Took a raccoon with XS-25

[MikethaSnipe]

Bought it from Mike and got the full tune on it. Three days ago we had a raccoon with distemper trying to get inside our house, completely ignoring my wife when she would bang on the glass door, and ignored my dog standing there barking at it.

10 minutes later it was in our garage sitting on the steps to go inside the house. I came home from work to take care of this problem, found him in my backyard up a tree making very poor attempts to climb. He eventually fell from about 25 feet up, you could tell he was very off, almost no coordination and really struggling to climb the tree. 

After he fell out of the tree he started walking straight towards me and I shot him between the eyes from probably 60-70 feet. Pretty sure it was a kill shot as he flopped to his back And was barely breathing but as quickly as possible I put two more in him to end any suffering. I don’t promote shooting animals unless for food or a situation like this, but I was glad that the gun got the job done.  Thought this might be helpful to anyone thinking about purchasing or owners that might have a situation like mine.  Please don’t shoot animals like raccoons unless you have to!

Edit: Used diablo pellets FYI

[Geoff]

sounds like you had very few options and took the one i would likely have.  i agree on the not killing just for the heck of it.

[Luis Leon]

You took no pleasure in what you had to do. As described that raccoon was suffering and would have likely died a lingering death. So you did the humane thing. In my backyard all critters get a pass. Unless they are damaging property or acting unnaturally. My wife is absolutely unnerved by raccoons, something about their hands.

[only1harry]

Mike, good of you to take out the sick raccoon.  I think most of us would have done the same thing.

However I just want to say that people often post raccoon kills here with pictures, and some also post videos.  If it is legal and within season they have every right to post it according to the Forum rules, no matter what their reason for doing it.  We do not question their reasons or morals or condemn them if they don't eat it.  We don't need the conflict, arguments, attacks and threads going south, and then locked or deleted, and people getting warnings or temporarily suspended for violating the rules and starting fights. 
I am just giving you an overview since you are new here and are pleading with the membership not to shoot raccoons, which is fine, but any discussion of "why you shot it" has implications (of someone's moral character for ex. or perceived as an accusation or attack) and always snowballs.  Nothing good comes from it.  You can have those conversations with the shooter privately via PM if you feel strongly about it, but remember that the rules apply to PM's too.

Having said that.. Good shooting on the raccoon moving towards you!  Moving targets are not easy to imobilize with the first shot.
 
Harry

[wolverine]

like said, you did what was necessary. 
20 or so years ago my neighbor came to me because a raccoon was "chasing" her as she mowed the lawn in her bikini, she was in the bikini, not the raccoon.  the raccoon ignored all my attempts to scar it off and that's when i realized what was going on with it.  i didn't have a high powered air rifle at the time, and i didn't want to shoot a .22rf in the yard so the local law came out and shot it.  they did contact my neighbor and told her did test positive for distemper and it was good that it was put down before biting some one or some one's pet.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Good work!  Its a little late in the year for distemper here but in the spring we'll see a few cases.  I'm a wildlife control  officer and I applaud your actions.  You saved that critter a lot of suffering.

[uglymike]

Part of being an ethical hunter means doing the right thing regardless of whether there is another to witness it. 

[ranchibi]

Mike, a very humane put down on a sick one for sure! I had a healthy coon checking out my bait station last night but I give coons a pass and only scare them off if they get destructive. Luckily, I haven’t happened upon a sick one.

[SwampHunter]

Good job on dispatching him before he could infect others.I hunt them, they make a fine BBQ!

[MikethaSnipe]

Mike, good of you to take out the sick raccoon.  I think most of us would have done the same thing.

However I just want to say that people often post raccoon kills here with pictures, and some also post videos.  If it is legal and within season they have every right to post it according to the Forum rules, no matter what their reason for doing it.  We do not question their reasons or morals or condemn them if they don't eat it.  We don't need the conflict, arguments, attacks and threads going south, and then locked or deleted, and people getting warnings or temporarily suspended for violating the rules and starting fights. 
I am just giving you an overview since you are new here and are pleading with the membership not to shoot raccoons, which is fine, but any discussion of "why you shot it" has implications (of someone's moral character for ex. or perceived as an accusation or attack) and always snowballs.  Nothing good comes from it.  You can have those conversations with the shooter privately via PM if you feel strongly about it, but remember that the rules apply to PM's too.

Having said that.. Good shooting on the raccoon moving towards you!  Moving targets are not easy to imobilize with the first shot.
 
Harry

Right on, I actually didn’t intend to lecture anyone.  I just didn’t want to encourage people to start popping raccoons based on my account.  My main point was that from my limited knowledge a .22 air rifle isn’t ideal for killing a raccoon but wanted to share with this particular rifle it was possible. 

Also, thanks for the kudos on the shot!

[MikethaSnipe]

Good work!  Its a little late in the year for distemper here but in the spring we'll see a few cases.  I'm a wildlife control  officer and I applaud your actions.  You saved that critter a lot of suffering.

Thanks Sam, we sent the video of it walking around, trying to get into the house etc. to my wife’s sister who is a Veterinarian, and she was pretty sure of distemper, which sounds like a pretty terrible and slow death from what she said.

[Martis 1]

A few years ago a neighbor related an incident that had happened the previous season in which a raccoon was coming into their yard, chasing their children, biting at their dog, and trying to get into their house.  She said it “must have had a cold, because it had mucus running out of it’s nose and it was snorting and stuff”.  I thought of rabies, but I spoke with our local game warden and he said most likely distemper. 

What frustrated me was that it showed up at her house because she was feeding the coons on her back deck routinely.  She also didn’t bother to call the local authorities at the time, which, in my opinion, placed her kids at risk.

Good job taking care of your sick critter!

[only1harry]

Mike, good of you to take out the sick raccoon.  I think most of us would have done the same thing.

However I just want to say that people often post raccoon kills here with pictures, and some also post videos.  If it is legal and within season they have every right to post it according to the Forum rules, no matter what their reason for doing it.  We do not question their reasons or morals or condemn them if they don't eat it.  We don't need the conflict, arguments, attacks and threads going south, and then locked or deleted, and people getting warnings or temporarily suspended for violating the rules and starting fights. 
I am just giving you an overview since you are new here and are pleading with the membership not to shoot raccoons, which is fine, but any discussion of "why you shot it" has implications (of someone's moral character for ex. or perceived as an accusation or attack) and always snowballs.  Nothing good comes from it.  You can have those conversations with the shooter privately via PM if you feel strongly about it, but remember that the rules apply to PM's too.

Having said that.. Good shooting on the raccoon moving towards you!  Moving targets are not easy to imobilize with the first shot.
 
Harry

Right on, I actually didn’t intend to lecture anyone.  I just didn’t want to encourage people to start popping raccoons based on my account.  My main point was that from my limited knowledge a .22 air rifle isn’t ideal for killing a raccoon but wanted to share with this particular rifle it was possible. 

Also, thanks for the kudos on the shot!

Undersood, no worries.  Yes, the XS25 would probably be the minimum I would use on a raccoon as I believe it typically gets 650-700fps at the muzzle with mid-weight .22 pellets... but it is really all about shot placement.  A shot to the brain does not require a lot of kinetic energy.  Before PCP's became popular the GTA had its share of raccoon kils with 14 FPE .177 springers.  You will be surprised how well a 7.9gr pellet can perform leaving the muzzle at 900fps and how far it can penetrate. 
I have taken several raccoons, possums and groundhogs with my 22.6fpe Diana 350 .22 springer, and about 20 bandits with more powerful .22 and .25 PCP's, all with a single shot to the head, but .22 works perfectly fine on raccoon and even bigger game such as fox and coyote, IF the power level and distance are reasonable, and you are confident you can hit the fuse box.  If I don't have a shot "between the eyes" or between eye and ear, or the distance is too great, I don't risk it with any raccoon or medium-sized game, and wait for a better opportunity.  Besides, I would hate to look for an angry 15-20lb wounded raccoon in the middle of the night, or have the neighbor's kid discover a dead one the next day.  It's all about shot placement and knowing when to take the shot and when not to.

Harry

[Blowpipe Sam]

It's hard to dispatch a sick or injured animal under conditions that are less than sporting.  I've had to do it more often than I like.  My personal ethic is that I don't kill it if I don't eat it.  Unfortunately my job sometimes requires me to.  Distemper is endemic in the raccoon population here.  Contact with distempered coons, their feces or urine can spread the disease to pets.  So if you see a coon acting sick, staggering, showing no fear of humans, do the ethical thing.  Do not handle the carcass.  Then call your local animal control.  They may want the carcass.