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Old October 14, 2015, 06:12 AM   #1
Magnum Wheel Man
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Shot the biggest Raccoon I've seen in a long time, last night...

last night, they pulled the corn picking equipment into the fields at our place, around dark... 1/2 hour or so later, outside doggie let us know he had something trapped in the tallest walnut tree in the front yard...MRS goes outside, in her PJ's, comes back in & informs me he must have something treed in the tallest Walnut tree... so I grabbed the LED flashlight I keep in the truck, walked over to the tree, & scanned through it... sure enough, near the top of the tree, 2 eyes glowed back down at me... couldn't see the animal, but was sure it was a coon ( no moon last night, so it was pretty dark... fortunately the walnuts drop leaves earlier than most trees )... had MRS get me the lil 17 Mach 2 that she usually shoots them with... ( I suppose that since she was already in her PJ's I'll have to shoot this one )... I still could not see the coon, only the glow of his eyes, from behind the crotch of the branch he was on... 1st shot unsupported, holding the flashlight under the stock, I was barely able to see the crosshairs, I hit the tree, which caused it to "disappear"... found it's eyes again with the flash light, higher up than it was before... so I backed up to the next tree, & braced my upper arm against it's trunk, found the eyes in the scope again, & put a little bullet screaming into it's chest... hearing it fall, you'd have thought I shot a small black bear out of the tree, the way it thudded to the ground... of course "Cody" ( 1/2 white german shepard & 1/2 husky ) was on it, near as fast as it hit the ground... still not dead, that thing was growling like a bear, it was so big, he couldn't do his usual "shaking it" thing... took me a few minutes to get it in the scope, with a shot that I was sure I wouldn't get the dog, while they wrestled into the edge of the corn field... put the 2nd shot into him COM, which pretty much took the rest of the fight out of him... huge coon... 50 - 60 lbs... but was pretty hard to get an accurate weight, playing tug a war with the dog... but doggie is a big boy, & he usually carrys his trophies around for a while... this one was big enough that he could barely drag it around...

sorry... no trophy pics... hope I wrote graphically enough above that you got the jest of the story...

that lil 17 Mach 2 has killed more than it's share of farm yard varmints... it's still MRS favorite & sits behind the door in the study, so it's always the 1st rifle grabbed for that type of use...
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Old October 14, 2015, 07:10 AM   #2
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The 17M2 is perfect for that situation. That's the reason I have one. Varmints in places that might not be the safest to use something bigger (even a 22lr). Very little chance of ricochet or pass through and the effect is surprising. I catch lots of coons and possums in a live trap in the barn. Possums aren't a problem-I just open the cage and smack them with a club as they toddle out. Coons aren't that cooperative and much quicker so they get shot. 17M2 kills them instantly with no chance of pass through (which often breaks the cage wires on the bottom). It's a little loud but it's easy to grab the muffs on the way.
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Old October 14, 2015, 07:26 AM   #3
Magnum Wheel Man
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yes... I like to use it for shooting up in the trees, or around the building sites... mine was custom converted from an old Marlin 780 22 LR several years ago... as hard as cartridges are to buy right now, ( I bought 2000 rounds of ammo when I built the rifle ), I have probably only put 300-400 rounds through it since then, but I may end up selling it with a brick of ammo & putting a center fire into the rotation 17 Hornet or 17 Fireball???

how it looked, when I 1st built the rifle... it now wears a 2-7 BSA sweet 17 scope

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Old October 16, 2015, 03:36 AM   #4
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I got back into trapping for a while in the early 80's and caught a huge raccoon. I often wished I had weighed it. I made a new board for it and remember it was 12" wide at the shoulders (Pulled over like a sock). When I sold to the dealer, he said it was probably the biggest hide he ever bought, and he used to buy bales of hides from the hound guys. I wonder if there is weight record on raccoons?
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Old October 16, 2015, 07:47 AM   #5
Magnum Wheel Man
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after it had been laying in the yard under the tree ( that doesn't usually happen, as the dog usually drags them off to his "secret" place ) I thought I better deal with it... tossed it on the feed scale at 46 lbs... not sure how much weight had left it, a day & a half after shooting it???
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Old October 16, 2015, 07:47 AM   #6
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Oh man does that bring back memories.
Me and two of my buddies were out coon hunting in late fall.
The dogs had a BIG bore coon treed in a huge cottonwood.
Mark took a shot with his 22 lr pistol and missed. Shot was deflected by a twig per him - LOL.
Paul backed up and took a shot with his 38spl and hit right below him. This caused him to climb further up in the tree.
He was sort of dancing back and forth on a good sized limb and growling. I have to admit it sounded a lot like a small brown bear that was really ticked off.
I told Mark and Paul to get to either side and put their flashlights on both sides of his head. I wanted to blind him so he would stop dancing around so much.
I pulled out my 30 carbine Rugger SB and took a good bead on him, squeezed the trigger and saw him fall.
Here is were the real fun started.
This big bore coon hits the ground with a thud.
Now the dogs being well trained coon dogs did not go after him as they had been trained to wait until commanded to get the prey.
They are running around barking and raising all kinds of hell.
The coon was an easy 50lbs.
Paul walks over and was about to pick him up and he springs to his feet ready to fight everything in site. Scared Paul dam near to death and sent Mark and I back about 20 more feet.
Now the dogs really go wild. Running all around us and the coon. Barking and bawling at the top of their voices.
The coon has a 30 cal hole blown right through his middle.
The coon charged at me and then spun and charged Mark.
We are all screaming shoot the SOB at the top of our lungs.
We all start blasting away at him and not one shot hits him.
We are less than 10 feet away but with all the excitement and dogs going crazy we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
After about what seemed like 10 minutes but less than 2 or 3 minutes he swayed back and forth and fell over dead, we thought.
At this point one of the dogs could no longer wait for the command to fetch and ran over snatched this coon up and started to drag him toward us and the coon reaches up and swats this dogs nose and lays it open with his claws.
The dog drops him and runs off bawling and this dang coon gets up and stares us down growling and spitting.
Now imagine three men standing in the woods at night with dogs barking and running around going crazy and there is a big bore coon, gut shot standing his ground wanting to fight and we are all pulling the triggers on our guns and nothing but “click, click. click” because we have shot every round in the cylinders.
The coon waddles towards me, growl's real loud and falls over dead.
Only bullet hole in him is from my 30 carb.
We gather up the coon and the dogs and head to the house.
The dog that got mauled was OK, just cut his nose some and being the nose it bleed a lot but he was soon out coon hunting again.
This is a night of coon hunting I will never forget.
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Old October 16, 2015, 01:34 PM   #7
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Hahahahaha! HILARIOUS! I can just see it now. Thanks for the laugh!
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Old October 17, 2015, 04:24 PM   #8
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50 or 60 lb. 'coons? -- Sorry guys, but I gotta cal BS on these tales -- or the more politically correct term - 'hunter's exaggeration'. -- I hunted 'coon for over 15 years, with a couple of friends, we used to average about 5 or 6 thousand bucks a season for the hides we took, hunting two or three nights a week, and we never took more than one coon out of a treed group or family. Biggest single raccoon we EVER GOT - was WEIGHED IN at just a little over 30 lbs. Weighed on an accurate scale. We had to make a special board to stretch this one - and from the shoulder to bottom of pelt he measured 55" when fleshed, stretched and dried, 16" wide at the shoulder. 50 or 60 lb. coons? -- Sorry guys, but I gotta see pictures. This hunting all took place in NY state - Oneida county.
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Old October 17, 2015, 06:06 PM   #9
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That's like bear weight estimates ,usually high.
With coyotes though there's a problem .In NY/PA there are coyotexwolf crosses that can get 75 lbs ,maybe more I no longer have the link but an excellent scientific study shows weights , photos of skeletons etc. The skulls have obvious wolf features .Yes i've seen them and compared to normal coyotes they do get your attention !
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Old October 17, 2015, 06:16 PM   #10
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Shot biggest racoon I've ever seen

We had a male pet racoon. In two years he was 40 lbs.
In Florida, through the swamps, I've seen them on the road that, from a distance looked like a pig.
As we got closer saw one I think was as large as our dog now with a very big hump. Not sure of weight but could have been close to 50 lbs.
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Old October 17, 2015, 06:26 PM   #11
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50-60 pounds is pushing it, but only 30 pounds? 25 pounds is a BIG coon, but only 30 pounds?
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Old October 18, 2015, 12:34 AM   #12
979Texas
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No they really do get that big at least down here in East Texas they do, and I imagine through most of the Deep South they do also. Now it never was very common at all to see them that big, and I havent seen any this big in the last decade but they really will get that big. A big ole boar coon can get that big.

Once upon a hog spotlighting hunt after dark way deep deep in the back swamps and sloughs of the Navasota River bottoms in northern Grimes County, Texas we came upon what we thought was a small pig in the spotlight. Upon checking the animal out with my scope while it was just 20 yards away from me I saw that it was just a huge ole boar coon about 50-60 pounds, biggest coon I have ever seen.

A bunch of the old timers in this area also will talk about seeing coons that big, but its been over a decade since I've seen one that big. Beavers also get big down here some weighing in at 80 lbs or a little over, and those are in recent times the last few years with the beavers. But these people on this thread aren't ''exaggerating" weights at all on coons, go get in some real woods and see what you can find.
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Old October 18, 2015, 04:04 AM   #13
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"Real woods"? Just like bears here, the biggest raccoons are near the cornfields and dumpsters.
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Old October 18, 2015, 05:19 AM   #14
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Sorry, but I think I would have to see a picture with real world type comparisons to buy into the 60-100 lb. coons stories. I think estimates like that might be a little overstated. I trapped near to 100 of them this past year that were all spoiled corn fed ones, and some even snacking on high protein deer food......nothing even close to to those weights.
30 lbs would be a really large coon and I guess 40 could be possible...but bigger?
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Old October 18, 2015, 09:36 AM   #15
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I started looking on the net and found a pet raccoon over 70 pounds. Apparently it was on the news and TV. Weird thing is, it was in a town really close to me and I never heard of it. I am sure the one I talked about earlier was in the 40 pound range.
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Old October 18, 2015, 10:05 AM   #16
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Lots of talk -- but nobody has weighed one yet -- except for the captive pets. Beavers? ... Hell yes, I've seen beavers up here - that WERE WEIGHED at 90 lbs. Huge! Huge NY coyotes, YES - and research by Syracuse University has proven that 80% of northern NY state's coyote population share the DNA that is traceable to Canada's Algonquin wolf pack, interbreeding is proven here with the coyote / wolf thing. -- But, guys, 50 - 60 lb. wild raccoons - Naah!
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Old October 19, 2015, 05:49 AM   #17
Magnum Wheel Man
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as I mentioned... I tossed it on the feed scale a day & a half later & it weighed 46 lbs... not 50 or 60... but still one of the biggest I've ever seen...

BTW... we had field corn on our place, but several of the neighbors had 160 acre fields of sweet corn
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Old October 19, 2015, 07:09 AM   #18
madmo44mag
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Here in Texas we can hunt deer over bait.
Coons can be a real problem.
They can defeat most systems designed to keep them out of your corn feeder.
They get pretty dam fat eating corn mixed with sweet feed.
So seeing a coon in the 40 - 50 range although not as common as it once was we still see them that big.
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Old October 19, 2015, 10:19 AM   #19
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madmo,

Everythings bigger in Texas!
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Old October 21, 2015, 04:43 AM   #20
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Where are the pic's of the BIG coons?
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Old October 22, 2015, 12:14 AM   #21
979Texas
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Exactly MadMo, its been awhile since I've seen any that big, like since the 90's was when I saw that huge one I told about earlier. That was way before everyone had a cellphone on them at all times, and the cellphones that were out had no cameras on them. So if you didn't happen to have a camera on your person at the exact moment you saw a monster coon, than no pictures. And game cameras really weren't around back then, at least not in my neck of the woods.

I have extensively hunted coons, deer, hogs, coyotes, duck, dove, rabbit and squirrel in that exact area where I saw that huge coon at and till this day I haven't seen another one or heard of anyone else seeing one in years and years, and I don't expect too really see another one either.

And around here coons that hang too close to garbage dumps and stuff like that don't live long enough to get that big. I don't know about where your're at but down here they either will get trapped, shot, ran over, or alot of times a dog will get em down here hanging around dumpsters and stuff. If they wanna get that big they live in literally the most secluded parts of the country around here which is where a huge majority of the few huge coon sightings are at. And yes down here in Texas we hunt alot with corn feeders because its legal down here and that monster coon I saw was just 40 yards from one of our feeders. They get fat on that deer corn just like MadMo told yall. And thanks Guv for stating one of our many motto's down here in Texas, Everything's bigger in Texas.
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Old October 22, 2015, 06:57 AM   #22
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That hunt took place back around 1989 - 91 somewhere in there.
We were down south of Quitman TX
Heck I didn't have a cell phone till about 95 when I just had to give in to the new ways of the world.
Last coon hunt I was on has been at least 10 years ago.
Lost my buddy that had coon dogs and hunting coon without good dogs is just no fun.
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Old October 22, 2015, 10:12 AM   #23
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My buddy said he had (40 pounder, his guess) one raiding their feed room that could make love to a turkey standing flat footed! I use to think he was just drunk, now, I still think he was drunk but maybe really did have a 40 pounder messing with him.
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Old October 22, 2015, 01:30 PM   #24
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I would have been in the show me the pictures category on this but,

I almost found out the hard way that an"urbanized" raccoon has at least the possibility of growing a lot bigger than the ones I was used to.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/raccoons.html

Walking down the my street at dusk on the edges of metro Denver (Aurora back when there was a lot of open/wooded area) I see the telltale shine of of coon eyes from a storm drain. As I get closer I'm struck by how wide apart those eyes are and as I get closer it starts the normal aggressive hissing, growling behavior and I can finally see all of the critter. It's huge! The stupid thing is standing it's ground and growling because it's too big and fat to get out through the standard storm drain opening! 50 or 60 pounds?, maybe, I certainly had no desire to get closer! It was certainly twice the size of the ones I was used to.

Notice this quote from the Washington DOW site in the link above. "Adult raccoons weigh 15 to 40 pounds, their weight being a result of genetics, age, available food, and habitat location. Males have weighed in at over 60 pounds. A raccoon in the wild will probably weigh less than the urbanized raccoon that has learned to live on handouts, pet food, and garbage-can leftovers."

Seems like a legit source citing weights that high.
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Old November 1, 2015, 07:31 AM   #25
jason75979
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 979Texas View Post
No they really do get that big at least down here in East Texas they do, and I imagine through most of the Deep South they do also. Now it never was very common at all to see them that big, and I havent seen any this big in the last decade but they really will get that big. A big ole boar coon can get that big.

Once upon a hog spotlighting hunt after dark way deep deep in the back swamps and sloughs of the Navasota River bottoms in northern Grimes County, Texas we came upon what we thought was a small pig in the spotlight. Upon checking the animal out with my scope while it was just 20 yards away from me I saw that it was just a huge ole boar coon about 50-60 pounds, biggest coon I have ever seen.

A bunch of the old timers in this area also will talk about seeing coons that big, but its been over a decade since I've seen one that big. Beavers also get big down here some weighing in at 80 lbs or a little over, and those are in recent times the last few years with the beavers. But these people on this thread aren't ''exaggerating" weights at all on coons, go get in some real woods and see what you can find.
Yep, we've trapped some big ones on the ANGELINA/neches wma. Caught some really big otters there as well.
I guess it would be hard for some of these guys to believe we have 14'+ gators here too.
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