I realize this isn't hunting or fishing related but it's wildlife related so I thought I'd post here. We live in the city, your standard neighborhood, where squirrels are plentiful and the occasional rabbit is out during the day and possums out in the evening but in the 10+ years I've lived here I've never seen a raccoon.
I'm used to seeing raccoons when I lived in the country and I know they are common in cities but this is the first I've seen one in our yard. I've seen the possums eating the cat food at night but tonight there was a big raccoon out there. We have a young cat out there so I wanted to run the raccoon off. I shined a flashlight at him from in the house but that didn't phase him, I tapped on the window but that didn't phase him so I went out thinking he would run away. I've dealt with more raccoons than I can count and I've never seen one that didn't run from a face to face challenge from a human at 5-6 feet but this one stood his ground. He didn't act aggressive but not backing down until I advanced on him yelling with a light on him and getting within a few feet. Even then he only backed up far enough to keep about 5 feet between us and then he'd face off again but never growled or bared his teeth or showed any of the normal raccoon signs of aggression.
What do you guys think? Just him trying to keep from getting chased away from his food or something more? I just want some others opinions because I do have my cat out there and there are a lot of other animals in the area. I've dealt with rabid animals before and I know how important it is to catch it fast but I don't want to cry wolf either. I'm leaning towards hungry critter trying to not get pushed off the food but I've never seen one stand up to a human before, hungry or not.
I'm used to seeing raccoons when I lived in the country and I know they are common in cities but this is the first I've seen one in our yard. I've seen the possums eating the cat food at night but tonight there was a big raccoon out there. We have a young cat out there so I wanted to run the raccoon off. I shined a flashlight at him from in the house but that didn't phase him, I tapped on the window but that didn't phase him so I went out thinking he would run away. I've dealt with more raccoons than I can count and I've never seen one that didn't run from a face to face challenge from a human at 5-6 feet but this one stood his ground. He didn't act aggressive but not backing down until I advanced on him yelling with a light on him and getting within a few feet. Even then he only backed up far enough to keep about 5 feet between us and then he'd face off again but never growled or bared his teeth or showed any of the normal raccoon signs of aggression.
What do you guys think? Just him trying to keep from getting chased away from his food or something more? I just want some others opinions because I do have my cat out there and there are a lot of other animals in the area. I've dealt with rabid animals before and I know how important it is to catch it fast but I don't want to cry wolf either. I'm leaning towards hungry critter trying to not get pushed off the food but I've never seen one stand up to a human before, hungry or not.