Originally Posted by baddog

So, when I pulled into my driveway a few minutes ago, the headlight on my bike caught some varmint run from my neighbors yard to the tree in front of my kitchen window.

It froze when I tried to line up my headlight on it, but I was wearing shades, and it was slightly higher up the tree than my headlight would hit. I saw what looked to be a ringed tail, and the tail seemed a little long to be a cat.

I blew it off and parked the bike in the garage.

Anyway, a few minutes later I came outside to blow off a few fireworks, and I heard something in the tree. I looked over and saw this varmint was still (or back) in the same place saw it before. I went to the trunk of my car, and pulled out my high-beam flashlight and sure enough, I am now making contact with a huge fucking raccoon.

We stared at each other for a while, and I have to admit that it seemed like it would make a nice pet. Pretty nice looking animal. I soon learned that raccoons don't really like fireworks too much.

So, you country people, what can you tell me about raccoons? Is this something I should be concerned with? Should I trap it? Kill it? Ignore it? Do they carry rabies?

This is the first time I have ever seen a raccoon in this setting, so not really sure how he ended up down here. I have had possums and squirrels, but this is the first coon.