Raccoon Problems

[Spammy_H]

Here's my situation:

I've got a couple of raccoons that come on my front porch pretty much nightly and eat my cat's food, run my cat off, make a mess of my porch, and are a general nuisance.

My front porch is concrete, with white pillars holding up the roof, and the facade of the house is light red brick, and there's a window right in front of the cat bowl. There is about 5-6 feet between the front of the house and the pillars. Typically the cat hangs out with its back arched, making mean sounds trying to scare off the varmints, and is often times somewhat in the line of my shot.

The range is about 15-20 yards.

My available tools are as follows:

Ruger 10/22 - open sights
Mossberg 500 with intermediate choke - bead sight
Marlin 336 in .30-30 Win - Williams peep sight
Browning Buckmark - open sights
Springfield XD 45 Compact - factory 3-dot, non-luminescent sights
Incandescent Maglite

Ammo on hand is as follows:
.22lr - Federal bulk pack
12 ga. - No. 4 bird shot
.30-30 Win. - 150 gr. Remington jacketed soft point
.45 ACP - 230 gr. LRN reloads, 230 gr. Federal Hydra-Shoks

My criteria for a successful outcome are as follows:

-Don't kill/injure my cat
-Preferably kill the raccoon(s)
-Don't splatter blood all over the concrete, brick, window or pillars (obviously a blood trail of some sort may be inevitable)
-My son prefers to harvest the hides for skinning
-Harvesting the hides are not my greatest concern

I'm wondering the following:

-Would the Marlin 336 explode the raccoon, creating a nasty cleanup?
-Does the 10/22 have enough energy to do anything other than scare off the raccoon?
-I don't think the XD45 is an option due to accuracy at that range at night. But assuming I could get a clean shot off with it, what would it do?
-What is your recommended solution with the tools on hand?
-If I could justify buying a new tool (which I'd love to do, but probably can't) what would be the ideal tool for the situation?

I figured that this was the best place to get some useful feedback, and have a little fun in the process .

Thanks for your help.

 

[Art Eatman]

Put a sandbox inside, put the food bowl in the kitchen, and keep the cat in the house. That way there's no attractant and the coons will quit coming. At the very least, bring the food bowl inside during the night. End of problem. It's not exactly like hauling a 100-pound barbell.

But if ya just gotta play Harry the Hero, figure that at night and a moving target, a shotgun is your best bet. Sorta silly to set yourself up to where you think you need to do that, however.

 

[dropthehammer]

Your joking right? Shooting racoons on a concrete porch sounds like a safety issue to me. Stick with a baseball bat till you learn more about firearms and gun safety.

 

[Daryl]

Set a Havahart trap on the porch, and put the cat food inside of it.

And take the cat in the house.

Next morning, shoot the 'coon between the eyes with a CCI CB short from yor choice of .22 LR, and drop the 'coon in a trash bag for disposal.

But as long as the food's on the porch, there will always be another 'coon to eat it. Move it inside, and you won't have to worry about it.

Oh, and secure any "pet" doors to keep them out of your house.

Daryl

 

[TX Hunter]

Wish I could help you out, I have some highly trained, well tuned Treeing Walker Coonhounds.

 

[Scorch]

I say just grab the Louisville Slugger when they show up, step outside and grab one by the scruff of the neck and whack it! Oh, wait, let me set up the video cam first, gotta post this one on YouTube!

I agree with Art. If it is becoming an attractant, move the cat food inside.

 

[Spammy_H]

Unfortunately, animal hair allergies prevent the cat from being indoors. Looks like the .22 is the ticket.

 

[TCman]

A 22 to the head will drop a coon in its tracks. A 22 to the vitals will stip it, but not DRT.

 

[orangello]

Having killed a 'coon with an aluminum bat, inside my last house, i don't really recommend it. I was not injured & it wasn't horribly messy, but my cats haven't looked at me the same since then (they watched). I recommend the 10-22 with some hollow point ammo. I also recommend that you take a look at what you could hit if you miss the 'coon, while it is still daylight; the box trap might be a wiser path, with a .22 follow-up.

Of course, you will only be killing one 'coon this way; a two-fer would have loooong odds. Have you considered elevating the food on something that a cat can jump up to but that would be difficult for a 'coon to climb? One of those decorative ceramic columns might be just the ticket, slicky sides with a nice flat top. I have used them to hold stereo speakers before; they blend well & might look good with the porch columns. They were also very inexpensive (garden ridge, i bleve).


The only albino-looking raccoon i've ever seen was drawn to a friend's cat's food on their front porch, in mid-town Memphis, TN; it did still have faint rings on its tail.

 

[crghss]

Trap them in box trap and use 22lr birdshot to dispatch them.

Most of those bullets will probably ricochet and do damage to concrete plus bloody mess.

Art's idea is best. Where there is one there is more. And they'll keep come 'em

 

[Old Grump]

Sorry but I didn't see any magic bullets in that list that will miss your cat, kill the raccoon and not leave blood on the concrete. Did see a lot of them that will ricochet nicely off concrete and go places you probably don't want them to.

Clean up the mess, bring the food inside and the raccoon will have no reason to be messing up your porch. The only alternative is to teach the cat to duck and buy rubber bullets that will disintegrate on concrete but will penetrate the coon and seal the hole behind it. I'm not sure where a bullet like that can be found so go with the clean up, it will be cheaper.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I am with Art on this one. Take away the food and the problem will go away.

 

[Tuzo]

Seems that the intent is not to bring the cat's food dish into the house at night, but to kill racoons. Killed quite a few using .22 LR hollow points with very little blood left over. Most had no exit wounds. Hydrogen peroxide will remove blood but will not patch bullets holes in pillars and concrete floors.

 

[cornbush]

Go with the box trap, no holes in the hide if you submerge the trap till the bubbles stop.
If you catch the cat just release and re-bait.

 

[Slamfire]

I've got a couple of raccoons that come on my front porch pretty much nightly and eat my cat's food, run my cat off, make a mess of my porch, and are a general nuisance.

Take the food away.

What Coon does not want nutritious , high calorie, free food? Can you blame them?

(Just leave a warm piazza in the break room and see how long it lasts with the two legged scavengers at your place of work. Or Girl Scout cookies)

Take the food away before the Coons decide to rip a hole in your roof and nest in your attic.

A Raccoon ripped off ten feet of my roof before I chased it away.

 

[orangello]

Take the food away before the Coons decide to rip a hole in your roof and nest in your attic.

The 'coon i killed with the bat came out of the attic through the inside, drop-down door. Six cats were in the house & not one had the guts to take it out, smart cats.

 

[ohio bowhunter]

Two words...Golden Malrin . If you want details , shoot me a PM . Will solve your coon problems once and for all .

 

[L_Killkenny]

Shoot the cats.......no more need for food.......no more coon. Problem solved.

Not an option? Get your self a good dog and turn it loose on em. I recommend a good Moutain Cur but my Jagdterrier is tough on coons too. And harder on cats, double bonus.

Still not an option? Go ahead and shoot em, maybe move the food off the porch so you aren't so close. Critter's aren't welcome that close to the house and they're liable to find another reason to hang out (like living in your attic).

10/22 to the body will allow the coon to run off a short distance more times than not so as not to leave a lot of blood close to the house. 10/22 to the head is messy, so is a bat.

Shot gun at that range will work good and coon don't bleed much from birdshot at the ranges you are talking about. Must be the small holes. #4 shot is the smallest you'll want to use.

Your other gun options are over kill and will leave a mess.

LK

 

[ronto]

No Food = No Raccoons

Feed the cat inside the house...and make sure you keep the door closed...they're not affraid to invite themselves in...killing them may work for a while but their cousins or some other critter will show up sooner or later if you keep putting food outside.

 

[Composer_1777]

I can't believe you wanna kill raccoons man, They are cool, so what if they make a mess lol. poor raccoons. Me and Raccoons are homies.