Wounding the any Animal can just lead to a miserable slow death from Infection from them not being able to eat or drink from the illness caused by Wound/s.
So I don't think a Pellet Gun is going to give a clean Kill
.22 Yes.

I think Animal Control will lend you the Traps if you leave deposit. Once caught Animal Control is called and they Pic it up.

People get Traps from the SPCA in a similar manner and catch Feral Animals and get them fixed and realese them.

If a Crossbow was used the Bolt needs to have a Hunting type Arrow Head on it. Arrows Kill by Bleeding or hitting a Vital Organ. A hit with an Arrow may not kill right away.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

But, do you also have a Cat or Dog small enough to fit into the Coons Food Chain.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

This is crazy.

1. Kill the raccoons
2. Trap the raccoons and move them
3. Pay someone to either of the above.
4. Do nothing

Long Beach is a City by the Ocean wich has not had any wild areas for like maybe 100 year and is entirly surrounded by City after City.


The Tree Squirrels may have been here since the Past but the Coyotes and Coons and ??? Could be migrating down the Flood Control/San Gabriel River Channel that goes all the into the San Gabriel Mountains.

Of course we have Opossum. I was surprised to find that they being Marsupials they don't carry the Rabies Virus and also that the eat Snakes.

Or Male Cat got bit in the Neck By something that looked different than the typical Cat bite. The healing of his Neck proceeded OK He got sick from something and eventually died. I have always wondered If He was bit by a Raccoon.
The appearins was that He had a stroke as I found Him with the Rear Legs paralyzed in the Moring and He died a few hours Later.
Died oddly. Threw up and peed at the same time became totally paralyzed (Eyes did not close) but His Heart continued to beat for about 5 minutes afterwards (I have a Stethoscope; not a Machanics Stethoscope).

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Thankfully it's too cold and remote here for racoons, however there are wolverines and bears, which are generally smart enough to stay away from humans. The biggest problem is bushy tailed tree rats. They can be as destructive as racoons. I've seen them chew through siding to nest in the fibreglas insulation, or chew into attics to nest. I use a Crossman Model 781 pump-up air musket that moves a pellet or b-b faster than 450fps depending on how many pumps. The .177 pellets are in a 5rnd clip and the b-bs are fed from a magazine. One-shot head-kills are effective. Tree-rats also harass birds which won't nest in their territory. Over the years I've created a 'black-hole' for tree-rats, and now the area is populated with birds and there are significantly fewer bugs, especially mosquitoes.

In the early spring bears sometimes wander near the house. The airgun is a good bear deterrent. A shot in the rump feels like a bee sting to them and they run away and won't come back. It's especially effective if you can shoot from cover and they only feel the sting without seeing you.

I agree that a crossbow is the most effective tool for killing raccoons [deer too] in an area where discharging a firearm would draw unwanted attention. For raccoon size animals I'd use a blunt tip on the bolt, one about the size of a 12ga shotgun slug. A pointed tip or a hunting broadhead will zip right through, and unless it cuts a vital organ it's a slow death. The blunt tip dumps the high kinetic energy of the bolt into the body and kills almost instantly by hydrostatic shock that stops the heart. That avoids having a bleeding animal lying in someone's yard attracting unwanted attention.

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“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Illegal to disturb a fur bearer in it's den here. Will not comment if I have ever tried.

Looks like you just did

We had squirrels start eating our back porch. That was the line in the sand for them.

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85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.

5. Do none of the above but complain about all of them.

The Male Cat that got bit was about 1.5 years old.
The bite and death could be a coincidence. But, the 3 Sisters of the Male Cat that drank from the Same Water and also ate from the same Food Bowel did not get sick.

Another thing I though of is that He ate something that was poisonous.
Whatever it was he disappeared for 4 days cam back and would not eat or drink.

Took to the Vet and they Re-hydrated Him with Injections under the Skin a day later He seemed to have improved and ate and drank some.
I also started feeding Him with a Syringe by Mouth some stuff called Nutrical to supplement the little food he was eating. I also used the Syringe by mouth to give more water.
He got better and then got worse.

Unforunatly in the last 3/4 of a Year that Male Cat got sick and died, one of His Sisters got run over and Died and lastly my original Cat of over 11 Years got an operable Cancer and died.

So I have 2 Sisters left and a few weeks a go I see the Raccoons Big Head peacking inside if My Back Door.
So far the Racoon has done nothing more then wash stuff in the Cats Water Bowel.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I agree with you 100%, your cat was likely sickened by the bite. Sorry to read about it.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

I have a wlld idea to take them with a crossbow, semi urban settings, and feed the meat to dogs. It would be a lot of work to dress the carcass I'm guessing. Not sure if the skin is worth anything.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I am sure coon hides sell for something, that is why they are hunted, but not sure the dogs would eat that meat.

My dogs eat all raw, mostly slaughter offal. They won't touch raccoon.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Coon has powerful scent glands that have to be controlled when cleaning them or it taints (taint, good word) the meat. The nervous system parts should be controlled also because of rabies. The threat of rabies may be overblown, I hear it both ways. Coon also has a very tough hide and is not the best choice to learn for a beginning skinner.

I saw a bear this morning. I didn't know we had bear that big around here. Holy she it. You think you got problems under your porch? Whoa.