[hunter44]

There is a group of raccoons pest around my house. They swim and defacate in our pool at nite, ate all my wife's gold fish in her pond and even manage to hide in our attic sometime. The county animal control unit seem helpless against these pesky critters. Is it o.k. to shoot them in my backyard with my 9mm USPc?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I cannot state the laws in your area, but am sure that if you are in an incorporated city or town, it's unlawful to discharge a firearm in the city/town limits.

I don't know if racoons have a season on them where you live; they do NOT here in Texas.

On the legalities part, you are on your own.

As to the 9mm: I've killed many, many '*****
using the 9mm Browning and it works fine. I would not use ball. I had grand luck with Sierra 115 gr JHPs loaded to about 1300 ft/sec; no exits and very good "stops" when placed through the shoulders or just behind them. You are not talking about one heck of a lot of shooting to get rid of these cute, but often pesky critters. Glasers would do the trick, too and not overpenetrate. Should you not wish to go with handloads or exotics, you might try Triton 115 gr HiVel +P JHPs; they are quite accurate in the 9mms I've fired them from and have cleanly killed javelina for me. Expect about 9" of penetration.

Your 9mm with expanding ammo is up to the job of taking out the pests, but I'd avoid the loads that tend to penetrate quite a bit in the event that a bullet escaped and damaged your property...like the tile around the pool, etc! I don't mention human injury because no one on this board would fire when it was not safe for humans...unless they earned being the recipients by a felonious assault.

I don't know if you've got access to one or not, but I'd likely use an accurate .22 Mag rifle on the "bandits."

Best and good SAFE shooting.

 

[gyp_c2]

22 short makes a quiet little pop...There ia also some slow sub-sonic stuffthat would work...as would a bow and arrow or a trap for that matter...You could always sell 'em to Rosie...:wink:

 

[John Lawson]

Around here it is a thousand dollar fine for shooting in the city and another fine for killing an animal. The Humane Society provides a trap, then they take the animal elsewhere.
Even so, when '***** killed 4 of our 5 ducks I blasted them. I have a .30 Luger barrel for my Contender with a scope mounted that works just fine. Now we have been invaded by 'possums, and I gues I'll have to break it out again. I have to remember to refrain from putting extra ventilation holes in the greenhouse. Six of the little buggers sit in a row along one wall and their movements flick on the patio light.

 

[gyp_c2]

That would look just like "ducks" in the gallery eh?

:wink: