Your experiences handgunning for racoons?

[Questor]

I'd like to know your experiences with racoons.

They seem to be tough critters. I have only had occasion to shoot two of them. Both were killed during the day when I believed they were sick and possibly rabid.

The first one was apparently sick and looking bad at the water's edge and I shot it with about four hits to the heart/lung vitals using a .22LR rifle and high velocity hollow points of good quality.  I was amazed that it took that many shots to put it down.  The animal turned out to have been trapped (why, I don't know because it was warm and the animals did not have their winter coats yet.)

The second one was a couple of days ago while I was practicing my target shooting with a 45ACP and 200 grain SWCs at 800fps.  Four similarly good shots were needed to knock stop the animal. After the first two shots, it climbed a tree. The two subsequent shots were needed to knock it out of the tree.  It then took another minute or two to die.

Key to both experiences is that the initial shots were well placed, as were the subsequent shots.

These were small animals, under 10 pounds.

Is this typical?

[TScottO]

Once it took me 15 shots with a 22lr hp to kill a 30# bore coon and had to finish him off with a stick when he hit the ground. Most any coon I've seen killed with body shots it's taken several of them. However most of the coons I've killed has been at night while coon hunting. Those big glowing eyes make good targets. If they are still alive when they hit the ground the dog will finsih him. Tuff critters indeed.

Be Safe,
Scott

[Glanceblamm]

These are tough animals for sure. Usually a .22lr is ok though.
When you put that .22 in a handgun you lose a bunch of velocity. Dont remember the exact numbers, but it's a ballistics thing.

The .22WMR does much better at retaining velocity when put in a handgun.

[myronman3]

once i shot a coon that was in a hell of a fight with my cocker spaniel.  man they were going at it.  i stepped in and gave the coon a boot, it hit the ground and rolled over onto its feet.  before it had a chance to do anyting, i popped it with a 357 through the shoulders.  he rolled over and died.  now you want tough?  try to kill a porpcupine once.  i used an entire cylider of 45 colt on one and it took all of those bullets to stop him.  good thing they are small and dont eat myron's.  

[WD45]

YUP... Tough little critters. Most of the coons I have killed have been hunting at night when its cold and they have a good amound of fat on them. Shoot them with CB caps and all they do is poke through the skin and lay in the fat but boy does it make that coon mad :eek: Thats why most coon hunters are kind of pseudo vetrinarians from patching up dogs.
A 22lr kills them but not quick. Usually you hit them a couple of times and wait till they come out of the tree either half dead and the dog gets them or right away mad as fire sometimes jumping right on top of the dog or dogs :shock:

[Mikey]

I make it a preference to take any coon I seen on or near my property.  A few years back we had a rabies epidemic ranging up the east coast from Washington D.C., to Montreal.  Most of the critters affected were the racoons, although we had some whitetail and a few others infected.  All in all I believe I have taken probalby two dozen racoons in the past 10 years.  

On most occasions I would use a 22lr from either a AR-7 or a 10/22, but a few times I used a 22lr pistol, or a 45 auto, depending on what I had when I encountered them.  I knew from experience they were tough critters and also knew that I didn't want a lot of rabies infected blood laying around after they were shot, so I would shoot for the head.  That would only take one shot, most of the time, with standard velocity 22lrs and solid nosed slugs.  With the 45 I would go for a head shot and there was no contest at all, they were dead before they fell from the tree.  I saw the same effect with head shots from the 22 pistol or either of the 22 rifles if I aimed for, and hit the head.  In one situation I helped a neighbor clean a racoon colony out of a barn he was rehabing, and most of the kills were 1 shot with a 22 lr to the brainpan.

One fellow I knew was a crooked rehaber - he wa supposed to take the animals to another distant location and reloacte them but we found he was simply trapping them and killing them for their pelts.  When I encountered him he was dispatching caged animals with s 22 shot to the head and fortunately he was good enough to make it a quick one shot kill, although just about as unethical as I have seen.

I also know from experience that racoons carry a virus on their teeth that will permanently diasable and blind a dog if the dog is bitten, so I try and keep my dogs away from them.  Although my guys are vaccinated against rabies I still don't want to chance a torn face/muzzle or a permanent injury to my pets.  

Racoons, like any wild animal, don't go down hollywood style, they will try and run or fight if they have to.  In thinking about dealing with just racoons, I feel the 22 magnum is a better choice than the 22lr, a 38 wadcutter would be very effective, any big bore with a slow moving flat nosed slug, or now possibly one of the 17 calibers, the new necked down 22 mags or 22lr.  HTH.  Mikey.

[bigbore442001]

When I was younger, many evenings were spent chasing the little masked bandit with a friends dog. I used the 22 lr almost exclusively because when hunting in Connecticut, that was the only thing you were allowed to use at night.

I found that no matter what, you needed to hit the coon in a vital area. I did find that some of the higher velocity rounds were a tad better but didn't really make up for sloppy shooting.

[tundragriz]

I take them in traps and with a hound at night.  Basically the only gun I use is a S&W 63, 4 in. stainless revolver.  The only bullet and shot I use is a short hollowpoint to the brain.  Can't recall when it didn't result in an instant kill although it results in massive bleeding through the nose.   In a trap you need to grab it quickly by the back legs if you don't want the fur soaked.

Makes it interesting when the coon gets stuck in a crotch of a tree and you have to climb up through the droplets.

[Redhawk1]

Many years ago, we use to go coon hunting at night. I used a Ruger Mark1 with 22 hollow point bullets. We took a lot of coons, it was fun shooting them way up in the trees. One time I had shot one and it fell out of the tree, but when it hit the ground, he was not in a good mood. He chased after all of us, but we were able to put the finishing shot in him.  

[BCB]

My goodness, some of you fellows have encountered much tougher Procyon lotor in your hunting ventures than I ever have!  Some of those kills are almost on the verge of being inhumane…

During the 1st years of the 1960’s, my cousin and I were a dozen years old and would walk the edges of his dad’s cornfields on a weekend night and shoot a good many ‘coons.  We had access to an old coal miners hardhat and we also had the carbide miner’s lamp that hooked to it.  The carbide we would conveniently “barrow” from the miner’s shack at a local drift mine.  Actually the owner knew we were getting it, but he also knew what we were doing with it so he left us go.  Anyhow we would walk the edges of the cornfield, with a beagle (dual use for rabbits in the later fall also), and a big ol’ ringtail would go up a tree or into the grapevines.  We could spot him with the carbide lamp and then we would use a flashlight to get a good look into his eyes--that was the target we shoot at.  We had an old Winchester single shot 22 that my uncle had somehow rigged a cheap ‘scope on it using plastic pipe clamps!  Yep, we were able to get it sighted in at around 30 feet but that was all the distance we needed.  We used Peters Victor ammo, long rifle and long rifle hollow points (when we had the extra dime).  We got them from a local small store for $.65 per box or $.75 per box of hollow points.  Regardless, it mostly only took one shot to bring the masked bandit to the ground.  I can honestly only remember ever having to shoot a few the second shot.  We would skin the critters and sell the hides for a fair amount of money back then.

Well, those days went past and my cousin and I went our separate ways in life.  During the early 70’s after I got out of the Army, my uncle was really into the coon hounds and he would ask me to go along from time to time.  He used a 22 Hornet in the octagon barreled Contender loaded with a 45 grain bullet at velocity of not much over that of the 22 long rifle.  We used the same procedure as my cousin and I did years before.  Better lights and better dogs was the only difference.  Mostly one shot from the Hornet was all it took.

Yes, those raccoons are tough, but well placed shots are amazingly efficient…BCB

[Redhawk1]

My goodness, some of you fellows have encountered much tougher Procyon lotor in your hunting ventures than I ever have!  Some of those kills are almost on the verge of being inhumane…
BCB

I guess your intitled to your opinion.  :roll:

[cattleskinner]

My experiences are like alot of the others....shot placement is everything!!!  I've killed about 3 of them with my Taurus 94 revolver recently, in the same amount of weeks.  Chest shots don't usually result in a quick death, but head shots do.  Just like was said in a previous post, 22's out of a handgun don't act anything like that out of a rifle...it loses alot of velocity.  For me, if I keep the ranges short(which is more of what a handgun is for anyways), then they work great, if you try to shoot more than about 20-30yds., then it's more of a crap shoot on whether or not it will put the coon down quickly.  I use cci velocitor bullets on coons and groundhogs to make up for the loss of velocity.  Hope this helps.

~~~Cattleskinner

[Glanceblamm]

Have been some great stories that bring back good memories.
Redhawk
Had yours happen once. The coon got around the dogs and ran up my cousins leg! He was screaming like a banshee and beating at it with a stick that he picked up awfully quick.
Have had to bust the briars and get into the river to save the dogs on a few occasions.
Have been followed by a bobcat. Dont know what the deal was but it stayed close enough for us to hear but remained out of sight. We finally saw it in between the picked/unpicked corn.

Went several times in my early days with a gent with a .22 rifle. This was single shot was a production gun but the stock was just metal tubing.
To load it the barrel would pivit away from the tiny action which housed the firing pin and manually operated hammer. Whole thing probably didnt weigh much more than a pound.
Does Anyone Remember This Make & Model? I wouldnt be suprised if there still were some in use for the coon hunting. Would probably last forever.

[Mohawk]

The .38 Special +P 158-Lead Hollow Point tears the snot out of them. About a 2-3in exit hole. Bad load for pelts, though. Tears up cottontails pretty good, too.

[palgeno]

S&W model 66 ---- 148gr wadcutter over 2.9 gr Bullseye in .38 spl brass--works pretty well----but they are tough----as stated above,head shots are best----I love the .22lr, but I don't trust it to be enough gun( at least in my hands)  for a quick kill unless you are nearly point blank range.   pg

[Doc T]

I killed two last year while I was deer hunting.  I shot both of them with a Cor-Bon 125gr HP in 300Whisper.  Both were dead instantly.  If you like to squirrel hunt,  kill every coon you see.  In the spring one of their favorite foods is a baby squirrel out of the nest.