Set up a cardboard backstop and tape a balloon to it to give you something to aim at. Then you'll see exactly where the missed shots hit. There may be some consistency to it that you can adjust for, and it may help to improve your aim.
John means to help you see how your gun shoots so you can adjust your aim. He is not trying to ruin your fun. You can draw a target on the cardboard and shoot at it a few time. Adjust how you shoot just a smidge at a time to see where the bbs are going.
I don't even try any more aside from one trick. It doesn't keep the bandits at bay permanently but it seem to shake them. I have small firecrackers. Around the time they get active in the evening I'll toss 1 or 2. Usually 1 on the roof and then sometimes a 2nd toward the bushes at the back of my yard where they sometimes lurk.
When we had the birds flying down and eating the strawberries and later, the grapes; Mr. Bobby got one of those motion activated sprinklers and set it up near whichever fruit he was trying to protect. Anytime a bird or squirrel came near, the sprinkler came on and blasted them with water for about 30 seconds and then shut off again once the critter left. This might possibly work on your raccoons, too, @Von Jones , and could be left on overnight to stop them after you were gone to bed. I am not sure which one Bobby got, but amazon has a variety of them.
I'm surprised that they run when you appear, @Von Jones. I've had possums at my place outside of DC, and they just sat there by the door and stared at me when I'd come home in the wee hours. I had raccoons at my grill out here in the country, and when I opened the door thinking it would frighten them, they actually ran AT me to get inside!!! The critters out here should be fearful of getting shot at. The ones in your area have no such concern. It's backwards.
Could it be that I'm predictable to them? They know that I'm coming out but they don't want to stick around to see what's coming. I know it's said that raccoons are smart but like I've said before God hasn't made a creature smarter than man on this earth. Man just makes wrong judgements and gets hurt or dies from his attempts to overcome the animal.
Jacob, someone would probably call the police on me if I did that within the city limits. Knowing me I wouldn't do just a single it would be the whole pack.
When I get more than one coming around here on a regular basis, I live-trap them and relocate them out of town, but near enough to houses so that they don't have to suddenly acclimate to a wilderness environment. In other words, they can become someone else's problem.
So Ken, what kind of problems have you had with more than one raccoon, or is it just a preventive measure to avoid having them around?
I don't mind seeing a raccoon around occasionally, but I don't want them to think of my yard as an encampment for them. I take the squirrel food and the feral cat food in at night so the raccoons don't get to it. I can't afford to feed raccoons. They tend to dump out whatever they don't eat, and they crap right next to the bowl.
Pretty much the raccoons seem to stay out of our yard, probably because we have the dogs that go in and out. We have seen both raccoons and possums, so they can get in over the fence, but we never have any trouble with them. Even in the front yard, which is not fenced, and is where the garbage can is located, we don’t have raccoons , at least that we know of. It is the rats that get under the house somehow, and have chewed up all of the ducting for the heat/air, ruining that whole system, so we can only use the little space heaters and window AC units now. Since the cold weather in December, we have been feeding the neighborhood cats, and hoping that as they spend more time in the area, they will also hunt and eat the rats. I don’t know if they are doing that or not, but Bobby enjoys their company out on the front porch.