Raccoon Diapatch Problems

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I tried dispatching a few Raccoons with my .177 Gamo.

Let's just say..... it's not pretty. Point blank range, head shots, double lung shots. Took 8 pellets to kill 1

The other... took 3-4 pellets. and yes, I know double lung shots are the way to go. I hunt deer regularly.

Raccoons just don't die gracefully. So .177 is not the way to go.

What is ???
 
".177 for feathers, .22 for fur."

I would use no less than 25 fpe on a raccoon. My choice is the .25 caliber for a humane kill on a raccoon. 

Of course distance is to be considered.

Used my FX Impact .25 caliber on this 'un:

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.177 is very much the wrong caliber for raccoons. Not even close. Why would you kill a second after such difficulty on the first? Airgun hunting is equivalent to hunting with a recurve and no broadhead. NOT a f&#ing centerfire rifle. You shouldn't be trying to take a raccoon with less than a .25 with at least 40fpe. And you need to be able to hit a penny every time, not most of the time, every time at the distance you plan on hunting at and how you intend to be hunting, off sticks or offhand.
 
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.177 is very much the wrong caliber for raccoons. Not even close. Why would you kill a second after such difficulty on the first? Airgun hunting is equivalent to hunting with a recurve and no broadhead. NOT a f&#ing centerfire rifle. You shouldn't be trying to take a raccoon with less than a .25 with at least 40fpe. And you need to be able to hit a penny every time, not most of the time, every time at the distance you plan on hunting at and how you intend to be hunting, off sticks or offhand.
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I would have to agree. If the 1st attempt went so poorly,why try the same thing twice?
 
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OH MY... If you can shoot a 22LR where you are shooting your Racoons then that would do the trick since you mention you go deer hunting.

I figure everyone has a Ruger 10/22 at least and you don't need to spend money on another airgun. That deer hunting rifle would DEFINITELY do the trick though...

If you want to spend the money then you would need something more powerful based on your experience and remorse (I assume) then you should go with something as powerful as possible in your case a 25 caliber Benjamin Marauder and a hand pump if you are fit enough to pump it.

Raccoons are pretty tough critters as you already noticed.

Someone into high powered spring rifles who sucessfully dispatched racoons with theirs may be able to chime in because I can't think of any

short of spending $300 which would be a 22 caliber RWS 350 but I don't know for sure if it would be enough power in your case.

I would have recommended the Walther Parrus from Airguns of Arizona for cheaper but they no longer have any of them left.



CA
 
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There’s more than a few people out there that use .177s to brain shoot coons. There’s plenty of documented kills out there. But the level of precision involved is immense and it isn’t the best or even a good choice. 

.22 airguns are plenty servicable for brain shooting coons. But .25s are even better. With a .25 even lung shots are doable. Look into a Hatsan Flash .25 for a starter .25.


 
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........man , this thread has been rough.... if raccoons were pestering me in someway or another , i would likely just use whatever i have handy at the time.... i used to have a trappers license and would foot trap coons , then take them to fur trader and get around $30 each..... i was 10-12 years old..... seems i would use a daisy 880 with bb's to put them down thru the ear.... ..it was horrendous - i'd only do it again if i absolutely had to (rabies, or something serious).... truth is , .177 has only been humane with smaller birds , and with cottontail using well placed head / heart shots , and targets....for some reason squirrels are harder to clean kill than cottontails , in my personal (bloody) experience.... I DO CLEARLY RECALL , tho.....an article in the monthly beeman free magazines they would send in the 1980's - .177 prometheus pellets and the scoped beeman p1 pistol taking possums in the back yard..... i suppose that if you must use .177 , you might consider using the prometheus pellets.....
 
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I do think the heard lung shot is the better, My JSB 25 caliber inn 16 gr at 875 FPS seems not to have the oomph to kill on a brain shot.I think the lead is to soft, Oh my shots are at 35 yards What say the other guys????????

Mike
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Even more FPE is needed for lung shot than a head shot. Don't shoot the head from the front, but instead go for the side of the head or back top of the head if you are shooting from high ground. Pellets can bounce of the head if you hit the skull at an angle. So try to get the shot to be as close to perpendicular to the skull for the best penetration. Use Chairgun to estimate your FPE at 35 yards. 20 FPE should be enough with the proper shot.
 
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The "secret" is a pellet through the brain and that can be an issue if shooting toward the angular head of a raccoon. I've taken more than a couple raccoons with my .177 Beeman R9 tuned to 14fpe when living in West Virginia doing "bird feeder protection patrol" (coons tend to break up bird feeders).

Anywhoo, a pic of one of the raccoons shot behind the head while it was climbing up a tree after wrecking a bird feeder. A single 7.9 grain CPL dome behind the head..............



I also had several "1 shot kills" with grounghogs when living in WV using the .177 R9...........



Anywho......I had no issues with .177 cal from my "HW95 power level" springers. IMHO, the "secret" is simply sufficient penetration and good shot placement THROUGH the brain. Years ago I bought a .20 R9 and used it for a season finding that it didn't perform as well as the .177 cal on bird feeder wrecking coons. The .20 cal lacked the penetration of a hard lead .177 cal CPL at R9 power levels. Also, I never had success with rib shots on either raccoons or groundhogs but a .177 pellet THROUGH the brain is "lights out" with a lot of spasmodic thrashing around after the DEAD coon hit the ground.
 
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I don’t know if raccoons in other parts of the country are fitted with armored plating on their skulls but when I first got into airgunning a few years ago, I dispatched scads of them with a .22 cal PCP at 25fpe, most of them between 45 - 50 yards. A JSB 18.1gr has no problem ice picking through the brain at that distance. They would drop like hit by a bolt of lightning. It was all about shot placement. I practiced like a mad man, I knew the rifle, the trigger break, and that if I did my part it would put the pellet into a dime at that distance.

Regarding shot placement, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be patient and wait for the right shot...even if it sometimes means passing on the opportunity. If you have one that won’t hold its head still, give it a lip squeak. It works on them just as well as a rabbit.

i have not captured many on scope cam but here’s an example done with a 20fpe .22 cal at 30 yards, and it required great patience and persistence. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5fCrMGs_yg


 
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I don’t know if raccoons in other parts of the country are fitted with armored plating on their skulls but when I first got into airgunning a few years ago, I dispatched scads of them with a .22 cal PCP at 25fpe, most of them between 45 - 50 yards. A JSB 18.1gr has no problem ice picking through the brain at that distance. They would drop like hit by a bolt of lightning. It was all about shot placement. I practiced like a mad man, I knew the rifle, the trigger break, and that if I did my part it would put the pellet into a dime at that distance.

Regarding shot placement, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be patient and wait for the right shot...even if it sometimes means passing on the opportunity. If you have one that won’t hold its head still, give it a lip squeak. It works on them just as well as a rabbit.

i have not captured many on scope cam but here’s an example done with a 20fpe .22 cal at 30 yards, and it required great patience and persistence. 





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5fCrMGs_yg



Click to expand...

What kind of a night scope was that?
 
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That’s right, it’s a red LED flashlight (Ultrafire WF-501B) set up on a tripod for the stakeout. I turn it on and leave it on. I also have one on the rifle with a pressure pad switch if I need light somewhere else, but the persistent light strategy works a bit better for wary critters like raccoons, rats, and foxes. The rifle-mounted one is for armadillos mostly and for the occasional follow up shot. 
 
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I just use a gun mounted light. I first tried a regular white light and that spooks the raccoons. They look at the light and walk away. Most of the time with a red light they look at the light and seem to wonder what it is, sometimes you can get a shot off right then. Others times they go back to eating ignoring the light. I haven't had one leave without getting a shot off yet. One skunk didn't even react to the red light, but I passed on a shot fearing the 10 to 20% chance it going to spray. A opossum came by one night and just stared into the light and got pop between and above the eye and did the death dance.
 
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