Raccoons .. Don't Mess With 'em

One of my most recent raccoon interactions was while bank fishing a river for catfish. A few of them would silently waddle over and try to get into my worm bucket. "Get outta there!" I'd say, but a few minutes later they'd be back as if I'd never said anything. I would have thought they'd try for the fish I had on the stringer...
 
John Eilertson said:
One of my most recent raccoon interactions was while bank fishing a river for catfish. A few of them would silently waddle over and try to get into my worm bucket. "Get outta there!" I'd say, but a few minutes later they'd be back as if I'd never said anything. I would have thought they'd try for the fish I had on the stringer...
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I'm guessing that chunks of raw 'coon would make great catfish bait!
 
I would think they speak CCI .22 Stinger fairly well from the couple I have met. I love Stingers...
 
I was bass fishing along a tidal river one afternoon. Tide was out, so the tidal flat, covered with pads, was out of the water. Suddenly there started up the dardnest noise I've ever heard. Growling, howling, snapping, screaming all at the same time. The pads started shaking. And the shaking was moving toward me! :eek:

I had no idea what was going on, but it sure didn't seem friendly. I eased the boat out into the middle of the creek, just as the shaking and screaming got to the edge of the grass. Then two coons, locked in mortal combat, rolled out onto the mud flat, and then into the creek.

Even that didn't stop it. The last I saw of them, they were going on around the bend, as the tide carried them downriver, still fighting.
 
I use 32's for behavior modification on raccoons that trespass. If they are on the back deck I use 32 S&W Longs out of a S&W 31-1. If they are in the back yard I use 32-20s from my Marlin. Very early in life I developed a preference for using 32's on vermin at iron sight range. Had a Steven Favorite converted to 32 Long.
 
I suppose a .32 will do, if they are at a reasonably safe distance. :D

It never ceases to amaze me how the general population is fooled by these oft-called "cute little things." (It also amazes me that they are such a popular subject here. :D ) They may not be in the same class with a hyena or an enraged bear, but lots of folks seriously underestimate them, I suppose because of their appearance and their size. They're tough as nails and incredibly strong, and vicious, too - if they think they need to be.

I live-trap them and haul them away, but when I am ready to release one, my free hand is always on a 38 or .357. If they don't immediately depart, I'm prepared. I have had one or two that lingered a bit, and I did not have to blast them, but they were living on a very thin edge. If you have seen the results of a close raccoon encounter of the worst kind, there won't be much sympathy for one of these buggers that even looks like he is thinking about crawling up your leg. :rolleyes:

I guess I like to talk about them, too. Close as we have to angry bears around here. ;)
 
The German name for racoon is "Wash-bear". The "wash" part no doubt for their habit of washing their food prior to eating. If you can't figure out the "bear" part...

Regards,

Dave
 
M29since14 said:
I suppose a .32 will do, if they are at a reasonably safe distance. :D
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YES! When I shoot them off the back deck they are less than 20' away and I am shooting through a partialy opened window. Full wadcutters work much better than factory round nose bullets at these ranges.

The 32 WCF loads are the old 118gn RNFP loaded to just under 2000 FPS. That will timble a 'coon nicely especially on a running away shot.
 
My house is surrounded buy a chain link fence with three dogs inside the fence. I had a coon climb into the fence and the dogs killed it but it probably took all three of them. Coons are
great fighters. One of the dogs had a cut nose.

Another interesting thing I saw was an albino coon that was snow white with pink eyes. It was riding in a car with a family with children. It was sitting on the seat back behind the driver's head. It had a collar like a dog and was a family pet.
 
If the little beggars were innocent they wouldn't be wearing masks . . . . .
 
badam0112 said:
This happened about 3 miles from my house. Those racoons have to be rabid. It sounds horrible, they detached her achiles tendon and bite her to the bone in several spots.
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I had a soil scientist come to my river property once to examine the soil and he was open carrying a S&W 686 revolver. I asked him why, and he said it was for rabid coons. Evidently he had been chased by a few of them and he was really prepared to not let it happen again. By the way he was not a wimpy kind of guy, just experienced and wary.
 
I grew up in dog hunting country---everbody had huntin dogs.
Most of em had ears that looked like ribbons.
Possum and coons and dogs have such natural dislike of each other it is laughable.
Dogs--unless there are several---have NO chance against a determined coon or possum.
Just shoot---one of us needs some relief.
Blessings
 
I'm with rburg....I don't worry about one shot kills.

So far this summer three coons have died of lead poisoning (.22 CB Longs from a pre-18 K22) on my back deck. Seems they think my bird feeders are for them.

Don
 
williamlayton said:
I grew up in dog hunting country---everbody had huntin dogs.
Most of em had ears that looked like ribbons.
Possum and coons and dogs have such natural dislike of each other it is laughable.
Dogs--unless there are several---have NO chance against a determined coon or possum.
Just shoot---one of us needs some relief.
Blessings
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I ended up with a young male and female coon several years ago. Long story but they came with a state permit so it was legal. These characters were pretty little and we bottle fed them goat's milk for several weeks until they were able to eat on their own. At the time we had a Cocker and a Great Pyr and both those coons loved those dogs to death. All four of them played for hours both in the house and the yard then would sleep together in a pile. They were inseparable.

We released the coons about a year later in a state wild life area several miles away. They made it back to the house in two days the first time and a week the second time. Finally had to take them to another wild life area a long ways from home. I didn't have much hope for their survival just because they liked dogs so much.

Young coons can be tamed and trained pretty easily. They are cute, smart and extremely funny to have around. Taming them is a poor idea and does not contribute to their survival in the wild. In addition, I've heard but never confirmed, if you ever allow one to go into hibernation they wake up in a really foul mood.

Now days I usually just shoot them because they are so destructive and dangerous but I'll never forget those two either.
 
My mother-in-law had a friend whose family "adopted" a baby raccoon. One day the lady was putting food in the animal's cage and it mauled her arm so badly that the arm was amputated mid-way up the forearm. Thus was in Northwest NJ in the mid to late 60's. I nearly wrecked a car trying to avoid one in the road. After that, no more dodging. I'd aim to get 'em with a wheel to make it quick. Possums (North Amreica's only native marsupial) are cut from the same cloth only waaay uglier.

Russ
 
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