Yesterday I had time to play around with my new FX. It is a .22 600mm. I also just got a Straightmark 4k Mini. I zeroed it in to about 15 yards. (I need to go to a range to do more, but this initial zeroing is good enough for my purposes). My backyard is small, but there is thick jungle behind me for 200-300 yards. That is where the raccoons live. I've decided to invite them for dinner. Menu: Marshmallow and an open can of sardines for smell.
Backstory how I got into PCP:
About a year ago, I am leaning to my car's trunk sipping beer. Garage door was open. In the corner of my eye I see something moving. I look to my left, and a raccoon is making his way into the garage. No more than 5 feet from me. I hiss at it and it retreats. I figured he was gone for good. All is well. Sipping beer again... Not more than 10 seconds go by and he is coming into the garage again. This time I gave him chase. Probably a real bad idea because it could have had rabies. But I got lucky because it ran and was not back. The incident made me a bit upset and uneasy. We have two little ones at home and many kids in the community. I have seen coons in our community before many times but never this brave. I started to look into hunting options and this is how I ran into EDgun Leshiy's channel. I figured I can do this too and ended up buying a Leshiy 2 in .22. Then I got very busy at work. I forgot about all this, and the whole backyard hunting project got iced... until a few days ago.
Last weekend we had friends over and around 5 pm they reported a large raccoon eating my neighbor's plants while they were only a few feet away from it. My wife saw it as well the next day. Big raccoon. Clearly not afraid of humans. I had time, and I figured I will play with my new toy, the M3. Day before yesterday I sat out around 5-6 pm. Nothing was going on. I also did no baiting. Then in the middle of my boredom I hear noise left and behind of me and this big raccoon walks by me no farther than 2 feet. It scared the life out of me. I had no time to aim, he was gone within seconds. I later saw another one, same thing, not enough time to aim. They were gone fast. I am no Navy Seal. I had to give them a reason to sit still for a bit longer. I figured I was going to bait them. Sardines and marshmallow.
Yesterday I sat out around 5 pm when it started to be a bit cooler. I actually just sold the L2 that afternoon on eBay. I figured I would shoot it one last time. Maybe an hour went by and I was getting bored so I have started to read some article about raccoons on my phone. Next time I looked up, there was one right in front of me. He was eating a marshmallow. I never heard him. Amazing how quiet they are. When I looked at it, it ran. But those marshmallow from Target are yummy. So I waited. Not even a minute later he was back. He was looking at me, but slowly approached the treats and started to eat one. 10-12 yards from me. I aimed between the eyes. Zip. He fell forward. I got my first backyard coon. He did not do the death dance I saw on videos many times, but it was not moving either. I figured it had to be dead so I happily went back to my wife to report my kill. She wanted to see it so we walked up close. Only then I realized it had some shallow breathing still. Now I felt really bad. I though I had a clean kill. I put one more into the vital, but that made things worse, so I quickly put one into his skull point blank. Then the dance came. He was finally gone. First I did not understand what happened. He went down. The aim was good. Then I realized my mistake. Last I shot the L2 it was with Crosman Hollow Point 14.3 Gr. That is what was in the mags. I do not keep the mags in the gun, only on the clips. But I forgot to unload them from last time. I think the shot knocked it out or perhaps created significant brain damage, but no instant death. I still feel bad about this. I do not hate these creatures. I just don't want them to be this close.
I did not collect him right away (bad idea). I figured I would sit back a bit later and see if more comes. Sun was down and the L2 only had glass optics, so I have switched to the M3. Around 9 pm I walk back with a headlamp, and I've noticed eyes glowing in the jungle. I turned the lamp off, the night vision on, and sat down next to the gun. Another raccoon was slowly approaching. He was careful, moving slowly. His dead buddy was only a few feet away but that did not scared him away. I chambered a round and he heard the noise. Now he was looking straight at me. Perfect head position for the shot. The FX .22 18 grain hit straight between his eyes. This was a clean shot. I got the dance immediately. I have the whole thing on video. But it is 1 gig at 4k so it is too big to upload. Here is the image just a moment before trigger pull. That was two for the night.
I have a question as well. For those doing backyard raccoon hunting with the FX Impact M3 in .22. What grain of pellets are you using? What power settings? I keep hearing about energy transfer being better at lower speeds and higher weight. What is your experience? I have this thick jungle behind me, but lower power and less noise would not be bad regardless. I feel for my distance (max 25 yards), the factory setting for 18.1g may be an overkill.
Backstory how I got into PCP:
About a year ago, I am leaning to my car's trunk sipping beer. Garage door was open. In the corner of my eye I see something moving. I look to my left, and a raccoon is making his way into the garage. No more than 5 feet from me. I hiss at it and it retreats. I figured he was gone for good. All is well. Sipping beer again... Not more than 10 seconds go by and he is coming into the garage again. This time I gave him chase. Probably a real bad idea because it could have had rabies. But I got lucky because it ran and was not back. The incident made me a bit upset and uneasy. We have two little ones at home and many kids in the community. I have seen coons in our community before many times but never this brave. I started to look into hunting options and this is how I ran into EDgun Leshiy's channel. I figured I can do this too and ended up buying a Leshiy 2 in .22. Then I got very busy at work. I forgot about all this, and the whole backyard hunting project got iced... until a few days ago.
Last weekend we had friends over and around 5 pm they reported a large raccoon eating my neighbor's plants while they were only a few feet away from it. My wife saw it as well the next day. Big raccoon. Clearly not afraid of humans. I had time, and I figured I will play with my new toy, the M3. Day before yesterday I sat out around 5-6 pm. Nothing was going on. I also did no baiting. Then in the middle of my boredom I hear noise left and behind of me and this big raccoon walks by me no farther than 2 feet. It scared the life out of me. I had no time to aim, he was gone within seconds. I later saw another one, same thing, not enough time to aim. They were gone fast. I am no Navy Seal. I had to give them a reason to sit still for a bit longer. I figured I was going to bait them. Sardines and marshmallow.
Yesterday I sat out around 5 pm when it started to be a bit cooler. I actually just sold the L2 that afternoon on eBay. I figured I would shoot it one last time. Maybe an hour went by and I was getting bored so I have started to read some article about raccoons on my phone. Next time I looked up, there was one right in front of me. He was eating a marshmallow. I never heard him. Amazing how quiet they are. When I looked at it, it ran. But those marshmallow from Target are yummy. So I waited. Not even a minute later he was back. He was looking at me, but slowly approached the treats and started to eat one. 10-12 yards from me. I aimed between the eyes. Zip. He fell forward. I got my first backyard coon. He did not do the death dance I saw on videos many times, but it was not moving either. I figured it had to be dead so I happily went back to my wife to report my kill. She wanted to see it so we walked up close. Only then I realized it had some shallow breathing still. Now I felt really bad. I though I had a clean kill. I put one more into the vital, but that made things worse, so I quickly put one into his skull point blank. Then the dance came. He was finally gone. First I did not understand what happened. He went down. The aim was good. Then I realized my mistake. Last I shot the L2 it was with Crosman Hollow Point 14.3 Gr. That is what was in the mags. I do not keep the mags in the gun, only on the clips. But I forgot to unload them from last time. I think the shot knocked it out or perhaps created significant brain damage, but no instant death. I still feel bad about this. I do not hate these creatures. I just don't want them to be this close.
I did not collect him right away (bad idea). I figured I would sit back a bit later and see if more comes. Sun was down and the L2 only had glass optics, so I have switched to the M3. Around 9 pm I walk back with a headlamp, and I've noticed eyes glowing in the jungle. I turned the lamp off, the night vision on, and sat down next to the gun. Another raccoon was slowly approaching. He was careful, moving slowly. His dead buddy was only a few feet away but that did not scared him away. I chambered a round and he heard the noise. Now he was looking straight at me. Perfect head position for the shot. The FX .22 18 grain hit straight between his eyes. This was a clean shot. I got the dance immediately. I have the whole thing on video. But it is 1 gig at 4k so it is too big to upload. Here is the image just a moment before trigger pull. That was two for the night.
I have a question as well. For those doing backyard raccoon hunting with the FX Impact M3 in .22. What grain of pellets are you using? What power settings? I keep hearing about energy transfer being better at lower speeds and higher weight. What is your experience? I have this thick jungle behind me, but lower power and less noise would not be bad regardless. I feel for my distance (max 25 yards), the factory setting for 18.1g may be an overkill.
