Racoon Wraslin'.....(with angry racoon photos)

HardDrive · 01-22-2008, 10:38 AM

Ok. So today was not exactly routine.

Daughter wakes me up. I stumble out of bed, hug kid, and head to kitchen to make her milk.

Thats when I notice a racoon standing in the street in front of out house. We live on a arterial street , and there are cars hammering the brakes and going around. The racoon is obviously sick or rabid. So I call animal control.

Animal control shows show up in literally 4 minutes. Nice one city of Seattle. I was amazed. That lady trys to get the Racoon with the 'lasso pole' that they use, and it gets away from her a few times. Finally, she snags it.

I was following about 20 feet behind snapping photos and thinking I could help out if this whole ordeal went south some how. Well she is looking around like, now what? So I ask if I can help. She says, "Yes, can you hold this while I get my truck." I laugh and say, "Sure!". He was thrashing around pretty well, but I locked the pole between my knee, and freed up a hand and snapped some photos.

Now mind you, I have grown up hunting, and I hunted racoons when I was young. I have seen plenty of pissed off racoons met their fate fighting our dogs or at the end of my .22. They don't intimidate me in the least. But after the fact, I'm was kind of amazed that she handed me the stick with this pissed off, obviously psycho racoon trashing around. Talk about liability issues. Somewhere there is a risk managment attorney for the city of Seattle, and a cold chill is going down his spine, and he can't quite figure why.

She gets her truck. Takes Mr. Racoon, puts him in truck. End of story.

All this before I had been awake for 15 minutes! Quite the adventure.

k9handler · 01-22-2008, 10:43 AM

awesome story, yep them buggers can get real pissed.

Thanks for sharing.

kstar · 01-22-2008, 10:45 AM

Good eatin'

frogger · 01-22-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstarnes

Good eatin'

Especially after being tenderized by passing cars and trucks. Yummy.

id10t · 01-22-2008, 11:02 AM

RickM · RickM's Garage

Healthy guy there. Hopefully he checks out and can be released.

charleskieffner · 01-22-2008, 11:15 AM

i need a new hat!!! wow all before you had yer cup of coffee!

ever trapped one in a hava-heart cage????? talk about pissed off!

Scuba Steve · 01-22-2008, 11:21 AM

Fun times. Has that hill given you much entertainment this winter? I'm at the bottom of a valley that doesn't get a lot of sun in winter. Plenty of ice to play around with this week!

scottmandue · 01-22-2008, 11:28 AM

I for one am very disappointed.

I was expecting a steel cage match or at the very least some lime jello.

rouxroux · 01-22-2008, 11:40 AM

Daniel Boone was a man....yes a BIIIIIGG man....

M.D. Holloway · 01-22-2008, 11:48 AM

What kind of liberal are you!

Dat racoon has'm entitlements! Dat racoon wus down on is luck and need a help'n hand. Maybe a hot meal and a few bucks? Maybe he was try'n to fight an addiction an whatnot? Did ya ever put yo self in da racoons place? Live'n on garbage and be'n chased by dogs and the PoPo can bring a racoon down! Racoons have been represseded and hunted for thousand, no make dat hundreds of thousands of years by da man - ain't no racoon ever think he gonna get a break um um.

And dar yo are, squeez'n tight-r and tight-r on da noose! You done lynched dat racoon!

Yo lucky some utter racoon done call yo on dis - aid'n an a-bed'n PoPo! Repress'n a racoon like dat! Shame on yo! Shame Shame Shame!

Nathans_Dad · Nathans_Dad's Garage

That typical...white man trying to keep down the 'coons...

HardDrive · 01-22-2008, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickM

Healthy guy there. Hopefully he checks out and can be released.

Saddly, this coon was not healthy. It looked like it was having a seizure. I am about 90% sure it got into some rat poison and was dying from arsenic poison. It has some green stains around its ass, and a lot of the outdoor rat poison comes in bright green blocks.

dd74 · 01-22-2008, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Saddly, this coon was not healthy. It looked like it was having a seizure. I am about 90% sure it got into some rat poison and was dying from arsenic poison. It has some green stains around its ass, and a lot of the outdoor rat poison comes in bright green blocks.

That makes sense. I've heard if they or possum are out in the daytime, more than likely they're sick or dying.

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

My son went squirrel hunting with my brother-in-law on New Year's Day. He shot 2 squirrels and he dressed them out and we ate them. First time we had all had squirrel and we all liked it, very tasty. I wonder if raccoon would be similar?

Jeff Higgins · 01-22-2008, 03:28 PM

That's what the '06 is for, HardDrive. I was actually with a buddy that shot one with his old Mauser, right off the balcony on his second story condo behind Spud's Fish and Chips in Juanita. Took all of 30 seconds for every cop in Juanita, Kirkland, and Bothell to make it to the parking lot. They never did see the racoon. We spent about five minutes talking to them from the balcony. "Wow, was that really a gunshot? Never heard one before..." Anyway, the thing had been killing cats in the condo complex; we found several ripped up carcasses over the course of a few months.

On a sad note, however, I saw what I think was one of our neighborhood racoons sprawled in the street this morning; obviously hit last night. I think they were a mating pair (that is, if they keep their mates - I honestly don't know much about them). Anyway, I have seen a pair in the wee hours of the morning for years. As far as I know, they never got aggressive with anyone. They kind of add a bit of spice to the old 'hood, never failing to bring a smile to my face as they waddled down the road in front of my Beetle. I sure hope it wasn't one of "ours"...

Nathans_Dad · Nathans_Dad's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by azasadny

I wonder if raccoon would be similar?

I have actually eaten raccoon before. I was at survival training in the USAF, it was on this rancher's property. Anyhow, he apparently got about 4 raccoons in his barn one night and they were tearing the place up. He called the instructors of the course, they went in there with machetes and....

dinner!

It really wasn't all that good, very gamey.

DonDavis · DonDavis's Garage

Let's see if what I'm about to say comes across as insensitive....

DAMN!! I haven't laughed out loud that hard since watching an old "Married With Children" or "In Living Color with Homey the Clown".

Whew! Good stuff.

Jim Bremner · 01-22-2008, 08:19 PM

30/06 is not going to stop after hitting a racoon.

I hope that you had a safe back stop.

HardDrive · 01-22-2008, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonDavis

Let's see if what I'm about to say comes across as insensitive....

DAMN!! I haven't laughed out loud that hard since watching an old "Married With Children" or "In Living Color with Homey the Clown".

Whew! Good stuff.

Insensitive? Hell man, I was laughing the whole time as well. Here I was in running pants and Ralph Lauren loafers with a camera in one hand and a pissed off racoon at the end of a freaking stick in the other. LOL.

At least I put on a good show for the neighbors!

Jeff, thats a DAMN funny story. Probably the most excitment the Juanita cops had all year. I did think of shooting the bugger. But it was right in the middle of a very busy street, with cars. Not sure the Laurelhurst trophy wives would react well to me standing in the street with a deer rifle.