Have you ever killed anything with a sling shot?

[Irving]

So I know this guy, that just moved into this new house, and has these four raccoons that keep showing up and hanging out in his grape vine. Last night, his neighbors came over and shot at them with a Gamo Whisper air rifle, and he hit one of them with a 3/8" steel shot out of his sling shot.

Then, tonight, he tree'd some of the raccoons in the neighbor's tree. He shot one of them 10 times with a CO2 powered pellet gun. The shot raccoon stopped moving and laid in the tree, and the other raccoon, climbed down and ran away. He went back outside with a stick, to try to knock the dead raccoon out of the tree. The problem was that when the end of the stick got about 6 inches from the dead raccoon's face, the raccoon decided that it wasn't dead, and started moving around. Being afraid that he was seconds from having and angry, wounded raccoon land on his face, while he is half way up a tree, this guy jumps out of the tree. The raccoon climbed higher in the tree and tried to hide. This guy goes and gets the slingshot out, and hits the raccoon a few more times with the 3/8" steel buckshot, but the raccoon just jumps out of the tree and waddles away.

So, back to the original question. Have you ever killed something with a slingshot? People talk about having a sling shot for small game, but if this guy can't even kill a raccoon with it, what good is a slingshot? Comments? Experiences?

[Dr_Fwd]

Tag

[ChunkyMonkey]

Tell YOUR neighbor that Bear Grylls would've caught and eat them raccoons.

[Irving]

I hear this guy used to have a large camp knife tied to the end of a stick for the time he was going to try and eliminate some raccoons from underneath his mother-in-law's trailer, but he just took the knife off the other day. He was disappointed because the raccoons climbing from the tree to his grape vine are within striking distance and he may just have to stab them and club them.

On another note, knowing how tough raccoons are now, he is sure glad he didn't ever have the opportunity try to corner and stab to death four raccoons at the same time, while being in the prone position underneath a mobile home, like he had originally planned.

[sniper7]

I killed the neighbors cat with my sling shot after it kept coming into our yard and pestering my dog. It took many attempts as body shots never really hurt it from what I could tell. It took weeks of trying and several confirmed hits but a headshot is what did it. I was in 4th grade and didn't like that cat messing with my new dog!

I have also killed pine squirrels with a slingshot!

[Irving]

I was upset at you for killing your neighbor's pet, but I can't really say anything about what you did in the fourth grade. However, you'd think the cat would stop coming into your yard after taking several body shots. Of course, you'd also think these raccoons would stop coming back into the yard two minutes after being shot at over and over.

All that being said, I hope I never have to depend on using a sling shot alone to keep me from starving to death.

[Danimal]

It takes a clean headshot to kill anything bigger than a squirrel, but even then a raccoon needs to be finished off with a shovel. They are tough little bastards.

[Troublco]

Raccoons are tough critters. There's a reason why there were dogs bred just for raccoon hunting...a raccoon can kill a dog, sometimes more than one, and tear a few others up in the process. I don't think I'd try to kill one with a slingshot; you'd have to get a good headshot to have a good chance at it. Quite possibly more than one.

[gnihcraes]

I've killed birds and squirrels with slingshot as a kid. Nothing bigger. I always use marbles too for ammo in slingshots. BB's work pretty well too, but much harder to hold and aim with.

I've killed skunks with the 1000fps airguns. Among other various critters. On the bigger animals like skunks and raccoons, good clean headshots is the only way. Too much fur to penetrate other body parts.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

If your friend needs to borrow my Benjamin Sheridan air rifle pm me. It's a .20 caliber 700 fps.

[ray1970]

Raccoons are tough. I used to hunt them back in my younger days. We would take a boat out into the bayou at night and spotlight them in the trees near the water. I can tell you from personal experience they can be pretty hard to kill even with a .22 or a shotgun. It's always a nice surprise when a big one you thought was dead suddenly stands up pissed off in the middle of a small boat between you and your buddy so you can't shoot it.

I have killed a couple of birds with a slingshot. I would be amazed if you could kill a raccoon with one.

Tell him to get one of those live traps and just catch them and haul them off.

[Skully]

Was this in city limits?

Be careful, warn your neighbor, I asked my local animal control on my raccoon problems, (not really bothered by them I like forest creatures, makes me feel more of like being in the country, but they were getting on my roof at night driving me nuts) but I was informed all I could do is trap them and relocate them. Shooting them or attempting to kill them was a HEFTY fine and ticket to court.

[Beer]

[brokenscout]

In Nicarauga I saw a guy kill birds with one.He also lived in a house made of Hefty bags.....So I guess he had to be good[Coffee]Also there is a story in the Bible to ref

[XC700116]

There's a lot more effective ways to take care of raccoon. Trap them and wop them with a bat or live trap and relocate, ect. A slingshot and pellet gun are about the bottom of my list of ways to handle them.

[Irving]

I think clubbing is going to be the way to go. The guy's neighbor said he has to get headshots to kill them with the Gamo rifle. This guy thinks raccoons are cool, but he has a cat that he doesn't want to be killed by the coons.

[StagLefty]

Seems like the raccoon population has skyrocketed this year ? At least where I live there seems to be a lot more.

[XC700116]

I think clubbing is going to be the way to go. The guy's neighbor said he has to get headshots to kill them with the Gamo rifle. This guy thinks raccoons are cool, but he has a cat that he doesn't want to be killed by the coons.

make a simple trap.

2 pieces of 2X6, some tinfoil, and some sheetrock screws.

take one of the 2X6's and drill about a 1 inch hole in it.

Lay foil between the 2X6's so it's visable through the hole in the other and screw them together.

run about 5 or 6 sheetrock screws into the 2X6 with the hole at an angle surrounding the hole so the tips are about 1/4 - 3/8" apart inside the hole and pointing toward the foil.

Then throw some bait around the device like dog or cat food so there's something to get their attention and a small single piece at the bottom of the hole on top of the foil.

The coon will come to it, find the shiny object that smells of food and stick his paw in there to get it. can't pull it out due to the screws and he'll stay there all fricken night trying to get the food and shiny object out. Then Wop him one with a bat, golf club or whatever.

You'll have to weight it down so he can't drag it away but other than that it's pretty simple and straight forward.

Some say it's inhumane but it's better than pumping 10 pellets into one and having him get away.

[Stinky]

About 25 years ago I was a young Border Patrol Agent in San Diego county. We used to work in the northern parts of the county. One of the things that we did was Farm and Ranch Check. We would chase the UDAs around the fields and sometimes catch a few. The Oaxacans (Oaxacan Indians from central Mexico, from the state of Oaxaca) would often have a sling w/them. Not a slingshot, but a sling...of the type that David used to kill Goliath. I asked them, several times, have they ever killed anything w/it. They acted like it was a stupid question as they used em to kill all sorts of things, all the time w/it...rabbits, and etc.
BTW, I had a lot of respect for those Oaxacans...not very fast, but if they made it to the brush, they shifted into OD and gained a whole new gear/speed. They could walk all day, up hills, and down, they'd walk you into the ground. They were hillbillys, through and through. They would leave the hills, and come to the US (a whole nother world and dimension). We used to get a kick out of it...we'd send them south at San Ysidro, and there was a rotary gate/door on the border. It seemed like, that in every group there was guy that had never seen one before, and didn't really know how to negotiate it. Those boys were at home in the bush...you betcha!!!

[Dryfli]

I've seen my grandpa kill all sorts of stuff with a "flipper" he calls it, robins squirrels rabbits parrie dogs crows always 1 shot 1 kill. He's 88 now and I'm not sure about raccoons but I've never seen anything like it. I guess tons of practice pays off...

[45XD]

Raccoons are an almighty pain in the ass.
They used to get caught in our window wells until we finally got decent metal grates to cover them.
I agree with the live-trap/relocate option. We trapped one in a "have a heart" trap that was so fat, he was squishing out the sides. Man that sucker was pissed. Took two of us to load him in the back of the truck and had to upend the trap to get him out. I've read that you have to go a fair distance to relocate though or they'll come back....

[ray1970]

I've read that you have to go a fair distance to relocate though or they'll come back....

Not if you let them out somewhere in the country....










And then shoot them. [Coffee]

[Irving]

I think you are supposed to relocate them into a trash can full of water for at least 10 minutes. That's what I've heard anyway.

[ssgenuine]

They are very cute, unless you look at their teeth and claws. Not exactly a sweet disposition either. I always thought that the live trap was really a bath trap, just dunk and leave, then dunk and dump.