An email from a friend of mine who lives in the deep suburbs...

I can now state unequivocally that Muzzy 125 gr. 3-blade broadheads are EXTREMELY effective medicine for raccoons when fired from a 150# crossbow.

As you will recall (Mike, I might not have included you on the original story, sorry), I've been having problems with raccoons harassing our family cat and generally loitering around on our back porch. My wife had hit one with a thrown hammer once to no avail. A couple of months ago, I shot one with a .22 but even when shooting from back inside the dining room that was too noisy for our neighborhood, and didn't feel right in terms of teaching good firearm safety.

My solution: A crossbow. A CHEAP, chinese-made 150# crossbow bought on ebay. But what to put on for arrow heads? Dave, you were right, more weight = more better.

Dave, you also advised me to get the thing sighted in before having to use it. Well, I was going to do that this weekend, but was overtaken by events.

Today at about 3:30PM, two raccoons the size of dogs were pressing their noses against the back porch glass door. I opened the door and tried to get them to run away, but they only retreated out of kicking range. "Boy, hand me my crossbow and a bolt", I told my son Alex.

The two raccoons retreated down the steps off of my back porch as I strode out with the cocked and locked crossbow. They stopped outside of "kicking range" thinking that they were safe. Wrong.

I shot the first one from a distance of about 15'. The Muzzy broadhead entered the first raccoon just above and behind the right front leg. The exit wound was just ahead of the left rear leg. He ran across the yard before laying down on the back edge of the lawn about 20 yds. away. The arrow fell out just before he collapsed. I was surprised since I thought that I had gotten good penetration on that shot. Then I looked at the bolt.

The fletching had blood all over it. The back of the bolt had blood all over it. The bolt had gone all the way through him.

The second one was tougher. He had retreated to the edge of the woods about 20 yds away. By now, full of adrenalan, I was ready to waste bolts. I fired 4 shots while discovering that the crossbow shoots very high (about 1" high at that range). Each time reaching back for another bolt from my son. Then Alex told me "Dad, this is the last arrow."

I realized that I had the raccoon equivolent of buck fever.

OK, breathe. Set up. Adjust aim point for previous misses. Squeeze. Thwack! It was a hit, but not a solid one. Time to watch where he goes.

Then it was time to go back inside for a half an hour and have a drink.

I came back out with two bolts. I found the raccoon. He was still VERY alive and VERY mad. I shot at him in the brush from about 10 yds. Missed, deflected by a branch. I shot again from a couple of steps closer. Hit, but by now I'm down to my brand X roadheads. The hit was not immediately lethal. I ran back to the house to get two recovered and/or cleaned Muzzys.

Ran back to the Ocoon and ran him through a couple of more times. Finally it was safe to recover my bolts. It seems that my first hit was through the right front leg, effectively limiting his mobility. I recovered that bolt but it was too gnawed on to be reusable. The brand x broadheads were much lighter and pretty much fell apart upon impact with anything. The Muzzy's just drilled him, effectively nailing him to the forest floor.

It was a grand day. The crossbow worked. The cat was saved from the raccoons. My son learned about hunting and tracking game. My wife is so pleased that I'll probably get lucky. It doesn't get any better than this.

Ah, life in the country.

Nice work.

atleast you get "lucky", lol, have you ever heard of .22 bullets that have no powder in them, they are ultra silent and effective i do believe i read, they travel 800fps,. maybe this would be a more effective approach..

Pretty sick post. Racoons do more good than harm in my opinion. If you go out late at night you'll see them work your entire yard for slugs and grubs. Yeah they'll chase the cat's but they are only trying to shoo the cat away from their smorgasboard. Cat's are much quicker that raccoons though. So, if another cat get's in a fight with your cat do you pull out the cross bow and kill him too? What about seemingly stray dogs? If not why not?

Settle down stlhead. Unless you've had to deal with coons, it's hard to understand how dangerous they can actually be. I have had both a dog and a cat attacked by them. The cat had its skin litterally stripped off its back leg from just above the thigh down to the foot. The Vet re-attached it but the leg was pretty much toast after that. The coons treed him and then gang attacked, they were not merely shooing him away from some slugs. Now that I have kids running around outside, any coon that approaches them will not be long for this world. The bacteria they pack in their claws is rather brutal and sure to cause infection and worse. They live in the sewers and drain fields and trash collection sites everywhere and are very dirty animals. I've seen them on Queen Anne hill at night in the middle of non-stop condo rows. I doubt SH is going to affect their longevity as a species.

Put some more cat food out on your porch and you can play your sick game again.

Kill them if they are pests but don't torture them with a toy.

I am with you stlhd that post is sick.

Ahh yes, A fine example of an ethical hunter! No wonder organizations like PETA have the support that they do.

SH,

This post is definitely uncharacteristic of you. I realize it was a "friend" of yours that did the killing, but what purpose were you trying to fulfill by posting the obviously cruel method of killing the second racoon here?

If your friend actually thought he was "teaching his son about tracking game", well, let's just hope for the son's sake that he's a slow learner.

And I deal with Raccoons every single night. Or I should say they are out back every night and I let them do their thing. I have a fish pond. My cat doesn't like them but he knows how to stay away from them.

Bellevue sounds like a real dangerous place! good thing the coons are dead, are you going to post pictures you moron?

Hey mods - how about moving this post to the hunting forums? Maybe it will be enjoyed over there.

Just to add the coon story reminds me of something my neighbor did about 15 yr ago.

He had just recently moved into the hood when another neighbor's cow crossed a fence and was grazing in the new guys ' field of overgrown grass and weeds. The guy came out on his pordh and to our horror he shot the cow in the hind quarter with a .22.

Well she laid down for several hours until the "hunter" realized that he was caught and he sent for a vet. since this jerk mooved in the deer have quit visiting and about the only wildlife left are the possums that live in his
garbage.

Speaking of poachers did everyone see that picture of patti murray with the dead wild salmon in People mag. 12/3/01? I thought it might make a good campaign poster.

Let's see what you would do if your 1000$
chocolate lab had a racoon clamp on her head trying to drown her!! What would you do them Mr. Steelhead?? I waited till she wen t under the first time and shot the coon off her head!!!But you are so ehtical you would let here drown right!!

Holy cow!! is there some pent up hostility again??? and with all these fish around..... relax, the guy shot a couple of pests... and yes they do kill cats. They also tear up garbage, crap all over everything, carry disease, and get into everything. They will come inside the house through pet doors or open windows....try getting one back out! The hiss and growl and have little fear of you. They are one step up from rats, except a little cuter. I leave them alone unless they get too bold, then its lights out... Same goes for coyotes.

4Salt,

It seems you've never hunted with a bow. Waiting at least a half hour is exactly what you do when you shoot an animal with an arrow. Arrows don't kill like bullets do. They kill by hemmorage,waiting gives the animal time to lie down and die. He made it sound as if he doesn't care about the animals suffering. He could have left out the part of kicking back with a drink.

If you don't know about the subject,don't spout off about ethics.

He should never have shot at an animal without sighting the crossbow in first. That is unethical. He shouldn't have come off like he was bragging either.

Going to close this now----It will only get worse.