raccoon problem

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doctor_brevic

New member
I have a raccoon problem. While many people do not know it, raccoons can and will fight with and harm even the larger dogs. I live in a very rural area and when my two large dogs need to go outside and "do some work" they go out without a leash. One dog is around 9 years old(does not act one day over 3) and he goes out alone because he won't take off and all that noise. But I always go with the other (3 year old) because he is still young and has yet to learn to stay around the house. What I am getting at here is that my older dog while generally pretty harmless and calm, will see small things like the raccoons and give em a run for their money if they are in his area. I don't think he would be very likely to loose but he may come back inside with a few scratches so in the interest of preventing that I have cleared with my local game warden my right to practice "problem pest control". In other words I have the green light to use lethal force legally. I know I will hear a lot of .22 stuff and I do have a ruger 10/22 but I am thinking of using an 870 for various reasons, mostly because it is apealing to me. Anyways, here is the question: Will 12 gauge 3" steel BB shot take a raccoon down out of an 18" no choke barrel out to a good 35 yards? I'm not so sure it will penetrate enough, I might have to use the ruger after all which is fine but if possible I would like to bring the shotgun with me. What do you guys think? Ruger or 870?:confused:
 
Why would you use 3" steel on a critter? If your 22 isn't enough, a normal 2-3/4" load of 5 or6s will work just fine - if you want good patterns, get that 18" barrel threaded for choke tubes
 
I'd go with a .22 rifle, hollowpoints and a good backstop.

Birdshot is for birds.... birds are lightly built so they can fly ..... mature coons are tough .... so they can fight .....

If you want to use a shotgun, bigger pellets would be a good thing, I would think.
 
When they're out a .22 is hard to beat, when you're asleep, a baited have-a heart trap has a high success rate. Plug'em or transport'em, your choice.
 
Despite my desire to use my 870 I may indeed be better suited to use the .22 rifle. I suppose in a semi-automatic configuration there would be little in the way of me using a flashlight in my weak hand along side the forearm of the weapon. I must not forget that I should also be getting a far greater price per head. Roughly 2-6 cents per round as opposed to the considerably intolerable approxamite 1 dollar per shotshell. Anyways the origional yet clouded question still remains hopfully far more clear here,(and I must send my deepest reguards for my habit of often concealing it so well) Will 3" steel BB shot out of a no choke 18 incher effectively put down a raccoon out to 35 yards? I do have choked shotguns as well with much longer barrels but for the thrill of a riot gun in hand I must ask if I will actually see the desired result upon firing. I have in the back of my mind the thought that maybe the birdshot would leave them hurting and perhaps gravely wounded but not dead.
 
Very unusual to see the raccoons. They are noturnal. I 'pest control' those around me by live trapping then killing. Have eliminated many that way. A .22 is marginal for a 'coon but sufficient if hit right.
 
This might be an opportunity to get one of those rail thingies so you could mount a flashlight right to the 10/22. Frees up both hands to make a good shot. Light up the little bandit so you can put the crosshairs right between his glowing little eyes.....
 
" A .22 is marginal for a 'coon but sufficient if hit right. "

huh? tell that to generations of coon hunters that use .22's in handguns and rifles.

if it were me i would just turn my dog out on them, but he is a big airedale. if you don't have a good airedale then i would opt for a good shot with a 22.
 
Had a shepherd that just passed that would kill coons with unbelievable quickness. When he was a pup(almost a year old), he got down next to the ravine out back and walked up to a big ole groundhog. As pups tail was going 90mph, he wanted to play and groundhog swatted him across the nose cutting him fairly deep. He killed that g'hog and has killed every wild animal that size he's been in contact with every since.

Like the OP, I wouldn't intentionally turn him on these animals but if he saw one before I did, game on.

Anyway, since I live in the middle of a woods literally infested with coons, my best time at pest control is at night from the deck using a six cell Mag-lite and .22 rifle shooting reg. round nose ammo. Light up the eyes, shoot, turn light off,wait about ten minutes for more activity, repeat. When the garden starts coming up, couple the above process with four live traps baited with usually old, stale donuts or something sweet.

It's a yearly process but I'd rather live here and battle the four legged critters then the two legged where I used to live.:D
 
Not that unusual to see 'coons during the day in the spring when females have young to feed . Other times it might indicate problems such as rabies.
 
IMO, a shotgun with 5's and 6's IS good enough out so far depending on choke/pattern. The only reason I don't use a shotgun, as a rule, is sometimes the shotgun makes more of a mess then a single .22 projectile.
 
As for the #4 buck, I'd like that but can't find it anywhere, just 00 and slugs. However I am pretty pleased to see that so many people believe that birdshot even in smaller sizes would suffice. If that is truely the case then the heck with the expensive stuff, I will use my abundance of #4,5,6 shot. I will probably end up using the .22 quite a bit as well, but for some reason I just wanna go quite literally ballistic on the little creeps. I have no idea why but this just seems personal:mad: Hahahaha! I guess worst case scenario I was right to be cautious and one of them fails to die only to be finished off with another round or even with a pop from the trusty glock eh? Not the end of the world.:) As for the illumination, it is funny that a 6 cell maglite was mentioned as I too use one from time to time, I find it more efficient and easy however to use one of my 300million pocketable lights. :p
 
I have caught around 15 in the last few years with a hav a hart trap. Almost any meat will work for bait. When caught I use a 22mag to the head and dispose of . No more trying to aim in the dark.
 
Very unusual to see the raccoons. They are noturnal.
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My neighbors do not feed their cat so I let him in a couple times a day to eat. One 2 separate occasions both around 5 or 6pm I left the slider open so he could get back out once he was done eating, and came back to see a huge coon eating out of my cats food bowl...inside my house. All it took was me yelling at it for it to hit the high road but I was surprised to see it when it was not fully dark out and actually inside my damn house. Caught him on my back porch a week after one of the incidents but haven't seen one since.
 
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