Raccoons are ridiculous

[mcdowellbri]

Figure i was bored and cant sleep so id share a story that happened to us last year out in Minnesota.

The kids were playing outside one afternoon, and our dog at the time, a German Shepard, was out playing around with the kids and he suddenly walked over to a tree, sat down and looked up. after a few minutes of looking around i saw 2 yellow eyes looking back down at me. my brother in law and i came back out armed, me with a H&R 12 single shot(not mine, wouldn't own one, but it was there) 3 slugs and a handful of birdshot, and my brother in law with the .22 rifle. he fires the entire magazine of the .22 at it(from what i remember there were like 5 rounds left in it).

It just kind of growled at us at that point, then i gave it a round of the birdshot and it fell out of the tree, seconds later it was up, and i had a slug in, slug hits it in the left front leg in around the shoulder area. it rolls over on its back and i shoot it again with another slug in the stomach.

Several minutes later we hear barking and the screams of the raccoon, its still fighting after taking enough lead to kill a human on his feet. Our dog was scratched and bitten, and being out of ammo in our immediate vicinity we pulled the dog off and hit the raccoon with a piece of steel laying around.

We find the very same raccoon dead in the road the next morning out by our mailbox, and the driveway is a quarter mile long. it seems crazy to me that something could take that much punishment and still crawl that far.

I'm also fairly certain our dog caught something from the raccoon, because it started bleeding from the mouth a few weeks later and his tongue kind of got lesions on it and fell out, needless to say he had to be put down due to not being able to eat or drink anymore.

[Outlaw81]

Yeah crack kills! !! I shot one of those rats one night in the neck and no kidding it grabbed it's throat and walked around gagging while I put nine more in him from a 10/22. I feel ur pain. Get ur dogz rabies vaccinated next time.

[40caljustice]

A couple weeks ago I was visiting my aunt down around the VA/NC border. I heard something scratching around out on the side deck. I had forgot to take the meat scraps out and throw them into the bigger trash can. They were in a smaller trash can that was now tipped over with 2 raccoons pretty much fighting over them.

I grabbed my G27 and I snuck out the front door. As I moved around to the side I noticed one had climbed on top of the porch railing and was sitting there eating. I snuck up as close as I could and got about 6' from the rascal. When I pulled the trigger the coon flew off the railing at 100 MPH and rolled 15'. The other ran off about 25' and stopped. I caught that one square I'm the chest and rolled him backwards about 5 times. I spun back to the first one and he was scrambling to get away. Apparently I hit him through the guts. I popped him again in dead center of his back. He kept squirming and spinning around. I finally put a hole in his head at about 10" away.

I've shot alot of raccoons. Most all of them are 1 shot drop with everything from .22's to 12ga #7 1/2. This was the toughest coon I've ever shot. He had two holes on him the size of door knob. Guts hanging out of one and his spine split in half but he still fought to get up and get out.

I'm glad they weren't running. That wouldn't have been any fun at all.

[mcdowellbri]

yea, he was an outside dog, and they didnt bother.

dont figure it for rabies though, no foaming or anything and no erratic behavior

he just wasted away from bein so sickly

[ClayInTx]

I don’t kill for fun.

[40caljustice]

Originally Posted by ClayInTx

I don’t kill for fun.

Riight. That's your story. I enjoy killing the varmints. Its fun. There's my story.

[Art Eatman]

I have raccoons on my porch from time to time. They go for the grain of my bird feeder. Makes for fun.

One night a coon was upside down in a 5-gallon plastic bucket that had maybe a handful of grain in it. Do you have any idea of the pandemonium which ensues when you poke Rakkitty on the rump? Efforts at handstand levitation!

One night a coon was trying to get to the hanging bird feeder by clambering along the bottom of the porch support 2x6. Eight feet above the floor, and some five feet away from the post. He did not at all appreciate being poked in the ribs while I kept telling him how stupid he was--aside from being overly optimistic about supper.

I generally have too much fun playing with the silly critters to want to bother with shooting them. More fun than TV sitcoms, for sure. More entertaining than reading Keyboard Kommando posts on the Internet, also.

[Rifleman1776]

I kill raccoons around my property whenever I see them. They are predators who kill just to kill. They eat turkey eggs and poults. If one is seen in daytime that, invariably, means it is sick and should be killed. (never handle with bare hands)
I use a .22lr but sometimes they run off to die in the woods. I don't like that but dead is dead.

[mquail]

Coons carry all kinds of diseases and parasites that we don't want.

Brad

[Double Naught Spy]

If one is seen in daytime that, invariably, means it is sick and should be killed.

This is untrue. Raccoons are often active during daylight hours in order to take advantage of resources only available to them during daylight. It is a myth that they are nocturnal-only animals.

They are predators who kill just to kill.

Also untrue.

Coons carry all kinds of diseases and parasites that we don't want.

Brad

So does every game animal hunted for consumption, livestock, and other humans. What is your point?

[HeroHog]

I popped these with my dad's Model 10-8 at night. They were at the Duck farm killing and eating the ducks!

[Rifleman1776]

DNS we disagree on most of the points.
Racoons do kill just for the lust of killing. As a former chicken raiser, I know from first hand observation.
They are nocturnal. From National Geographic: "These nocturnal foragers ..."
One seen in daytime is very probably sick, possibly rabid. Handle with lead from a distance.

[C0untZer0]

Coons are tough - next to a Tazmanian Devil, Honey Badger, Wolverines and Badgers, they are right up there for being pound for pound the toughest animals on earth.

They're tougher than most dogs - even coon hounds. And they are super smart, if they can get a dog in the water they'll drown em. A friend of mine had a Blue Tick, there's something about those Blue Ticks - they are hard wired to go after racoons, but anyway a friend of mine was out for a walk with his dog, and it was normally a very obedient dog, but it caught scent of racoon, and then it was off to the races. When my friend caught up to it the racoon nearly had her drowned. He swam out to the dog and lucky for him the coon swam away. The dog couldn't even walk for a good fifteen minutes. He thought he was going to have to carry her back. And this was during the morning - when supposedly coons aren't out.

That was the most torn up dog I'd ever seen. I'm sure people who fight pit bulls probably have dogs that are pretty torn up. For one thing, she could climb cyclone fences,and she'd tear her belly up when she'd go over the top of them - but this hound also used to fight with cats - and jeez she would get so sliced up. That racoon tore her up pretty good that day but she was so scarred from everything else that when it healed you couldn't tell the scars the racoon left on her from any other.

You could shoot a racoon every day for your whole life and never make a dent in the local population.

[Double Naught Spy]

"Nocturnal" is not a diagnostic trait of raccoons. It is a typical behavior, but not their only behavior. They are "mostly nocturnal."
http://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/raccoon.htm

See #6 here...
http://raccoons0.tripod.com/raccoons/id3.html

Right now, raccoons are active in the daytime here in Texas, mostly in the later afternoon and evening and also in the mornings. This type of activity while may be considered daylight or diurnal, is actual crepuscular activity. However, raccoons will be out whenever necessary.

I can't argue with your status as a former chicken raiser, but if the claim of non-discriminate killing is true, it is one apparently missed by the biologists and mammalogists as it is a trait not mentioned in the raccoon literature.

One seen in daytime is very probably sick, possibly rabid.

I see you are waffling now. Originally you said being seen out in daytime meant they were sick. Now you say "very probably."

[C0untZer0]

Cats are OK for keeping the mice and rats under control but I think a terrier is better. I think cats are inclined to leave a racoon alone but most terrier breeds won't. Terriers like a Boston Terrier (for example) are another example of man's specialized breeding of a dog for a single purpose. Boston Terriers seem hard wired to kill any little thing that creeps, crawls or scurries. If you pair them with a bigger terrier like a Staffordshire Terrier, or Airedale Terrier, they can keep both the rats and the racoons away...

[Rifleman1776]

DNS, you can disagree but do not attack me personally.
The first time I said "invariably". Second time "very probably". Those are almost synonymous.

[C0untZer0]

I don't think racoons have a lust for killing - I just think it's instinctual. Yes they probably kill more than they can eat. Cats wil pounce on a mouse, and they can't resist a rolling ball of yarn, it's not because they are hungry, it's just their nature.

Terriers will kill any little thing that moves and it's not because they are hungry - it's just their nature.

I think a racoon in a hen house is probably pretty close to the same way, not that it matters one way or another - you just gotta do what you gotta do - gotta kill em.

[gaseousclay]

They are predators who kill just to kill. They eat turkey eggs and poults.

sorry but I have to disagree with you there. racoons are predators and they kill to survive just like all predators. I don't think they're out killing indiscriminately...they're looking for food pure and simple. I can understand if you feel the need to put a racoon down because it's destroying your livestock but I don't understand this impulse to shoot and kill one just because it's there. Yes, racoons can be rabid and very dangerous but so can a lot of other animals. But that's just me.

[C0untZer0]

The only thing that keeps racoon populations in check is the number of other racoons given the food supply.

If you killed every racoon within 2 square miles of your home - the neighboring coons would move into the territory in a few weeks.

They are a very robust species. They're like rats, they're like feral pigs. You could kill one every day and not siginificantly effect their population. When the overall population of racoons in an area starts to go down, the litter size of the females doubles or even triples. They can go from having just 2 kits to having 6.

Coons got into my parents attic this last winter. They tore the hell out of the aluminum siding, and plywood and moved in. They were coming in and out and I was just going to come over and shoot them, but while they were out foraging my brother came over, fixed the plywood and the aluminum siding and they didn't come back.

They may be fun to poke with a stick and feed peanuts to or whatever - until they move in and your house stinks to high valhalla.

Shoot on site I say...

[Sarge]

I kill 2-3 of the little brigands a year, and I really hate doing it. They are the most hilarious creatures in my little corner of God's green earth. We get raided by them each summer; they'll find a way to get into the old 'catch-all' back porch, where my tools, rock salt, dog food etc. reside and they pilfer through anything and everything. This one is sitting on my little tool box, dragging a 25 pound bag of rock salt like it was nothing.



Heck they have stolen my grease rag out of the tool box and even a bag of 'instant-light' briquettes. It was a riot to watch one pull a charcoal briquette from the bag, roll it around with its paws and take a big bite of it. He pitched it and made the awfulest face you ever saw.

I have pelted them with BB guns, wrenches and kicked them ass-over-teakettle in my efforts to discourage them, short of shooting them. Eventually they damage $50 worth of stuff and I end up having to shoot one or two. But I really hate killing them.

[Nnobby45]

Personally, I'll take a coon where ever I find 'em. This nice trophy taken north of Reno in the N. Valleys.

OK, so it's a road kill. Still too nice a picture to pass up.

NOTE: You WILL get some strange looks from passing cars when posing for road kill pics.

[Art Eatman]

Sarge, I get a kick out of how a coon can look so indignant and insulted when you interrupt his simple pleasures. I've never seen any other critter who can project "Humph!" so well.

[C0untZer0]

Trophy coon...

Funny....

My kids didn't want me to kill the racoon in my parent's addict until I told them that I'd make a coon skin hat out of it - and then they were all for it!

Oh BTW - "traffic accidents" are listed as the number one killer of racoons on Wikipedia, hunting comes in second.

I don't know what category you put that photo in...

[rickyrick]

Yes,

Raccoons are bad critters and they cause as much or more damage than pigs. Kill more chickens and such than coyotes and run pretty close to bobcat.

They don't face death well in alot of cases, pretty tough little guys.

[bullethole1]

thats amazing how much lead and abuse they can take before they die. I never heard of that before I shot several and killed them with a couple of shots at the most using a .22 magnum marlin