rabid raccoon?

[ImportSlayer503]

hey guys, i need your opinions, today i was out in the front yard around noontime with a friend of mine burning brush off a stone wall, my mother, father, sister, and dogs were all outside, we were making noise and everything. all of a sudden i look and behind my house basicaly running through my barnyard is a pretty scuffy looking coon. i grabbed the dogs, ran inside and got my shotgun. i know enough about coons to know that they rarely come outside during the day and especially dont run through barnyards, surounded by hundreds of acres of fields, especially with dogs and people around. so i loaded the gun with 000 buck magnums and ran him down. he ran up on a stone wall and i shot him at a range of about 15-20 feet, he fell off the wall, and ran behind a rock, i came over the rock and he was still alive so i shot my last shell, i hit him well. no joke guys, this coon ran another 10 yards into a thicket... i could still hear him dragging himself through the bryers, my friend ran back to the house and grabbed my other three shells and i loaded one and got an angle on the coon and finnished him off with a point blank shot. does this coon sound normal? was i right to kill him? i feel pretty bad, especially since he died pretty slowly... normaly i wouldnt bother with a raccoon but i would rather shoot a rabid coon than my rabid dog...

[SPIKEHORN11]

I'm not sure what the season is there but if you think it might be rabid I would call the local Conservation officer and have them run some test. I would have to be in that situation to say what call I would make but you family is # 1. If it does have rabies good for you for protecting everyone in the area from being possible bit.

[Weasel]

You have to be careful when any animal isn't acting normally. Call your county health dept. My dog caught a bat a couple of weeks ago and they tested the bat for rabies. It doesn't cost anything and they like to monitor these things.

[Tree climber]

any wild animal that is not scard of you has something wrong with it.a coon that doesn't run when it see's you,blast him!![&:]

I think you did right.that way you protected you dogs and family.

[Mike01]

Did exactly what I'd of did. You just don't see coons like that in daylight; if you do, somethings wrong. I'd definately get a game warden out there to run a test, cos they'll put out alerts if it comes positive.

[dhuntingr]

i would have done the same thing . good job

[bambikiller6]

i know in Manitioa if you have a rabid coon come near your dogs they will be locked up to watch for them being rabid. the way to test for it being rabid is sending off its head and i think their was not much head left, right? i woud say you are better to follow the 3 s rule

[live2hunt743]

I had something similar happen to me. I was eating super infront of our large windows and i look out to see an old racoon sort of wabling back and forth on our deck. its tail was also very faint colored and tinted yellow. so i knew something was up. But i live in the kind of neighbor hood where the .22 would be too big of a job so we just called the cops and they came out, looked at the situation, and grabbed the little dog napper things (long pole with round rope at the end). he went over, got the coon, held it down, and shot it with is handgun from about 3 feet away (no idea on caliber size) of course, it took another shot to kill the thing. but i think it was the right thing, it obviously looked rabbid or on the verge of death.

so i think you did the right thing. better to shoot it and illeminate the problem than to leave it and still have the risk.

[duckbttr]

I say you did the right thing. Just wondering though from reading some of these posts, don't most dogs get rabies vaccines which would keep them from getting rabies if tangling with a rabid animal. Not that I would want my dog tangling with a wild animal anyway but....

[trapperDave]

rabies is prevalent on the east coast, good possibility. You should contact your local Dept. of Health and see what they want done. live2hunt743, yours sounds more like a case of distemper