Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Coon killing question

So, I have had a racoon killing my chickens. Set out a live trap last night and caught it. I was a big male, about 20 lbs and fully fulled the live trap. Here is my question. I had to shoot the thing 5 times to kill it. Is that normal? I have killed coons before with a .22 lr to the head but this one was different. I first shot it in the head with a win 22 hp and all it did was shake and clear its nose like it had a bad cold and then growl. I head shot it 2 more times from inches away and it reacted to all my hits like other coons have, rolling around twitching etc. Thought it was dead so I moved the trap to dispose of the body. Dang thing got back up and started scratching its ear with its hind foot. I switched to a different 22 load, veloictor load, and body shot it. It continued rolling around and I was able to shoot it under the chin to finish. Did not like how this went down but dang that coon was tough. Have others experienced this?

ya don't have that problem with a short to the lungs in a live trap.......

What angle was the shot? Were you facing the coon or was it a side shot. The brain on a raccoon is small and a little farther back and higher in the skull than one would think for. A shot from too high an angle will miss the brain and give the results you described. Imagine making an X between the corner of the eye and the tip of the ear on the opposite side. The intersection of that X is the proper place to shoot and it should be from a low angle. If your are standing above it shooting at a steep angle, shoot just a 1/2-3/4" behind the intersection of the X.

You wouldn't think head shooting a raccoon would be that difficult but it's surprising how small the brain is and how easy it is to miss.

Huntsman22 has the right idea with the lung shot. Very effective and generally a lot less blood than a head shot.

Mart

OK, maybe I was off on the placement but not much. After talking to a longtime coon hunter at work I guess I should, in Robert Rourk's words "use enough gun."

the day that a .22 short ain't 'enough gun' on a caged coon, is the day I'll give up all my firearms, and turn vegan......

here is an example of a .22 being 'enough gun'. Ya gotta know WHERE to do the deed, not just the ol' point-and-shoot-and-assume....

you gotta click it, and start it


[img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/huntsman22/th_MVI_3285_zpsc676d365.mp4[/img]

that, my friend, is a 1000 lb steer with a WHOLE lot thicker skull/hide than a measly 30 lb racctoon, and a whole lot farther away than a cage.....

on a caged coon, the short to the lungs leaves nothing on the table, as concerned to missing the intended spot, blood mess, or damage to the hide. Most times they don't even flinch when hit, and just lay down and go nighty-night......

Hey Don,,,, My fur buyer doesn't buy Coon and I don't catch many so I give the greasy bastids to a guy over in Kameai but I know that Moscow Fur and Hide will only buy Coon that have been shot ONE time in the head. No holes in the body.
Don't know if that's just him, or maybe a regional thing???? You ever hear of that?

ETA,,, I've done it both ways and agree with you that shooting em in the lungs is allot easier. (Especially in a tree with a 22mag:) Like Mart said, their brains ain't that big. Throw in the fact that I'm a poor shot with a handgun (even at trapped distances)and I'll stick with the lungs.

the fur buyers here don't ding ya for a single 22 hole in the body.

I sold Gary a lot of fur when I lived in the Northwest. He never docked me for more than one bullet hole in a coon's head. The fur on the head is of little value and a second, third or fourth hole won't affect the value of the hide. With that said, they do like to see well cared for fur and multiple bullet holes in the head means more blood on the fur. With a coon that's sold fur side in, it is a little more difficult to see how much blood is in the fur so they may grade a bit closer. Never was a problem for me because I always washed any fur that was even a little bloody.

When fur prices are low, and coon has been low for many years, a lot of buyers will use any excuse to grade lower.

Yea Mart,,, he's not known for "overpaying" so that probably has something to do with it.
I don't sell to him but he has a guy that does a great job cleaning skulls cheap so I take a few Cat skulls up there every now and again for gifts and/or trading fodder.

I sold mostly to Pacific Hide when Roger was still there. Took mostly coyote and cats to him at first and most of my beaver and coon went to Moscow when I first lived in the area. After a few years I had developed such a good working relationship with Pacific, I took everything there. I did hit a few fur auctions occasionally but Roger usually ended up buying my stuff at the auctions.

Never been a trapper except in a very small scale, and have killed a few large cow's and hogs with a 22LR to the head as well. That said, I will never forget slightly missing the brain on a large hog and having to get help to chase him down and tackle him in his pen. He was not going anywhere NEAR the food trough/shooting station!

FWIW, the two men I know who slaughter lots of beef here have gone to the 22WMR. I killed a few dead as a mackeral with a 22LR, but perhaps when having to kill 'em right NOW, every time, because you have several others to kill and dress on that day perhaps the magnum version works more reliably. No personal experience there.

I noticed that you tried a HP bullet, IME a plain solid 22LR is a better bet to reach a brain. No expansion is neccesary to do the job, bullet placement is.

I am with you in the experience and agree that it does not feel good to see an animal suffer and live on after we have shot it. Best of luck going forward.

Never used Pacific Hide. I sell to Don Judkins. He screws me on a regular basis but I like him.

Gary's a good guy as far as I can tell but I find it humorous that even though he writes the "Fur Market Report" for FF&G magazine every month, his prices are half of his predictions.
He hires good looking gals from the university though so I like stopping in there even if I don't sell him anything.

I used to coon hunt a lot wit dogs. Usually shot them in th azz with a 22 pistol so the dogs could get the kill.
I was always amazed how much lead a coon can take and still give a couple dogs a good fight..

Careful there, admitting that you hit something in the butt on purpose, let alone by an honest miss, can get the name calling cowards on here really rolling and following you around like a bunch of peeping Tom stalkers.

But, I understand completely what you are saying. For the short time I had a 1/2 dozen Walkers I would shake stuff out of a tree etc. for the same reason. Killed a couple of bears over hounds and always let the dogs maul on them until they were exhausted so as to keep the interest high for the hunts.

The dogs still showed high interest in exhaustively mauling them the next day, after JJ found the carcass for them?

Wow, hit ONE bear, out of many, a bit far back from forgetting to calculate/hold for his forward motion correctly on the shot.....

How many bears have you shot?

Any at long range?

Anyway, old story now much beat to death. I generally have a lot of respect for you and your knowledge, but it is pretty lame to still be bringing up that one old story.

When I had girl cousins going to college, my uncle bought each of them a new car with proceeds from his coon hunting. He killed and sold enough furs to buy EACH of them a new Chevy Nova (1973 and 1976 or thereabouts).

He never used anything more than a Nylon 66 with the cheapest .22LR he could find, usually a case a year's worth, of the brownbox Remington Mohawk promotional loads, or Winchester Wildcats, just the cheapazz old roundnosed bullets.

He wore out THREE Nylon 66s during his coonhuntin' days, and still has #4.

No traps, either, just some REALLY good coonhounds, and a LOT of coons. Missouri is still overrun with the damned things.

I have killed ~ 20 coons in the live trap with a single 22 CB short to the brain. It sounds like a BB gun.

They flop around for a minute.

Biggest I ever got was a 19 pound female.

----------------
When I had a chicken coop, I used to shoot coons with a shotgun.
Then I got wise and protected the hens with an electric fence.

Careful there, admitting that you hit something in the butt on purpose, let alone by an honest miss, can get the name calling cowards on here really rolling and following you around like a bunch of peeping Tom stalkers.

But, I understand completely what you are saying. For the short time I had a 1/2 dozen
Walkers I would shake stuff out of a tree etc. for the same reason. Killed a couple of bears over hounds and always let the dogs maul on them until they were exhausted so as to keep the interest high for the hunts. [/quote


An old timer told us how to get a coon to the dogs without shooting it..
Take off your jacket ,zip it closed and put your hand up the sleeve and roll it up your arm...
Grab the coon by the tail and pull him inside the jacket and you have a coon in a bag so to Speke. We tried it only thing is the guy didn't tell us the coon don't really want to go in the bag...it was an ugly ordeal compleat with stitches and bruises. Not me but my brother in law. We went back to shooting them..