Racoon Issue

The dogs were going absolutely nuts barking at one of the bushes in the yard. No matter how much I called, they wouldn’t come inside. My first thought? Snake. We’ve had them in that exact bush before, so I grabbed the end of a shovel and started poking around, just in case.

Well, it wasn’t a snake—but whatever it was, it was not happy. Something in the bush started growling. My next guess was that maybe the dogs had cornered a neighbor’s cat, which had me even more stressed. I got down to try and see what was going on and came face to face with a very large, very angry raccoon.

Yikes.

I managed to bribe Scout into the house with a treat, but Lucy wasn’t giving up the fight so easily. I half-carried, half-dragged her inside before she got herself bitten. I figured I’d give the raccoon an hour or so to move on.

An hour later, Caleb got home and I told him I needed help, which was met with the usual teenage groans. But the moment I mentioned it was a raccoon, he instantly snapped into action. I’ve never seen him move so fast.

He grabbed the .22 and headed out. Turns out, this raccoon was massive—and it took multiple shots to bring it down. When the job was done, I told him he had to get rid of it. To my surprise, he didn’t argue once. I don’t think Caleb has ever been so eager to help in his life.