[nephilthim]

well I have a racoon problem they killed my fave rooster and reallly beat up my other two roosters so I got really irritated with the coon problem trying to break into my coop every night.well I tree'd two yesterday after investigating some early morning chciken noise.i bought a pellet gun and started plinking shots at the two.well one tried coming down last night nailed him good one in the eye put him out of his misery with a 2 by 4.
i tried setting up a d.i.y. trap which didn't work too well,putting up more chciken wire,but they just kept coming.I hope now they won't come back with one of their packmembers dead,but if they do .177 pellet time.
seems like I have everything in my back yard,opposum.bobcat,coyote,rac oon,hawk,and rat.do any of you have a racoon trapping,or hunting story?

[anikas88]

oouch thats rough!

[AKDrifter]

raccoons are tough as nails, think little tiny bear. A 177cal pellet gun would have to be a high power rig and you would need that shot on the money to kill one. .22 CB longs would be much better, probably quieter and enough ass to do it humanely.

A better choice would be a "have a heart" live catch trap. I grew up in the country where we had chickens and raccoons were always a problem. My father bought one of those traps and it worked great. Some cat food on the pan and you can just pick up the trap and take rocky the raccoon for a ride in the car and relocate him very safely without hurting him.

I am about the farthest thing from a tree hugger (lifelong hunter), but I would much rather release a raccoon out in the woods than shoot them, they are awesome little animals. I had a wild raccoon momma get killed by a car in front of our place when I was about 12, I ended up bottle feeding two babies and they were my all time favorite critters. They hung around our place for a year or so, and even slept in our barn, they stayed out of trouble as long as we remembered to feed them, no food= mischievous little fuckers. But cool as hell.

No racoons this side of the pond but what about a bodygrip 330?

[billy_big_bud!]

dude, killing raccoons is so mean. trap em and release them. please?

I hunted coyotes back in CA, and I hunt fox out here in the midwest. Call them in with an electronic caller. It's the hardest kind of hunting I've ever tried, to be sure. I have much respect for all predators. They're very smart. I've never hunted raccoons, as I've never had a problem with them and I only shoot what is bothersome to me or what I plan on eating.

Have a Heart traps work great, but you can lessen the problem long term by eliminating some of their habitat, such as dead trees or brush piles that they typically live in. This is only possible if you have time, own the property and are willing to mess with the environment. I personally think it's better tho kill a predator or two than fell a tree that other animals use as well.

If you do kill them, it might be better to use a suitable rifle, such as a centerfire .22or at least a .22 rimfire to the head. Otherwise a have a heart trap dunked underwater works well in a pinch.

[cygnus]

Kill as many as you can. Nasty rabid fuckers. My Gamo .177 works great on em.

[Piel]

If you´re gonna shoot em buy a gun, a .22 with subsonic ammo will be quiet and effective. Shooting them with a pellet gun is just cruel.

[armedoldhippy]

about half of the turkeys nesting each spring lose their clutch of eggs to coons in these parts. when the animal rights clods knocked fur prices on their ears, it was no longer profitable for trappers to control their population. now the @#$% things are coming into town, scattering trash & getting into fights with pets. coons can carry rabies for MONTHS without showing signs of it. kill them all, show no regrets, make no apologies! armedoldhippy