which tool is best for the Reaccoon?
Ruger 10/22 with Federal Bulk Pack Ammo 33 50.77%
Mossberg 500 with No. 4 Birdshot 10 15.38%
Marlin 336 with Remington 150 gr. JSP 2 3.08%
Browning Buckmark with Federal Bulk Pack 8 12.31%
Springfield XD45 Compact with Federal Hydra-Shok 2 3.08%
New Tool 10 15.38%
Voters: 65. You may not vote on this poll

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Old March 5, 2010, 09:13 AM   #1
Spammy_H
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Raccoon Problems

Here's my situation:

I've got a couple of raccoons that come on my front porch pretty much nightly and eat my cat's food, run my cat off, make a mess of my porch, and are a general nuisance.

My front porch is concrete, with white pillars holding up the roof, and the facade of the house is light red brick, and there's a window right in front of the cat bowl. There is about 5-6 feet between the front of the house and the pillars. Typically the cat hangs out with its back arched, making mean sounds trying to scare off the varmints, and is often times somewhat in the line of my shot.

The range is about 15-20 yards.

My available tools are as follows:

Ruger 10/22 - open sights
Mossberg 500 with intermediate choke - bead sight
Marlin 336 in .30-30 Win - Williams peep sight
Browning Buckmark - open sights
Springfield XD 45 Compact - factory 3-dot, non-luminescent sights
Incandescent Maglite

Ammo on hand is as follows:
.22lr - Federal bulk pack
12 ga. - No. 4 bird shot
.30-30 Win. - 150 gr. Remington jacketed soft point
.45 ACP - 230 gr. LRN reloads, 230 gr. Federal Hydra-Shoks

My criteria for a successful outcome are as follows:

-Don't kill/injure my cat
-Preferably kill the raccoon(s)
-Don't splatter blood all over the concrete, brick, window or pillars (obviously a blood trail of some sort may be inevitable)
-My son prefers to harvest the hides for skinning
-Harvesting the hides are not my greatest concern

I'm wondering the following:

-Would the Marlin 336 explode the raccoon, creating a nasty cleanup?
-Does the 10/22 have enough energy to do anything other than scare off the raccoon?
-I don't think the XD45 is an option due to accuracy at that range at night. But assuming I could get a clean shot off with it, what would it do?
-What is your recommended solution with the tools on hand?
-If I could justify buying a new tool (which I'd love to do, but probably can't) what would be the ideal tool for the situation?

I figured that this was the best place to get some useful feedback, and have a little fun in the process .

Thanks for your help.
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Old March 5, 2010, 09:42 AM   #2
Art Eatman
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Put a sandbox inside, put the food bowl in the kitchen, and keep the cat in the house. That way there's no attractant and the coons will quit coming. At the very least, bring the food bowl inside during the night. End of problem. It's not exactly like hauling a 100-pound barbell.

But if ya just gotta play Harry the Hero, figure that at night and a moving target, a shotgun is your best bet. Sorta silly to set yourself up to where you think you need to do that, however.
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Old March 5, 2010, 09:45 AM   #3
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Your joking right? Shooting racoons on a concrete porch sounds like a safety issue to me. Stick with a baseball bat till you learn more about firearms and gun safety.
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Old March 5, 2010, 09:53 AM   #4
Daryl
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Set a Havahart trap on the porch, and put the cat food inside of it.

And take the cat in the house.

Next morning, shoot the 'coon between the eyes with a CCI CB short from yor choice of .22 LR, and drop the 'coon in a trash bag for disposal.

But as long as the food's on the porch, there will always be another 'coon to eat it. Move it inside, and you won't have to worry about it.

Oh, and secure any "pet" doors to keep them out of your house.

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Old March 5, 2010, 10:00 AM   #5
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Wish I could help you out, I have some highly trained, well tuned Treeing Walker Coonhounds.
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Old March 5, 2010, 12:33 PM   #6
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I say just grab the Louisville Slugger when they show up, step outside and grab one by the scruff of the neck and whack it! Oh, wait, let me set up the video cam first, gotta post this one on YouTube!

I agree with Art. If it is becoming an attractant, move the cat food inside.
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Old March 5, 2010, 12:35 PM   #7
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Unfortunately, animal hair allergies prevent the cat from being indoors. Looks like the .22 is the ticket.
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Old March 5, 2010, 12:44 PM   #8
TCman
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A 22 to the head will drop a coon in its tracks. A 22 to the vitals will stip it, but not DRT.
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Old March 5, 2010, 12:47 PM   #9
orangello
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Having killed a 'coon with an aluminum bat, inside my last house, i don't really recommend it. I was not injured & it wasn't horribly messy, but my cats haven't looked at me the same since then (they watched). I recommend the 10-22 with some hollow point ammo. I also recommend that you take a look at what you could hit if you miss the 'coon, while it is still daylight; the box trap might be a wiser path, with a .22 follow-up.

Of course, you will only be killing one 'coon this way; a two-fer would have loooong odds. Have you considered elevating the food on something that a cat can jump up to but that would be difficult for a 'coon to climb? One of those decorative ceramic columns might be just the ticket, slicky sides with a nice flat top. I have used them to hold stereo speakers before; they blend well & might look good with the porch columns. They were also very inexpensive (garden ridge, i bleve).


The only albino-looking raccoon i've ever seen was drawn to a friend's cat's food on their front porch, in mid-town Memphis, TN; it did still have faint rings on its tail.
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Old March 5, 2010, 01:13 PM   #10
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Trap them in box trap and use 22lr birdshot to dispatch them.

Most of those bullets will probably ricochet and do damage to concrete plus bloody mess.

Art's idea is best. Where there is one there is more. And they'll keep come 'em

Last edited by crghss; March 5, 2010 at 01:19 PM.
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Old March 5, 2010, 01:28 PM   #11
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Sorry but I didn't see any magic bullets in that list that will miss your cat, kill the raccoon and not leave blood on the concrete. Did see a lot of them that will ricochet nicely off concrete and go places you probably don't want them to.

Clean up the mess, bring the food inside and the raccoon will have no reason to be messing up your porch. The only alternative is to teach the cat to duck and buy rubber bullets that will disintegrate on concrete but will penetrate the coon and seal the hole behind it. I'm not sure where a bullet like that can be found so go with the clean up, it will be cheaper.
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Old March 5, 2010, 02:12 PM   #12
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I am with Art on this one. Take away the food and the problem will go away.
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Old March 5, 2010, 02:33 PM   #13
Tuzo
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Seems that the intent is not to bring the cat's food dish into the house at night, but to kill racoons. Killed quite a few using .22 LR hollow points with very little blood left over. Most had no exit wounds. Hydrogen peroxide will remove blood but will not patch bullets holes in pillars and concrete floors.
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Old March 5, 2010, 02:43 PM   #14
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Go with the box trap, no holes in the hide if you submerge the trap till the bubbles stop.
If you catch the cat just release and re-bait.
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Old March 5, 2010, 02:53 PM   #15
Slamfire
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Quote:
I've got a couple of raccoons that come on my front porch pretty much nightly and eat my cat's food, run my cat off, make a mess of my porch, and are a general nuisance.
Take the food away.

What Coon does not want nutritious , high calorie, free food? Can you blame them?

(Just leave a warm piazza in the break room and see how long it lasts with the two legged scavengers at your place of work. Or Girl Scout cookies)

Take the food away before the Coons decide to rip a hole in your roof and nest in your attic.

A Raccoon ripped off ten feet of my roof before I chased it away.
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Old March 5, 2010, 03:21 PM   #16
orangello
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Quote:
Take the food away before the Coons decide to rip a hole in your roof and nest in your attic.
The 'coon i killed with the bat came out of the attic through the inside, drop-down door. Six cats were in the house & not one had the guts to take it out, smart cats.
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Old March 5, 2010, 04:29 PM   #17
ohio bowhunter
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Two words...Golden Malrin . If you want details , shoot me a PM . Will solve your coon problems once and for all .
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Old March 5, 2010, 05:18 PM   #18
L_Killkenny
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Shoot the cats.......no more need for food.......no more coon. Problem solved.

Not an option? Get your self a good dog and turn it loose on em. I recommend a good Moutain Cur but my Jagdterrier is tough on coons too. And harder on cats, double bonus.

Still not an option? Go ahead and shoot em, maybe move the food off the porch so you aren't so close. Critter's aren't welcome that close to the house and they're liable to find another reason to hang out (like living in your attic).

10/22 to the body will allow the coon to run off a short distance more times than not so as not to leave a lot of blood close to the house. 10/22 to the head is messy, so is a bat.

Shot gun at that range will work good and coon don't bleed much from birdshot at the ranges you are talking about. Must be the small holes. #4 shot is the smallest you'll want to use.

Your other gun options are over kill and will leave a mess.

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Old March 5, 2010, 05:58 PM   #19
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No Food = No Raccoons

Feed the cat inside the house...and make sure you keep the door closed...they're not affraid to invite themselves in...killing them may work for a while but their cousins or some other critter will show up sooner or later if you keep putting food outside.
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Old March 5, 2010, 06:08 PM   #20
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I can't believe you wanna kill raccoons man, They are cool, so what if they make a mess lol. poor raccoons. Me and Raccoons are homies.
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Old March 5, 2010, 06:11 PM   #21
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theyre really cute little buggers when theyre young. this little fella and two of his siblings were orphaned when i took mamma out with a .45 (hey, it's what i had on me at the time!). i didn't know she had youngins'. anyway, found three of them swimming in the horse water trough. they were pretty tired and were easy to grab by the neck. took 'em 3 miles out and let 'em go in "the country". haven't seen 'em since. trap 'em and call your local game warden for relocation.
if you must shoot them, and theyre full grown, please use more than a .22lr. the big ones die slow with a 22, unless you get a head shot.
just my 2c
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Old March 5, 2010, 06:36 PM   #22
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Leave the food, kill the coons more will come.

At any rate, catch em in a live trap. Carry trap to yard and shoot them in the head with the 22 while they`re still in cage.

I live in the middle of the woods and between dog and I we probably kill 20-30 coons a summer when the gardens growing. I set four live traps baited with something sweet(they can`t resist donuts) every night.

P.S. To keep donut bait cost down, be-friend a cop and get his leftovers.
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Old March 5, 2010, 06:41 PM   #23
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Take a small drill bit to the hollowpoint of that 36 gr. and open it waaay up.

Shoot that sucker once through the chest and it's a done deal with less chance of a richochet.

Also may look into the Aguila Quik-Shot ammo.
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Old March 5, 2010, 06:58 PM   #24
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Feed the cat during the day, take up food at night. Hmmmm, cat will still smell like cat food, might become raccoon dinner. Use the trap. If you can't make the coons someone else's problem (relocate far away), dispatch with no less then .22LR (do NOT start shooting it with .22 bird shot, you'll be sorry for going down that road): Bad Ratshot Experience Here
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Old March 5, 2010, 07:44 PM   #25
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Quote:
Set a Havahart trap on the porch, and put the cat food inside of it.

And take the cat in the house.

Next morning, shoot the 'coon between the eyes with a CCI CB short from yor choice of .22 LR, and drop the 'coon in a trash bag for disposal.
Worked for me.

We still leave the food on the porch and since I dispatched the pack of raccoons living across the street 3 years ago, we have seen no more. Although now there is a possum living under the porch who shares the dinner bowl with the cat. I was surprised when the raccoons stop coming but it may also have to go with the fisher cats living in the swamp 1000 feet down the hill. I haven't seen a squirrel or a woodchuck in 3 years either....
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