Raccoon Pack Attack -- What Handgun?

My buddy and I took our kids camping a couple years ago. We were planning on making it an annual trip. I had a zip up cooler all zipped up and secure. We went to take a trip down the river on tubes and had a great time. When we returned to camp, we found that the nasty little raccoons had learned how to unzip the cooler and destroyed our food for the week. We had to formulate a plan... We decided that we could use hot dog pokers to deter them if they came around again. The hot dog pokers did less than deter them that night around the camp fire, they seemed to almost welcome them. When we got the kids to bed, it was game on!!! We got out our bows and declared open season. It really seemed like a great idea at the time until we realized how tough the little critters are to kill. We were shooting them right through the center of their bodies and they were running off with our arrows into the timber. Every year after that, we switched to .22 rifles while the kids are in bed. It was a little tough to explain to the kids what all the blood all over camp was in the morning. :rolleyes::rolleyes: They setteled for the "well, I thought I heard some raccoons fighting last night" story. :D:D
 
to understand raccoons you have to understand their behavior.

by nature they are disgustin vile disease ridden creatures. thats the nice thing about them.

normally the pack will be one or two momma raccoons and their current children. drill momma in the head and drop her instantly, the youngins will normally run in circles around momma allowing a shooter to get decent shots on the youngins.

siblings will range in twos or threes, these in my experience are nastier to deal with, when one is being shot up, the other willnormally be running circles orup a tree within visual distance, so the first one is easy the second or third isnt.

as far as handguns go, most people cant hit a stationary raccoon with single bullets so something that throws lead would be best.
the best would be a 12 guage serbu super shortie using birdshot
then a judge using pheasant loads
then a 500 sw or 44 mag swing out cylinder with birdshot cartridges.
 
Packs of raccoons? You said PACKS of raccoons?

I'm not normally a Glock proponant, but in light of this question, I belive this is a legitimate reason to have a Glock 18 with a couple 33 rd magazines. If you aren't familiar with that particular model, look here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE_cz56HSRM
 
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I have never heard of a racoon pack attack, but I know for a fact that if such a scenario were to happen, they would definitely be dangerous. Coons are vicious little bastards who can do some damage. They will hold their ground and fight most dogs toe to toe if they get cornered.
 
JUDGE? say it isn`t so! longlane, you must have forgot to read all the posts saying the judge isn`t good for anything.:rolleyes:. This summer shooting coons around the garden with my Judge got to be rather fun. An occasional chance to line them up(much like shooting pool:D) would give a combination shot(two coons-one shot). Shot a good 15-20 coons this summer alone with the judge and it didn`t even blow up. Its gets my vote.
 
Aw darn, shortwave! I forgot...

The Judge--useless hunk-o-junk, boat anchor, wall hanger, movie-prop, etc. And phenomenal kayak/canoe (in a dry bag), trail (in my waist pack), and self-defense gun (in a suspender/shoulder-type holster) when size isn't a factor (in the woods/on the farm). Glad to hear that at least one other person on the planet (other than my whole family) have found good use(s) for an admittedly odd gun :)
 
I would feel comfy with my XD45 or the Mossy pump 12 with target loads, but either would make a mess.

A pack attack would be freaky! I had to clobber one with an aluminum baseball bat once. It had come into the house through the attic & opted to head towards me rather than towards the open door. I've never been more disappointed in my cats; there were a total of six grown cats watching the lil bandito & not one jumped him, wusses.

I will say, one good batting to the brainpan seemed to do the trick pretty quickly & without any damage to the hardwood. I even managed to clear the mess before my animal-loving female roomie got home (remember to wipe off the bat guys).
 
"Maybe you should get them mini aluminum baseball bats."

You, sir, obviously don't own cats; I'd be dead in a day. Heck, they come standard with 20 tiny gutting knives. :p
 
Yes, you are correct on the gutting knives .They(kitties)) probably watched this big giant of a guy using a ball bat on that hairy intruder and figured they didn`t stand a chance without additional weaponry:p:D.
 
santa coon

Several years back, during a fairly hard winter on Christmas eve, I was in the kitchen and thought I would check out the weather and lights we put up on the back deck. When I pulled the verticals open there was a BIG racoon standing on his rears with it's paws on the window trying to see in! It startled the bejesus out of me at first. Santa coon would not leave, but did back off to the middle of the deck which was covered with a light cover of snow. I immediately thought that it was time for action. We live in a housing additon in a wooded area outside of town so we do have distant neighbors and the thought of pulling out a rimfire or centerfire weapon was quickly discarded, didn't need a hole in the deck or neighbors house. Especially on Christmas eve. I grabbed the Crossman .357 revolver that shoots the .177 pellets, threw in a fresh air bottle and loaded it up. I went back to the kitchen and the damn thing was back against the window all wide eyed, looking in......... I'll leave you to finish the story...
 
I actually had a family of raccoons set up housekeeping in my chimney, the cover having blown off in a storm. I kept hearing these noises early in the morning. I thought it was squirrels in the attic over the garage but I finally discovered it to be raccoons. The noise was from them climbing up the corner of the house. Well, I live in the suburbs (where all the wild animals live, too) and there could be no shooting. After all, how could I get a dead animal out of the chimney? There are other ways to deal with the problem.

First of all, they don't look so ferocious as all that, even in a group, not to me. I'd just suggest before you resort to violence, try feeding them apples. These live in the same neighborhood that I do and make much better neighbors than some of the people. So a few slices of apples was all it took to entice them out, plus pleasant converstation while we all sat on the roof. I replaced the cover and have had no problem since. But I have heard that if you feed them, word somehow gets around.

Sounds rather like the story of Davy Crockett grinning down a bear, doesn't it? It's true but rats I have shot, even in a townhouse community.
 
I had one eating my cat's food in the early mornings, so I threw a few empty beer cans at it and thought it was gone. It's back now, I'm thinking of trapping it and haulin it way out to the woods (another good excuse to get out). If you must take on a pack of viscous, man-eating coons, I'd get a Saiga shotgun and get to it! lol
 
I went back to the kitchen and the damn thing was back against the window all wide eyed, looking in......... I'll leave you to finish the story...
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You invited it in to sit by the fire with some cookies and hot milk, and read it The Night Before Christmas?

Well, after all, it was Christmas Eve.;)
 
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