Another great night hunt!

[only1harry]

Tonight before I went to bed I had that same old familiar feeling that there was going to be some action later on.  

First night creature arrived at 1:30am when the heat sensor sent an alert to my receiver.  It was an all-white SKUNK!  No thanks, I 'll pass :-)   I had him on my sights for a good 5min. while I was trying to scare it away before it ate all the cat food.  I could hear the crunching it made as it was feeding on the dry cat food.  Luckily the wife & son were at the in-laws 35mi. away spending the night there after they went to a nephew's B-day party earlier.  So I was able to bang the side of the  house loud enough with my arm out the window and go "ssshhhh" like when I scare the cats.  The skunk was apprehensive and could hear me but kept eating.  Finally I just shot the ground about a foot away from the skunk and it kicked up a lot of dirt.  Thankfully he didn't spray and just ran away after that.  

"Ding-dong"!  Time 4:20am.  I wake up again thinking it must be 6:30 and that dang cat is out there.  A quick look to the clock, and the adrenaline starts running again!  I knew it was no cat - too early..  I grab the Condor which I now had by my bedside and run to the other room where I had the window wide opened even though the temps are in the teens out there.  I was delighted to see a pair of racoons!

One was eating and the other was just walking around it begging for the other one to let it feed.  The dominant racoon at one point hissed and did a mock-attack on the submissive one.  The one feeding was turned away from me at an angle and seemed to be the bigger one.  I would have to shoot it from behind and to the side of its head or behind the ear type of shot so I decided to pass.  I concentrated on the other one which was now facing me with its head down sniffing a turkey leg bone left over from Thanksgiving.  I consider it my lucky charm and have left it there intentionally since I 've watched possum & racoon alike play with it in the past.  I put the crosshairs on top of its head and this time I took my time a little and decided to shoot a little lower from the ears where I had shot the last one.  It seemed like the middle of its head geometrically and proportionally equal distance from side to side so I squeezed the trigger.  I heard the 28.8gr Eun Jin hit the target but again for some reason it was not a loud thwak you 'd expect when hitting bone, and was the same with the last one.  The racoon went down right away and stayed down for a good 2-3 secs, while the other one now stood up on 2 feet (like a groundhog) and started looking around.  I moved over out of sight for a couple of seconds and slowly take a look again.  The downed coon all of a sudden woke up, jumped up in the air and started doing a death dance while the other one is still by the bowl watching it.  The dominant one then decides to walk away slowly and never looked back.  He never saw me.  His buddy is now on its side and kicking about 8ft away from the bait area.  A couple of seconds later it was over.  It took about the same time as the other one to expire which was about 10secs or less.

I was again very happy with the shot placement but this racoon did not have the mass nor the colors of its predecessor.  It was however longer than the last one!  Just not as fat.  It measured close to 38" in length including the tail! 4-5" longer than the last one without the girth though.  Ok it's past 6am and I need to get some sleep.  Enjoy the pics.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

Mornin Harry,, Been one of those nights hu.. Great shootin and nice coon...  My mornin wasn,t so fruitfull..

[tjk]

Good idea passing on the "ghostly pole-cat"!!! LOL's No need to stink up the place,....again LOL's !!!! Nice Bean shot on that bandit though. Hope you get the other one soon!! tjk

[shadow]

See buddy you still have critters around to harvest.:) GREAT! shot placement and fantastic pic's of your wee hours harvest and your fine shooter. I wouldn't be surprised to hear about the big guy coming back tonight.:) Ed

[crazy4salmon]

Are you able to sleep with all that dinging! Nice shot Harry. When they do their death dance do they scream or just flop about? I have one or more that I might have to shoot. Just wondering with that shot placement if the neighbors might hear them expire?

Dan L

[TCups]

Great shooting.  While there seems to be no shortage of tree rats (and no rarity of bunnies) in suburbia SC,  have not, as yet been able to draw a bead on one of those masked varmints (or and opossum, or, thankfully, a skunk).  Looks like a clean kill from a well placed shot.  Surprising he got back up.  Too bad you couldn't score the double.  Please be careful handling and disposing of that raccoon, though.  Almost all carry rabies and you don't want them taking any post-mortem revenge on you or any of your or your neighbors pets.

[only1harry]

Thanks guys.  The night hunts are very exciting for me and get the adrenaline going, like when I race my car through the course during the warmer months.  With the squirrels all gone I 'm glad I still have these big guys coming around :)

I really did not want a double kill.  1 racoon is enough for one night.  BTW, I WOKE UP at Noon today!  I got some much needed sleep finally, hehehe

Tommy:  Good advice.  I wear disposable gloves and wash my hands thoroughly when I hanlde racoon.  I did however step on a lot of blood splattered all over which is very hard to see at night even with lighting, so I 'll have to wash my sneakers today :-)   He was definitely a bleeder, or it's the spot I got him at that bleeds more than the one between the ears like the last one.  

Dan:
No there was no squealing, no noise, nothing.  He just flapped around for 3-4 secs like a squirrel.. which is some sight because this is a much larger animal.  The only noise I heard was the "thumping" from its body slamming into the ground but it didn't last long.  The last one only did one or two big spastic moves and then got on its back with feet up kicking and expired.  This one did a few more "jumps" and maybe a summersalt.  Both of the coons went down & layed still for a couple of secs after being shot and before "dancing".  It's the initial shock and trauma of the EunJin striking at 50-55fpe I imagine.  Ed said his racoons did the same thing.

[shadow]

Yup Harry several of the one's that I dropped went down like a rock but I knew better. I just reloaded for backup and watched as they came to for a moment, did some death rolls and flop's then expired. Ed

[only1harry]

I wonder if they have the same nervous sytem as squirrels.  Their reaction is pretty similar whereas the possums usually just run or stand there until almost the end.

[raterminator]

….and somebody said that there is nothing left to shoot at. Are you breeding them, Harry?

[longislandhunter]

NOthing left to say except.............  "outstanding Harry"  :)

ps... I start my night hunt patrols tonight for my garbage can raider.  Hopefully I'll be able to post a pic as nice as yours.....

Jeff

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

Way to go Harry!! I just knew you would still be whackin em!! I have still been at em too,,,,,, just have not been able to post. Shure have missed my GTA hunting crew!! I hope to be back "full time" soon. Tim.

[CFX Marauder]

You passed up an Albino skunk !!!! The new guy C.A.P is out risking frostbite of the KneeCAPs for a nutterand you let a lil FouFou scare you off the biggest score of the year ! Gettin soft on us Harry ?

Mama put my guns in the ground, I can't shoot them anymore .That cold black cloud is comin' down ,Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door !!!!

[CFX Marauder]

POGO TIMMY !!!!!!!!!!

[longislandhunter]

Harry I thought of you today,,,, I was reading over the NY hunting regs and noticed that not only is skunk in season it also happens that there in no "bag limit" and you can shoot all you want  :)

Jeff