I'm being overrun by 10 or more raccoons each night

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Floydthedog

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Jul 10, 2023
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south lyon
I'm new to this forum and I am not an avid marksman. I live in a 300 house subdivision near Detroit Michigan. I have put out a trail cam and have spotted several different families of raccoons using my side and back yard as major highway causing deep trails in my yard. I have purchased a dog proof trap but i need something to dispatch the coon once he's caught. Is there an economical air gun that people would recommend that is easy to conceal and comes with a moderator to keep the sound down. Our state allows the killing of raccoons all year round.

Thank you in advance.
 
5 gal. bucket of water.Be careful some of the guys are armed"

DSCF3051 - Copy.JPG
 
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Knife, sword, hiking pole, ski pole, sharp sticks, arrow, Large pool of water, swimming pool, horse trough, creek ... Then there are GUNS be them air or powder. In detroit and guns not exactly PC ? Not many a concealable compact & quiet Air Gun choice with enough power to be humane about it.

JMO ... :unsure:
 
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I don’t think my tub is tall enough to drown a coon, plus wifey would skin me alive if I did that, lol.
What’s wrong with a shot to the head with an air rifle? Barrel thru the cage holes? This is an air rifle forum. The guys asking which type of gun to use. 25 cal at minimum, 30 cal at best. A hatsan 30 cal break barrel will do it without breaking the bank
 
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Bigragu said:
I don’t think my tub is tall enough to drown a coon, plus wifey would skin me alive if I did that, lol.
What’s wrong with a shot to the head with an air rifle? Barrel thru the cage holes? This is an air rifle forum. The guys asking which type of gun to use. 25 cal at minimum, 30 cal at best. A hatsan 30 cal break barrel will do it without breaking the bank
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Compact & concealable ... black eye on those attributes :mad:
 
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Would that giant killer gasser (sodium nitrate) work. Used to kill varmints in their den. Seems humane too. Put a large plastic tub over the trap and a weight. It keeps in the colored smoke. However did not kill the squirrels I live trapped. Just put them to sleep and several hours they were gone. Still cannot figure it out. Says it kills woodchucks and skunks but no mention of raccoons. Pretty cheap too. To its credit, it never claimed it could kill a squirrel just ground squirrels. Looked on Amazon and somebody said to use bear spray and spray a barrier. Of course you could relocate them say at least 5 miles away in a large wooded area. However in some states, it is illegal to transfer certain problematic wildlife. Maybe you can take the trap inside and use a good backstop and a subsonic 22 long rifle in a pistol or rifle if you do not have a large caliber PCP,
 
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I trap for fur in the winter. I use a mid powered springer in .177 for dispatch all the way up to coyote. I use crosman premier as they are a harder pellet for better penetration. One thing i will say is don't mess around trying to handle live coon if you are not used to it as you will get bit at some point. Then you may end up having to get rabies shots, no fun. Dispatch after dark with low light and with a springer you will not make much noise as the shot is point blank. Good luck
 
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If the proposed "dunking in a giant bucket/trash can" does not work, here is a solution that I've found pretty useful.

I built a big box, exactly the size of my live trap. You need to make the box "essentially airtight", with only one opening on one of the small faces of the box. Once the raccoon is in the trap, put the trap in the box. Stand it up length-wise so the small face is on the top. Flood the box with ether. You can buy this at an auto-parts store as "starter fluid". Its something that big trucks use in extreme cold weather, so likely you can find it in Detroit. It's everywhere in Canada. Once the ether has flooded the box, cover it up and come back in 2-3 minutes. Ether is heavier than regular air, so that's why you have the opening at the top. The ether sinks to the bottom and displaces the air out of the box.

The ether appears to be a fairly painless way to die. They lose consciousness then stop breathing.

This isn't the cheapest solution but its one of the more humane ones. It's also very quiet. I've tried the "stab them with spears" approach and that gets pretty grisly. Not for the faint of heart. It sounds like you don't want or can't go the airgun route? That can be pretty noisy.
 
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Bigragu said:
I don’t think my tub is tall enough to drown a coon, plus wifey would skin me alive if I did that, lol.
What’s wrong with a shot to the head with an air rifle? Barrel thru the cage holes? This is an air rifle forum. The guys asking which type of gun to use. 25 cal at minimum, 30 cal at best. A hatsan 30 cal break barrel will do it without breaking the bank
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Yes shot placement. 1st saw .25 & .30 and thought NO but thinking pcp TOO much. But that .30 break barrel nearly seems The utility for a wife approved (while she's in the Kitchen or such) human dispatch to me. In a tard likely at night to me still not an attention geter firing into a trap.

Trying to be a good airgun friend ( you'll learn as this will be the only airgun you will ever need & all - "friend" ) I did glance at your local laws, (and DO NOT take this as legal advice) barring HOA seems legal. Also seems if such a trail of them it is a commute to a Major food source. Had this in Sarasota Fla. , didnt know untill the neighbor who had been filling a hung trash can full of Alpo for years & went on vacation for the 1st time. Made the local news what with hundreds eating convertibles to eat an empty fry wrapper, trash can ... . (Code 1988, § 9.213)

So friend advice, perfect need to purchase a value (to any old timer) used Benjamin 5mm! Or even a 342 (slightly newer .22 pump riles. Personally in the 60's used a 5mm pump rifle to humanly (w/out a flinch) kill dozens of 40-500lb hogs in a shoot/pen. Light, quality, low cost then and with inflation and QC taken into account a Value. 8 pumps from 8" with shot placement, over.
Naturally you Will want to practice with it at 25 yards or??? just to be certain it is working all the time. Well worth $150+ for a nice one to keep the wife and neighborhood happy.

Keep us posted.
John
 
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Well, you either embrace the little buggers or, you eradicate them 🤔

You could sit out with a bourbon and some cut fruit to see what happens and, have a laugh with the little critters while they piss your neighbours off.

Or, you could put out a pile of food and snipe them.

The choice is yours 👍🏻
....... There's no right or wrong way 🙂
 
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