Hi Everyone, I have a problem with aggressive raccoons and coyotes where I live. If I lived in the country I would invest in a good .223 varmiting rifle and go to town. The problem is that I live in a relatively undeveloped neighborhood in what is otherwise a densely populated urban area. Discharging a firearm where I live is obviously a no-no. Even if I can mitigate the circumstances by choosing a round that doesn't over penetrate, the local LEOs and judges aren't going to cut me any slack, so I need to come of with an alternate plan for dispatching these highly urbanized critters. The raccoons are a nuisance. They tear apart the garbage cans and have no fear of people. The coyotes are worse. The last time I say the one that claims our neighborhood as his, he decided to follow my dog an me on out late night walk. At 70 pounds, my dog might be able to take a coyote, but I don't want risk it and find out. Also, cats have gone missing, and the coyote, like the raccoons, has not healthy fear of humans. The best suggestion I have so far about dealing with my critter problem in a safe way given my situation it to take them out with bow and arrow. Having never hunted in my life with either bow or firearm, I think my odds are pretty bad in terms of hitting anything, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Does anyone have suggestions about what I might try? A crossbow seems like a good bet, but I don't know how much energy a crossbow bolt will impart on my target. A composite seems like a better choice in that arrows can be outfitted with a variety of arrowheads and is less likely to be mistaken by any LEOs as a firearm. (I don't want to get shot because I took it upon myself to clear out some nuisance animals.) Is this a realistic idea? I can guarantee that our local animal services will do doodly squat to control these animal populations.
They sell small game tips for arrows. Don't go all out on equipment tho if your just going to shoot small game. Get a 40-70 pound compound bow, a Target and a few arrows and with a little practice u should b able to kill a coyote at 35-40 yards. Field points would also work very well.
I would check your local laws before shooting anything in or around city limits. In my city there is NO bow hunting aloud and we have a ton of small forests with a lot of deer fox and coyote that no one is able to shoot. A safer more effective aproach would be to run a trap line (again check local laws).
Golden malaron(fly bait) and coke ! The coons won't go 15 feet after they drink it :D Although shooting them with a bow would be a lot of fun
Traps. I've got a bad coon problem and I borrowed some traps from my brother, the animal control officer, and got rid of them.
