i killed a coon!!!!

[jamaldog87]

well i had my new crosman 766 and i saw a coon coming out of the woods( iam black by the way) at first i was not going to shoot but i say why not. i put one in the head at 15yards and i had hit the eye not were i was aiming so i fire a little higher and killed it with my crosman wadcuts. now who says you need a powerful gun to kill them. also can you get rabies from the blood? after i kill it i cut myself on the hand with a knife i had use to cut off the tail and the tail only.

[victorcharlie]

Good deal and good shot!  No it doesn't take a "big" gun to kill.......but a larger gun might kill a little more consistantly ( I'm white by the way, does it matter?).

Rabies is a blood born diease.....I'm no expert on rabies by any means but I would think that it would be possible to get rabies from fresh blood on an open wound.

Do you know if rabied animals have been found lately in your area?  Was it acting funny, or aggressive or was the coon just doing the normal stuff coons do?

A year of so ago the state of TN was throwing out some vacine in food coon, fox and skunks eat in order to reduce the likeyhood of rabies.  Never heard how successful they thought it was.

I think I heard of 5 rabid animals found this year in the next county over..........

You might call your doctor or local health department and ask what they think.....coon season doesn't open for several more months in TN...........so if the season isn't open they might ask a few questions that you don't want to answer........

either way, keep it boiled out with peroxide and anti bacterial ointment on it for a few days..........

Now.....go get yourself another one!

[kjeff50cal]

We have a saying here in Texas "if you see a racoon walking around in the daytime, that animal is sick....." Racoons are nocturnal (night feeders). Hie your self to the doctors office and bring the remains of the 'coon also (in a triple plastic bag and say away from the blood like it has AIDS). Better safe than sorry.

[victorcharlie]

We have a saying here in Texas "if you see a racoon walking around in the daytime, that animal is sick....." Racoons are nocturnal (night feeders). Hie your self to the doctors office and bring the remains of the 'coon also (in a triple plastic bag and say away from the blood like it has AIDS). Better safe than sorry.

Yep.....good advice....!!!

[Mikey]

jamaldog87 - go with what victorcharlie recommends and get yourself to a doctor for testing.  Those critters are nocturnal and the only time we see them during daylight is when they are ill - that's when I have shot all mine.  Once shot and dead I usae gloves and a garbage bag to dispose of them and then spray gasoline on the spot when they bled out to kill asny Rabies  left over.  The Rabies virus will live outside the body for up to 4 hours.  We had two Rabies epidemics in upstate NY in the past 20 years, about one every 10 years.  It eliminated nearly 80% of the Racoon population all the way from Washington, DC to Montreal, Canada.  It effected Whitetail, Skunk, Coyote and some smaller critters as well. 

If you did not save any part of the animal so it can be tested for Rabies then ya'll had best get yourself checked out my friend as Rabies has no racial preferences.  Mikey.

[jamaldog87]

well here in pinellas in FL we have not had rabies here for a long time and it's hard to tell if there sick or not(people feed them, there in the trash in the day time, i see all the coon in the day time never at night) and the head was shot to hell so there no test can be done. i will just see what happens. also without treatment the probability of getting rabies after exposure is less than 1% for a minor wound, but over 50% for a deep puncture wound near the head. i have a paper cut size wound  and this is from the FL fish&game.

[kyote]

good shootin,big ole coons some times take a second shot.even from a larger gun.as for your cut and his blood (the Racoon)..hope all goes well for you.But on the other hand Pinellas park Fl.should be pretty much rabbies free.my dad has lived there forever.and I do not recall any incidents of rabbies.Here in the S.west.you would probably be getting the rabbies series of shots.

[victorcharlie]

I lived in Miami for 5 years or so back in the late 70's early 80's.........Used to camp on on a jeddie next to a deep water canal on Key Largo......great fishing.......come to think of it, I had to fight to keep the coons out of my frozen shrimp that I kept in a minnow bucket......never seen so many......and they were out during the day.........always thought that Bubba and the boys would like to have that many coons in Tennessee to turn the hounds loose on.......

Anyway.......keep the hand doctored up and it'll heal a lot faster.........

Now go get another one!

[oso45-70]

Jamaladog87

I don't think you have any worries about rabies at least i hope not. If the animal was not frothing at the mouth chances are good you will be fine, but i would keep an eye on it just in case  ........Joe........

[jamaldog87]

will antibacterical spray disinfectant, spic and spain, lysol, or bleach kill  anything on the coon tail? i kept the coon tail as something to think about and i sprayed it with antibacterical spray disinfectant and put it in a clear bag for days to kill anything on it and will this work?  most of the time with other animals i just put it in the sun for days and that works fine but with coons you can't be too careful.

[oso45-70]

jamaldog87

I think you ought to hang it out to dry, Keeping it in a wet condition will cause the hair to sluff. Did you take the tail bone out of it, If not the thing is going to rot. The way i would do it is to either split the tail or at least expose the tail bone to where you can put a wire around it and tighten it to where it won't turn loose and then slide the tail off the bone. Its actually more trouble than it is worth but it can be done. Good luck.........Joe........

[ironglow]

As far as the tail is concerned, many taxidermists freeze small animals for a month or so before working on them, as a matter of course...so why not freeze the tail (in a plastic bag of course) for a while , before you do anything further with it ?

   As for the rabies..all body fluids, including blood and saliva carry the rabvies virus..that's why a bite can get you.
 
  You have to call the shots for yourself..but if there have been ANY cases anywhere near you for the last ten years..I might take VC's advice..

[DWTim]

I thought that rabies was transmitted in saliva and cerebro-spinal fluid. The old-timers always told me, "aim for the heart, not the head." Anyway, if you get checked for rabies, get checked again a few months on, and again after. It is a virus, so anti-biotics will not help. Around here (NE USA), we just burn 'em where they fall, if possible.

EDIT: What's a 766? Is that like the 2100/2200 rifle?

[victorcharlie]

I believe DWtim is right.   I spent the last few minutes reading on the internet about the disease......I didn't see anything about the virus being passed by blood.......again, I'm no expert and really any answer I'd give you would be pure speculation on my part.   From reading about the disease there is no mention that I can find of blood to blood contact spreading the diease......what is apparent is that once the symptoms show up it's almost always fatal.  Looking at a map of reported rabies cases, central fla looks pretty clean......

Your risk is probably pretty low.....but wouldn't you hate to be wrong?  Oh well, nobody lives forever right?  And Hey....you only die once........

[jamaldog87]

well i use salt and some kind of cooking stuff that i done know what it is, but it has not roted and it was outside in the rain and sun for 2 days and it been a week and it smells like sand and salt. i will just put in 1/2 water 1/2 bleach mix and that will kill everything on it.