Raccoons are ridiculous

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

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

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

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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. :)
 
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... :D
 
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.
 
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:eek:
 
When we lived in Houston, coons would climb through the cat door in the garage and eat the cat food and whup the stew out of my big tomcat. I got a trap and caught 14 of them over time. I'd spraypaint a spot of red or blue on them and release a few miles from the house. Any painted coon that got caught a second time was going to the dumpster. Up here in the country, I trap them in the wife's garden and they don't get a second chance. I'll be baiting the trap tonight. I bait with catfish food, which they seem unable to resist. Once caught and shot, they become coyote bait in the back pasture. And, another option is to cook them. Wife won't do it, but a buddy does from time to time, and it's real good.
 
Can't shoot them in the suburbs. Live trapped a couple and had animal control take them away.
Have found that they aren't Buick proof.
 
Raccoons are Crazy

While in college my fraternity brothers were having a social beverage in our chapter room (a 20' by 50' building for social functions). While my little bro was standing 15' from the door a raccoon ran into the building and bit him on the inside of his left leg very close to his manhood. This was through no provocation with around 25 guys hanging out in one area with music playing. The raccoon proceed to chase everyone out of the building and into the house. He followed several people into the house then ran them out of there. Finally someone toughened up and ran it off with a shovel. The guys called me and I brought over a live trap. A day later he was caught and dead and my little bro was already on rabies shots. I would guess without a doubt he was very sick. Moral of the story: Don't mess around with raccoons!
 
Mother Coon ready to fight!!!

Hunters:

Long story short, I was trapped in a long walk way with only one exit by a mother coon and her kits. She was ready to eat my lunch and I just had to wait until she was ready to leave. This was at a ranger station in California at about 3 in the morning. I was returning the key to a cave.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
Years ago at Smitty's neighborhood bar in Sausalito, a couple of coons were regulars. They'd show up around 10 PM, nosh on leftover dinner rolls and then wander on their way. They were quite well-mannered, never disturbing us as we played Liar's Poker...
 
Tough critters to kill

"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."

Porcupines are pretty durable too. When we farmed in western Colorado, the cattle and dogs would get quills in their noses, and they were really tough to yank out. The porcupines would kill pine trees too. I shot one 7 times (missed twice :eek:) with a 22 revolver once, and it dragged itself off into the trees. Felt bad about that.
 
Years ago, I ran across one that just didn't want to die. At the time, I was using an old single shot 22. The coon was up a tree and when it looked down at me, I shot it directly between the eyes. It immediately fell from the tree and I walked over to collect my prize. Well, to my suprise, the coon sat up and looked at me with a look of suprise and confusion. I shot him in the head again from about 3' and he fell over but he didn't stay down. He had lots of blood running down his face but he got right back up. This time I literally put the muzzle directly against his skull and fired a third shot. He fell over and rolled a few feet but got up, yet again and now he was seriously ticked off. At this point my stepbrother proceeded to hit him over the head repeatedly with a shovel. After about the 10th swing or so, the coon finally gave up and died. I have never seen anything like it.
 
Must be some bad shots. I killed one with my daisy powerline 1000 pellet gun with one shot and the racoon was in the very top of a tree. Right between the eyes with a crossman destroyer ex pellet and he was done. I fed him to my dogs.
 
Down in south Arkansas they used to have a Democratic Fund raiser were they served Barbqued Coon. It was, along with the Chidester Squirell Muligan dinner, a truly outstanding feed. I wish I had the recipet.
 
Equivalent of a Tasmanian Devil, to be sure.

I don't consider them on the same order of rats or other rodents, but they can be destructive. If their populations increase, then some thinning is definitely in order.

The story of the Blue Tick hound above resonates. Those smart coons can really tear up most dogs. Usually, hunters take at least three dogs but as luck would have it, they'll end up getting aholt of three coons all at once! Hunters really need to be aware and protect their dogs if a fight breaks out. It's good thing the dang dogs can't climb trees.... :)

It's really impossible to speculate about why they kill, seemingly indiscriminately. My own thoughts are that they kill chickens in order to get to the eggs but I dunno, really. They will eat meat but they generally prefer things like fish.

Hard critters to explain. Cool to watch until they start wrecking your place.

--Wag--
 
We ran over one with a Mercedes diesel once. Rolled under the drivetrain, not under the tires. In the mirror I watched it sit up, shake it off, and wander off the road.
 
Coons are good eating???
Particular way of cooking them? I'm willing to try almost anything once I suppose. I've certainly eaten things many would turn their nose up to.
 
Yup, coons are good eating, though my wife refuses to cook them. I trap a lot of them out here in the country since they are always in the wife's garden, and that's a capital offense - according to her. I trapped a big one last year, and the neighbor's big mutt dog was over here. The dog was on the outside of the trap raising heck and I guess he was saying how he'd kick the coon's tail if he wasn't in that trap. The coon was making some pretty aggressive statements of his own. I wasn't going to shoot that coon, but just let him out of the trap, so I ran the dog off toward the front gate. I turned to the trap to let the coon go, and I guess the dog sneaked back. The coon came out of the trap and the dog hit him like a missile and the battle was on. The dog was winning till the coon chomped down on the dogs bottom lip. After that the coon was in charge. The coon finally broke free and made the woods, and the dog just sat there bleeding from at least 5 places, but I swear to you that dog was smiling about what fun he just had. A couple of days later I had a dead coon in the yard and that dog wouldn't get within 15 feet of it. He just stood off a ways and observed.
 
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