The RacDad and I lived on my family farm for the first 4 years of our marriage. When SweetPea was about 2 years old, we had a lot of wild animals that liked to come onto our acreage; deer, woodchucks, opossums, and raccoons, to name a few. Our farmhouse sat on about an acre with a driveway that circled it and a 1 stall garage near the house. The larger buildings and our 2 car garage sat on the other side of the driveway. And we kept our garbage cans under the safety light on the other side of the drive from the house.
One night, we had gotten SweetPea to bed and cleaned up the kitchen. We were in the midst of a conversation and needed to take the garbage out. Since it was a nice night, we decided to both go so that we could continue talking. We get outside, and see a raccoon next to the garbage. So, we stopped on the wood steps leading to the house to watch it. It stopped and saw us. Now, raccoons are skiddery little things. They usually run away from people, or play dead. When they don't, it's usually because they have a problem....like rabies.
I stomped on the step, making a loud noise, expecting it to run away. Instead, it got onto it's hind legs. I stomped again, and it took a step forward. I looked at The RacDad and said, "There's something wrong with this raccoon.....go get the gun." So, he unlocked the door and went into the small garage to grab the rifle off the wall. He comes back and stands next to me. The raccoon took another step.
The RacDad then cocked the gun, aimed, and took his shot. Instantly, everything was moving like slow motion. The raccoon grabbed his chest, and stumbled on his hind legs from one side to the next like a drunk trying to walk. Then he spun in a circle on one foot and dropped to the ground. After we gasped about what we just saw, The RadDad took another shot and the raccoon scampered off.
We never did find it. But we didn't have a problem with raccoons again after that. It was one of the funniest things that I had seen. It was like watching a cartoon. "Oh....he shot me!"
* I can't say that no animals were harmed in the making of this story, because we never did find it to see if it actually was shot. But, when you live on a farm, sometimes you just have to do what is necessary to protect yourself and your property (which sometimes includes getting rid of wild animals that could cause harm or spread disease.)*
**Thank you to the blogs/websites that I borrowed the pictures from. The pictures are linked to who they belong to.**
Maybe I'm a little slow but I can't find anything funny about shooting an animal just trying to survive in it's own habitat.
ReplyDeleteShooting animals is not funny in general, Carrie. And my husband and I are not the type of people to just shoot defenseless creatures....this was not done in pleasure. The raccoon was not in it's habitat, it was in mine. And as I explained, this animal was showing odd behavior that was a sign that it was not well. It's not normal for raccoons to be outwardly aggressive. Since we were on a farm in a rural area, it's not like we could just call up "Animal Control" to come take care of it. So, something had to be done so that it wouldn't 1) attack us as we tried to take out the garbage 2) attack our children later on when they were outside playing and 3) harm other animals in the area or spread whatever disease that it had to those other animals. I don't expect people that have never lived in rural areas to understand. And I'm not even sure if we actually hit it or not because it ran away. What I found comical was the theatrical performance by the raccoon, and that is what I was sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, it does better explain to me what you found funny. Rural setting I do understand as I live in New Hampshire.
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