Best night hunt for me so far!

[only1harry]

Too tired to upload pics but I finally shot the biggest animal so far (for me) with one of my airguns, and it wasn't even the biggest of its kind that has visited my property.  

Stay tuned... don't want to miss this beast! :-)   That's it, I 'm turning off the infra-red heat detector for a couple of days so I can get some sleep!    

ok ok here 's one.. Story & more pics tomorrow!  

Say "cheeese"  :-)

[shadow]

Got one at last Harry.....GREAT! BUDDY!!!!!!!!!!:) looking forward to the story behind this night bandit's demise. Ed

[longislandhunter]

Hurry up and wake up and post the story,,,,  I want more pics and details  !!!   :)

Simply outstanding Harry,,,,  what a beauty !!!  Like Ed, I can't wait for the story and the rest of the pics..........

You got enough meat on that critter for a good sized family bar-b-qu ,,,,  fire up the grilll....

Jeff

[glyconny]

Nice!!!  Can't wait for the blow by blow commentary.

[gunsup0331]

blow by blow

[only1harry]

Ok so I had stayed up last night watching this good movie and didn't go to bed until 12:30am.  
I was twisting and turning because I had a feeling this was going to be an exciting night.  I had not seen the racoons for a few nights and all my senses were telling me something was going to happen.  I had finally fallen asleep when I hear that all familiar "ding dong" from the "Bunker Hill Driveway Alert System" receiver.  I looked at the clock and it was 1:10am.  

I run to the adjacent room and see 2 large brown bulky things completely covering the shiny galvenized steel 13" ID bowl.  It's my buddies from the other night!  Not 3 but 2.. I 'll take it :)  It was the "smaller" ones from a week ago.  I run back, load the Condor with a 28.4 EunJin throw a couple in my sweat jacket's pocket and return to the window.  Now the hard part - sliding the old window up but thanfully the metal storm window was up already.  After the first 2" one of the racoons stops and listens.  I freeze.  He goes back to eating the dry cat food and I continue pushing the window up slowly.  Another 2-3" which are not noisy at all, but this coon has very good hearing and stops and looks around.  Freeze again.. try again, almost 1/2 way up, and the same coon stops and looks up,  I freeze and he slowly walks away.  His buddy now has stopped too and is looking at his friend leaving but goes back to eating and has his feet in the large dish now jumping up & down as to seperate the wet food (it rained earlier) from the dry food that I had put in there 3hrs before.  I take that opportunity to push the window almost all the way up quickly.  He doesn't look up!  He puts his head down to eat again facing me while I rest my hand on the cold aluminum frame with the Condor because in the excitement I forgot to bring my favorite "hunting" pillow!  The A/O was pre-set to 22-23yds before I went to bed and mag. power was at 8X.  I 'm rushing because I don't want him walking away.  I quickly put the crosshairs on the top of his head between his ears because I remember a picture of a coon skull that showed the brain was back near the ears.  I take a deep breath and squeeze the trigger while I feel the cold aluminum window frame digging into my hand under the weight of the Condor.  

I heard a loud "thump" when the 28.4gr pellets struck.  It was not a crack but not a regular thump either like hitting fur/flesh.  It was something in-between and not very loud but loud enough and clear.  The racoon's head immediately goes down into the bowl and there is no movement!  I was wow, that was quick!  1-2secs later as if the racoon had waken up from the initial shock of the 50 or so ft-lbs, jumps up a little and falls to the side of the bowl on its side.  He rolled over once or twice and with its head always to the ground the whole time and is now kicking on its back 2-3ft from the bowl.  I reach for another pellet and reload.  I look out the window again as soon as I closed the breach slide and locked it into place, and I don't see anything happening.  The racoon is on its back motionless.  The whole thing was over in about 8-10secs.  

I take a couple of deep breaths and wait for about 1 minute just in case the other coon is out there.  I don't want it to spot me.  I walk out there and hear the other racoon about 25ft away walking in the leaves on the slope of my small hill!  I can see a shadow moving and then it disappeared at the top of the hill.  Dang, I 'm busted.  He was probably watching me from the shadows the whole time while I was at the window working on his friend.  Oh well, I wonder if I 'll ever see him again..

I was just astounded at the sight of the size & mass of this racoon, and what shocked me even more, was that the one single racoon that had visited twice before was even bigger than this one!  This racoon was much wider and fatter than I had expected.  I took a pic where he fell, and only after I blew it up on the PC I realized there was blood all around on the leaves and the ground.  The pellet had entered smack in the middle of the skull right between the ears where I was aiming.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of blood there and you can only tell because the hair around the POI looks "wet".  

I snapped quite a few pics because I really admired this beautiful animal and its gearth which dwarfs any large groundhogs or other small game animals I have taken.  It really surprised me when I picked it up by its thick tail how heavy it felt.  I was actually questioning my reasons for shooting this large female. (yes me! can you believe it?).  That's how much I liked it.  I was trying to be quiet about the whole thing because I know my wife would get upset if she looked out the window.  It had a very nice dark cinnamon color on its upper back.  
Ok I will let the pics do the rest.  BTW, my shoe size is 11 1/2 in that pic next to the coon!  Its length including the tail was exactly from the Condor's shoulder piece in the back of the tank to just about the end of the frame where the shroud starts.  That's 45" total length minus 12" the length of the shrould = 33" long!  It makes my Condor look small!  

I 'm thinking of stuffing this animal for my house.  What do you guys think?  How is its pelt & colors compared to other coons?  How long do I have before I take it to the taxidermist?  It's on "ice" in the garage where it's in the high 20's to 30deg. now.  Is that cold enough?  My wife doesn't know! :-)  
Finally an animal that makes the Condor look like a dust pan instead of a long broom stick! hehehe.  Enjoy the pics which are not that great because I was freezing (it was mid-20's!) and tired, and shooting with minimal lighting.  

[longislandhunter]

Excellent hunt and post Harry,,,, that's really impressive !!   You nailed that sucker good.  that Eunjin must've hit just the right spot,,,, when I was working I shot quite a few wounded ones in the head with my 9mm Glock at a distance of 3 feet and they thrashed around like they were being electrocuted.  

I think that coon is an absolutely beautiful specimen definitely worthy of mounting.  As long as the temps stay cold you definitely have a couple of days to get him to the taxidermist,,, or,,,, you can carefully skin him out, roll up the hide carefully, insuring that inner skin only touches inner skin, then freeze it after wrapping it securely.  Then you can take him to the taxidermist at your leisure.   I think that would be a really nice mount to have.  Everytime you look at it you'll relive the moment....

Again,,,, fine shooting buddy....

Jeff

[shadow]

Great story and extra pic's Harry :) and he would make a nice mount for sure. Several coon's that I took bled very little also . Sometimes the impact knocks em out for a second then they come to just for another moment then expire with a kick. Again great shot story and pic's buddy, there's more out there but they will be on guard now after watching their buddy take one for the team hehehe. Ed

[crazy4salmon]

Nice shooting Harry. That Condor put the smack down on that coon. I think it has great color, really like the brown mixed in there. Great mask too, just a cool looking critter. I would mount one but my better half would have issues with it. You could have him mounted standing up pulling over a garbage can.  Or taking out the neighbors cat.HEHE  Bad Dan.

  Sweet looking critter. Good luck getting the other ones to come back any time soon.

Dan L

[gamo2hammerli]

That`s a fatty for sure.  You got yours before I got mine....I`d seen him again a few nights ago....he was mosying on and all I could do was stay quiet and watch inside my house...didn`t want to spook him/her.  A big congrats on the coon.  Very nice pics and story.

[only1harry]

Thanks guys.  It sure is fat isn't it?  and there are bigger ones out there!  I also put my hand closer to its head so you can see that its head was also large.. and my hand is closer to the camera..  Its head from ear to nose was as long as the length of my hand from wrist to finger tips.  I weight myself and then picked it up and it was very close to 24lbs.  

I 've been busy as hek with work and have not gotten a chance to call a taxidermist.  I 'm not going to skin it or touch the hide.. cause I 'll probably ruin it.  I 'm glad you guys think it's worth doing.  She is a beauty :-)  I showed the pics to my wife (not the animal) and she thinks I should do it.  I think she may have a change of heart when she hears how much it's going to be!  hehe

[longislandhunter]

Considering the temps are as cold as you said the carcass will be fine for several days at least, however that's provided  the internal organs have been removed.  If you're going to wait a few days before bringing it to the taxidermist you really should gut it and clean it out as the internal organs will start to decompose extremely rapidly.  Once you get the guts out wipe out the body cavity with some paper towels, get it as clean as you can, then hang it out of the sun where air can circulate freely around it.  The optimum temperature for hanging and "aging" game animals is 38 degrees.  At that temp, or below, you can safely hang game (any game animal) for 7 - 10 days.  I realize you're not interested in the meat, although I still think you should fire up the barby, but going by that formula you should be able to keep the gutted and cleaned carcass for several days until you bag him and get him off to the taxidermist.

That coon is gonna make a fine mount for sure....

Jeff

[JOHNNY QUEST]

That is just ausome harry.. beautifull coon... and large... I sure wish i had some woods around here... Great story and pics....

[shadow]

Yes Harry you should try the meat, you'd be surprised on the taste and as Jeff said get those insides out to preserve the rest of your trophy.:) Ed

[only1harry]

thanks fellow airgunners.  

I changed the title of this thread because my wife said the old didn't make any sense.  Still even as I appeased her and changed the title and sweet talked her, it did not convince her to let me spend $650-725 for a life-size mount.  Yes, that's how much 5 taxidermists wanted that I called from work after my wife went down the ph#'s from the phone book for me.

I got home late from work today (had a very stressfull & busy day) and went to see the racoon.  It got up to 35+ deg. in the garage and it looks like the racoon had started getting bloated so I passed on the meat, after passing on the mounting :(  I asked them about tanning the skin and the cheapest quote I got was $265+tax!!  Others wanted $295 or $300!!  It's too bad my wife has been spending a lot of $ for Christmas shopping and we can't afford it now.  Bad timing and I sure as I hek I 'm not going to pay $700 for a life size mount.  Not for a coon anyway.  I could get another reall nice gun with that kind of money :)

I need to start saving up for my next gun anyway - a multi-shot PCP(!) and then I think I 'll be complete :-)