Speaking of racoons. . .my Dad accidentally cornered a big fat male in one of our horse stalls we were using as extra storage once and had to kill it with a lawn chair. . .he was extremely out of breath after that bout!!!
Coon was in the stall when my Dad went in. . .it was dark and he hadn't turned on the lights yet. . .as soon as he hit the lights the coon came straight at him and he had to grab whatever was closest. . .which just happened to be one of those aluminum tube and woven fabric lawn chairs. . .chair wasn't any good after that. . .
Funny... one night the wife and her sister woke me up and said something was getting the dog in the greenhouse. You could hear one hell of a scrap going on, so I jumped out of bed and ran straight out there. Our jack russel, Kelsey, and a big coon were going at it. I grabbed the first thing I could, a big plastic jug full of cat litter, and smashed it right down on top of the coon. The coon went down with all fours spread out and the dog on top of it... Then the coon got up and let out this huge pissed off growl...it was then I realized that I was only standing there in boxer shorts. I made a short haste for my dads house across the yard to get one of my guns out of the safe, but the girls let the coon get out (even though I told them to stay and block the exit... silly girls), so I didn't get him. Moral of the story keep a loaded gun on the bedside... which has been the demise of several possums and coons.