I mostly see Raccoons at night, but lately, I've been seeing one during the early morning hours, 8:00 am- 9:00 am, roughly.

I always thought that when you see them during the day, that their probably Sick!

Yeah this one is wandering around in circles, as he's disoriented.

Gonna throw a .22 L.R. into him, and bury him, to keep disease down!

Good idea!!!

i have a cure at my place i shoot all raccoons, possum and all other critters to save on turkeys,grouse pheasants and waterfowl. may i add this i use a 22 K-Hornet i like them dead fast !

I shot what I'm 99% sure was a rabid skunk a few weeks ago. I was hauling hay to the cows and it was staggering across the field. It paid me no attention whatsoever, and I let it cross through a fence out of the cattle pasture, and killed it with the rifle I keep in the tractor cab. The skunk never attempted to spray, and it appeared to be really breathing funny. Generally speaking, when you see an animal like that out in the middle of the day, something is wrong.

If I see Raccoon, skunk or fox around the house during the day, they don't get a pass. 22 Hornet works well on them.

I agree guy's!

Took care of the potential problem, and buried it deep!

A few years ago, while I was working on something in the yard, a skunk was wobbling a short ways away. He’d walk a few steps, flop on his side, get up and flop on his other side. I guess that’s where drunk as a skunk came from. I terminated him once he’d gotten far enough into the woods.

Worth noting is that using HP 22LR ammo is way better than RN ammo when it comes to tenacious skunks.

I agree!

The HP .22 L. R. is one of my preferred choices.

down here it is distemper that has critters walking around like zombies . rabbid stuff has a lot of foaming at the mouth. if you have seen both you can tell the diff. . both are bad distemper will stay were a critter went and pass it to the next one that comes by .spray strait bleach on the place seams to kill it

Possibly Distemper.

Possibly Distemper.

Distemper is way more frequent than rabies. It kills alot of animals. Racoons are the most frequent flyiers around here. We back up our animal control Deputies on a lot of their calls for service as they are unarmed. An extra piar of hands is always needed. They also have been running in to problem people who are a bigger issue then the critters.

Back in March, at two separate time, I had raccoons in the yard that were disoriented and lethargic. First one was during the day and second was about 11:00 at night. I walked up on both and even when yelling at them they didn't seem to notice anything. Both got a bullet behind the ear.

I thought maybe distemper but the wife called our vet and she said probably rabies. Even though all our animals are vaccinated we're extra careful when we take the dog out.

We don't care, we kill all varmints day or night around here.

Distemper.

I didn't think of that, but it sure makes sense!

Thanks All!

HS58

Distemper has been making the rounds here, it ran through the neighbors' cats a couple months ago and seems to have gotten started on skunks and raccoons based on the number squashed on the road. I say this as animals suffering distemper often try to find a warm place to lay down. On the farm this resulted in many cats being crushed by the cows as the cats would lay in the hay under our milk cows when the cows stood up. When the cows would lay back down, the cats wouldn't move and get crushed.

With the wild animals, they seem to gravitate to the paved roads where they try to soak up the warmth only to get hit by a car. I've been seeing flattened wild critters on my road during the late morning and afternoon hours which weren't there when I went by earlier. The last nocturnal animal I saw during the daytime was yesterday. It was a raccoon in the swampy part of my neighbor's pasture. He was curled up in a ball in the middle of some flattened grass. I had to pull the spotting scope out to identify it as it was curled up so tight. I put it out of its "misery" with a 223 at 237 yards. It did take me two shots to dope the wind correctly but it didn't move for the first one. The second shot put it on its feet which gave me a better point of reference.

I know you guys will probably think I suck.....

but Raccoons are One animal that turns me into one of those PETA types....Lord knows I've gotten flak on the campfire over that... and one former forum member hated me for it... but he has passed on...

I've always liked Raccoons...won't shoot one...

but its sad when any animals get Rabies or Distemper...

had to put down a Beagle puppy once that had it, that someone dumped off at the Gas Station I worked at, that an Uncle owned..
Summer employment down in Georgia...I still feel bad to this day about that, when it crosses my mind...

Skunks or most other animals... would have no issue at all with it...

but Raccoons, I'd feel bad about it... but if they have either.. not much one can do about it, but put them down...

and yeah, a couple of times I have had a raccoon as a pet, finding them young with a dead mother....but let them go when they were 6 months to a year old..

they seemed to know how to survive just fine...

Yep, shoot em, a damn skunk came out from under the next to the last East cattle guard and charged Wife and me one evening walking to the mailbox, told Wife to plug her ears as i yanked Glock 21 off my belt, hit low directly in front of the charging skunk, enough rock, gravel, dirt and debris from the 200gr lehigh penetrator bullet impact killed it, he never sprayed, went on and got the mail, came back with tractor bucket and buried him on the railroad right of way LOL!

Gunner,
I would have done the Same thing!

Ain't a darn thing gonna get between me and my Woman! LOL!

Funny how that happens huh? brushed her around and to the left rear as i worked in front of her while drawing and telling her to stay on my back, just like we trained for Africa, if a rodeo happened with a buffalo or hippo i needed her stuck to my back like a monkey LOL!

Gunner...I dont know why it is but Ive been " charged" by skunks a number of times. Only once did it end well for the skunk. I rattled off 5 quick shots from a British .303 at it and my pard emptied all 14 of his .45 acps out of a Para-ord P-14. By then the still healthy skunk had arrived and I was laughing too hard to even stand up straight. He wasn't rabid and I didn't get bit, but you can guess the rest of the story....

LOL! holy damn that's funny, the poor beast had to stop to try and get a breath of clean air because of all the bullet strike dust ; ]

Good one Poobs.

I coulda handled the charge better with your SxS double .303!

Not saying this was the case for the OP, just a general statement:

Saw a post from a state conservation department (that I can't find where I saw it) yesterday saying this time of year you will see coons out more during the day as they're gathering more food for themselves/newborn babies.

Had a skunk walking down the road in broad daylight, walking in clockwise circles as he proceeded. The game warden that had been called said it was probably mange as it affects the brain. I didn't know that as I thought mange was just a skin/fur problem.

You bet, i remember you and whelennut wearing out texncal's 100 yard ar-500 hard plate with it, funny when two guys shoot your rifle better than you do, i never even fired the 303 double rifle that far, longest was a pig at that hunt, iirc it was 88 yards.