Went out to my spot this morning to do some deer hunting. As I was walking out at 5:00 am I saw a set of eyes glowing from my head lamp. At first I thought it was a deer, but didn't hear it run off or snort. As I walked in to my stand here come a coon right at me, all I saw was teeth. I threw a stick at it and it still was coming at me. With my light on I could see it had something all around it's mouth. Two more sticks and the coon went up a tree. It come back down as I walked pass the tree and I nocked a arrow, just to be safe.

I have to say I was a little scared at first. The coon went up another tree right next to my stand and I then could tell it had rabies. This stuff was dripping from it's mouth. I got set a loosed a arrow at it and missed. I nocked another arrow and loosed that one. Thud it hit and hit hard. the coon went up about another 5 foot in the tree and just stayed there, I moved around to get another shot when the coon came out of the tree.

I hit him just behind the ribs and put the arrow in the chest area. Coon season doesn't start till Tomorrow night about 7:45 pm so I sent a email to NJ F&W telling them what I did. Still waiting for a reply. Well I didn't get a deer or seen one, but My self made red oak bow now has MoJo.

Here is 2 pic's of him. I cleaned him up some since there was stuff on his face and blood all over him. From tip of noise to tip of tail 28" long
 
 

Rabid animals are as dangerous a game as you can get.  Hope you were wearing gloves to protect yourself when you cleaned it up and got your equipment back.

Hope you saved the carcass also so it can be tested.

What Tim said.........

It only takes a very small break in the skin, and it becomes transmissable. I too, hope that you were VERY careful.

Winterhawk1960

Man that's scary.....I've got a ton of coons out where I live and I try to keep the population down because of this possibility.  The porch lioness is not a coon fan either and I worry she might get bit when I'm not there.

Yes, I had on gloves. My local health dept just left with it, they told me that they had 4 other calls in this area about rabid coons and thanked me for getting this one.

I hate when they climb in a tree with you.

Thank the Great Spirit it wasn't in the same tree, just the one next to my tree...

good job!

Thanx.

You did that coon a mercy.

So very true.... Just to let everyone know, I took off the Bh and it is soaking in bleach, I stripped down the arrow and I sanded it down to bare wood and I just started to reseal it. After 6 coats of tru-oil I'll refletch it.

I had a similar experience back in august. I was walking around my pond at about 9am and I saw a coon in broad daylight sitting in the open. I ran back and grabbed my bow and a practice bh and came back and shot it. Even after I shot it, he didn't even run, he just walked off a little ways and died. He wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything so I don't know what was up.

My prediction is the test will come back negative for rabies.  Pretty rare to find rabies in raccoons west of the Ohio river.  Could happen, but rare.  

More than likely the raccooon sufferred fron distemper which would cause it to act much like a rabid animal and have discharge from the mouth, nose and even eyes.  

At any rate, it's good to remove sick animals so they don't infect others.

Trap

TRAP....

I think that New Jersey is EAST of the Ohio River.  

Winterhawk1960

QuoteOriginally posted by Winterhawk1960:
TRAP....

I think that New Jersey is EAST of the Ohio River.  

Winterhawk1960

I checked... it is.

Sal, where was this?  Zone 2?

you may have worn gloves; and you may have sanded down the arrow; but if one drop or even less got on you; you could die - if that coon had rabies. Its resting against your bow; did you clean your bow before you picked it up?

Man I would find out like yesterday if that coon had rabies; and they should be able to tell you like yesterday.

The old test ( the older I get the more things change) was to examine slices of the brain of the animal to look for star shapes in them.

If that coon had rabies; you are betting your life that you did not get a drop of saliva or blood on you - by transference or any other method.

For heavens sake- get the results of the coons test NOW- and talk to a doctor about this.

And for everyone out there; if the old method of testing the animals is still the way they are tested; a 'head shot' can destroy the identifiers for the disease; so don't do that; because you could end up taking anti-rabies shots; something which is less painful than in the past; but nothing at all to look forward too.

About 10 years ago here in Massachusetts, Rabies decimated the coon and skunk population from a strain of rabies out of the Mid Atlantic area.  We had rabid coons walking down the streets in Boston.  I surgically submitted at least 10 positive heads because you can only find the virus in the brain and that was all the state rabies lab wanted.  Gotta tell you that was the most intense surgery I've ever done.  I would triple glove up doing every thing in triple garbage bags closing each layer of gloves & bags over the coon carcass.

Also my nurse and I were both exposed to a rabid cat out of the city.  Even though we just touched the fur, we went thru a series of rabies shots due to possible contamination from saliva on the fur.  That is all with the fact that we get regular rabies vaccination.  

Needless to say be very careful with a suspected rabid animal...Doc

PS:  There is no cure for rabies just prevention in vaccination!  Doc

Trap
New York and New Jersey had a big problem with rabid coons a few years ago. It got passed on to some whitetails in the area that I hunted. I knew of several deer that were put down by rangers and that tested positive for rabies.