'coon huntin'

We had a family phone call with my family on Sunday night. My parents shared their adventure of the week -- a raccoon hunt. My parents like to have cats around the home/farm to keep control of mice. To keep the cats around, my dad likes to supplement their mice feasts with a little cat food, which he puts out on the carport for them. For awhile now, they have been aware that the cat food has been getting eaten by a raccoon(s). Well, Dad had had enough of feeding raccoons and brought the shotgun into the house, so he'd be ready next time he caught the raccoons feasting on the cat food in the carport. About 10 pm one night last week, my parents heard some noises on the carport and flipped on the light to check it out. Sitting there eating the cat food were FOUR adult raccoons!! Dad grabbed the shotgun, Mom grabbed the flashlight. They opened the door and scared the raccoons out of the carport. My parents followed in hot pursuit. Dad shot one by the tree (Dad didn't say which tree, and there are many to choose from) and found another one up IN the tree and shot it. By then the other two were nowhere to be found, so Mom & Dad went back inside the house. A little bit later they heard the rustling again on the carport and the two remaining raccoons were back to finish off their evening meal. Mom & Dad headed out again with the flashlight and shotgun and Dad managed to mortally wound one raccoon as it raced screaming off into the darkness. The other one got away, but not for long. Dad set a trap out by the sheds and back fence and in the morning he had a huge raccoon caught in the trap. Even though Dad offered a few people the opportunity to make some nice coonskin caps with a long tail, no one took him up on the offer and so he disposed of them somewhere. Mom & Dad thought they had taken care of all those darn raccoons, but alas, there were more raccoon noises on Sunday night. Maybe Dad will have another coon tale (tail) to tell about soon!!