Raccoons, just like other critters, are notorious for making a mess of the yard. Pellet guns have proved to be a great way to instantly eliminate pests. But can a pellet gun kill a raccoon?
Generally, a pellet gun can kill a raccoon with a well-placed shot. A .25 caliber pellet gun delivers at least 25 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy downrange which is sufficient to down a raccoon instantly. The terminal performance of a pellet gun matters for such slightly larger pests.
A perfect air rifle for raccoons should be easy to operate apart from being powerful. You can opt for the spring-piston-powered or the PCP-powered type even though the latter is more impressive in a variety of shooting situations.
Let’s get deeper into the topic.
Can a Pellet Gun Kill a Raccoon?
If you have a raccoon problem in your yard, it doesn’t get worse than that. Controlling raccoons with air rifles is nowadays a very commonplace practice across the United States.
With a good pellet gun that has serious stopping power, you can eliminate as many raccoons as there are in your front yard or backyard. However, you must be astute with your shots – placing every single one of them in the perfect area of the target.
Just about any air rifle that produces over 25 foot-pounds of muzzle energy could be a great option for these predators. Also, an effective range of 50 yards on the maximum is a nice point to start aiming from.
In the case that you miss the first shot, a proper pellet gun with a multi-shot function will be useful. Follow-up shots help your composure and provide a chance to give it a go again before the target disappears in the thick.
The single-shot springers are fantastic for the job. However, when it gets cold – a time when raccoons love getting out – you might never want to stick out your fingers for the loading of pellets each time you shoot.
So, you probably want to get a multi-shot like the Gamo Swarm Maxxim air rifle
(View on Amazon) for lightning-quick follow-up shots. This enables you to take out more than one pest in quick succession if you are a good shot.
Another multi-shot you can go for is the Benjamin Marauder Wood Stock air rifle (View on Amazon) or Synthetic Stock version. It is powerful and quiet for use in suburban areas.
Can a .177 Pellet Gun Kill a Raccoon?
If you are shooting a raccoon with a .177 pellet gun, you must be an excellent marksman to get good outcomes. Raccoons are not your small-sized game especially the adult raccoons in good health.
Can a .177 pellet gun kill a raccoon? Most of the time, a .177 pellet gun cannot kill a raccoon as it doesn’t have the requisite energy to do so. The .177 pellets also weigh in fewer grains meaning the impact is not that high.
But, if the .177 pellet gun falls in the hands of an experienced shooter, the raccoon will likely go down. A good shooter will aim in the side of the head which gets the pest down instantly.
Nevertheless, a.177 pellet gun is not designed to eliminate animals the size of a raccoon. They may produce excellent velocities on the spin but speed without power is not going to offer a kill.
What happens with using a .177 is unnecessary injuries to the target animal. In the end, the animal escapes with these wounds which get infected later. Then it dies some painful death.
This is the right way of killing a raccoon. As long as a clean kill is not achieved, that’s inhumane and you’re likely going to face the wrong side of the law if you are busted.
Is It Illegal to Kill a Raccoon on Your Property?
In the United States, different states have imposed different laws regarding the control of raccoons on properties. Some states allow for the killing of raccoons while other jurisdictions do not allow it at all, irrespective of circumstances.
In some parts of countries like Canada, killing a raccoon is illegal and you stand to have committed a criminal offense of cruelty to animals. You are even charged against being in possession of a deadly weapon.
So, is it illegal to kill a raccoon on a property? The answer depends on which state or region you come from. If the laws there prohibit the killing of raccoons as a protected wildlife resource, there is not much you can do. Just stick to the law as it stipulates.
Washington DC state laws only permit the capture of raccoons using non-lethal methods. The same applies to the District of Columbia in the US. In Toronto Canada, you are only permitted to trap the raccoon and take it to a veterinarian.
However, some states do permit the hunting of raccoons especially when these animals are in season. You only need to have a permit for the hunting period.
What is the Best Pellet Gun to Kill a Raccoon?
The best airgun for killing a raccoon must be powerful – with a lot of muzzle energy to it. Preferably, a .25 caliber airgun producing up to 30 foot-pounds would do a great job.
The gun should offer better penetration of pellets to have any meaningful use for you. Pellet velocity is important but it’s often not the real thing to look for when choosing an air rifle for a job the magnitude of dropping raccoon-sized pests.
Having said that, this Hatsan AT 44-10 QE air rifle (View on Amazon)is a prime example of a gun you need to have to take care of raccoons. It’s a reliable rig with great versatility and power.
Where is the Best Place to Shoot a Raccoon with a Pellet Gun?
It’s not just about shooting anywhere on the raccoon because you saw it. If that is what you are imagining, things are not going to work.
Before you shoot, you must aim in the right spot that you know if you fired a pellet, the impact will be too much for the target to recover. The shot must provide an instant kill which is called a humane kill.
When hunting a raccoon, the best place to shoot and take it down in no time is the head kill zone and the chest kill zone. These are the primary kill zone areas that if missed, your outcome will not be a clean kill.
The head and chest areas are known to house vital organs and blood vessels that keep the animal alive. If they are shot, these organs and blood vessels are damaged on impact and the animal cannot move – it just drops dead.
There are definitely two ways in which a projectile or pellet from a pellet gun kills the raccoon when you hit one of these spots. The first one is the physical damage that directly affects bones and soft tissues and the second one is that the impact disrupts the smooth flow of blood into crucial organs.
The kinetic energy from the gun is such powerful that once it enters the system it puts every process to a standstill. The animal becomes unconscious right away. The animal dies rapidly without going through any pain leading to a humane kill.
Will a 1200 fps Pellet Gun Kill a Raccoon?
Most 1200 fps pellet guns are found in the .177 category. This is remarkable velocity if you are target shooting, or plinking, and so on.
But if you are out there hunting, 1200 fps is extremely fast to give you any reasonable outcome. What happens is that it will penetrate the skin but not create an impact to kill the raccoon.
Maybe if you fire at a very close range in the head or chest you could have some impact to disrupt a few vital organs. A pellet traveling at a speed of 1200 fps seems to be extremely lightweight and does not transfer sufficient amounts of energy to the target.
This speed without serious kinetic energy only injures the animal and leaves it to die out of the wounds it sustained from the shots. Now, at this point, you are not achieving a clean kill.
Before long, you could land yourself in big trouble for causing pain to the animal and not dispatching it instantly.
Final Thoughts: Can a Pellet Gun Kill a Raccoon?
A raccoon is a slightly larger animal that would take a serious beating to have it going down. So, if you are considering using a pellet gun to control a raccoon problem in your backyard, power and accuracy are two super-important factors.
A powerful pellet gun will dispatch a raccoon instantly if the shot hits in the correct kill zone area. However, the shot counts nothing if it does not find the head or chest area.
A .25 caliber pellet gun and above is ideal for hunting raccoons and won’t harbor any reservations of causing injuries instead of killing.
