Rabid Raccoon

nybirdman · Oct 16, 2012

I was just out at 11:00 a.m. tending to one of my tree stands.Heard some strange noises and couldn't figure out what it was.Luckily I was on the ladder of the stand and noticed a medium sized raccoon at the bottom.Anytime you see a raccoon during the day something is wrong with it,either distemper or rabies.It moved a short distance away,rolled around on the ground.I always carry some kind of firearm when in the woods;I had my .223 on the Rhino.Dispatched the coon and disposed of it.My wood lot is quite a ways from the road but my grandkids ride their four-wheelers there.We have had a rabies problem in the past;the state did an air drop about a month ago.(Rabies Inoculations)

brin · Oct 16, 2012

Glad you got him....I have a friend that had a Raccoon walk in his open patio door and he had to shoot him in his family room...my friend lives in the city...just outside of downtown Atlanta...His wife had gone out the door to get the paper and left it open just for that short time...

MossRoad · Oct 16, 2012

Yeah when you see them walking around in circles and kind of staggering and such, its a good sign something is seriously wrong. Remember to have your pets vaccinated.

retiredmgn · Oct 16, 2012

Did you bury him?

Tollster · Oct 16, 2012

retiredmgn said:
Did you bury him?

Good point!

jinjimbob · Oct 18, 2012

nybirdman said:
Anytime you see a raccoon during the day something is wrong with it,either distemper or rabies.

What absolute rubbish, raccoons are not nocturnal.

While they are usually more active at night, many will venture out during the day ~ particularly females foraging for food who may have a litter of babies back in the den.

Do you have food at your stand, baiting animals? Is that even legal where you are? All baiting is illegal here.

Seems like you just want to kill something for the sake of killing, shame.

texasjohn · Oct 18, 2012

I firmly believe you are incorrect in your conclusion. The behavior that the OP described is not normal for either day or night. He did the right thing. :thumbsup:

Mid day activity is unusual.
OP was making noise, had vehicle. Normal behavior would be to retreat immediately.
Rolling around on ground...never seen a healthy coon do this.

jinjimbob said:
What absolute rubbish, raccoons are not nocturnal.

While they are usually more active at night, many will venture out during the day ~ particularly females foraging for food who may have a litter of babies back in the den.

Do you have food at your stand, baiting animals? Is that even legal where you are? All baiting is illegal here.

Seems like you just want to kill something for the sake of killing, shame.

MossRoad · Oct 18, 2012

jinjimbob said:
What absolute rubbish, raccoons are not nocturnal.

While they are usually more active at night, many will venture out during the day ~ particularly females foraging for food who may have a litter of babies back in the den.

Do you have food at your stand, baiting animals? Is that even legal where you are? All baiting is illegal here.

Seems like you just want to kill something for the sake of killing, shame.

For the most parts, racoons are nocturnal. Yes, they do very rarely come out during the day, but most old folks can count on one had now many they have seen during the day in their entire lifetime. And, every racoon I have ever seen during the day (three, maybe four) were walking around in circles and falling over. It was not due to them eating fermented fruit, either. They were diseased and our county humane society took care of them in a humane fasion... they killed them as painlessly as possible in a gas chamber. If I would have had a firearm AND it was not in a populated area I would have ended their suffering myself.

MossRoad · Oct 18, 2012

jinjimbob said:
What absolute rubbish, raccoons are not nocturnal.

While they are usually more active at night, many will venture out during the day ~ particularly females foraging for food who may have a litter of babies back in the den.

Do you have food at your stand, baiting animals? Is that even legal where you are? All baiting is illegal here.

Seems like you just want to kill something for the sake of killing, shame.

And I have to ask, what would you have done if you would have seen a racoon rolling around on the ground in the middle of the day on your property?

20 20 · Oct 18, 2012

Anytime you see a raccoon during the day something is wrong with it,either distemper or rabies.

This could NOT be further from the truth, flat out crazy wives tale. I have seen many coons out during the day that were perfectly fine. I have also taken care{put down} of sick coons. ANYONE that believes that "JUST" because a coon is out during the day makes it sick needs to move back to the city and stay in tha mall. Jinjimbob thank you for pointing it out, it's a dang shame when ignorance tries to control nature!

Now that my rant is over, if you noticed that the coon was sick then you did do the right thing by taking care of it. BUT PLEASE don't let fairy tales and ignorance blind you to the true natural order of things. Sorry folks but I am just sick and tired of stupid comments about nature. I do believe it should be treated with respect and with that comes facts not fairy tales.