We live in sem-rural Missouri. Small town, about 60 miles outside of St. Louis. We are on 3 acres, so it's not like I'm out in the middle of nowhere without neighbors. We have had some raccoons start to visit us at night. They are coming up on the back deck and scrounging for bird seed. They also knock my hummingbird feeders down and drink the sugar water. We also have chickens, so I need to get rid of the trash pandas before the look for a new food source, our chickens.
We got a trap and set it out. The first night, they stuck their stupid raccoon arms through the trap and ate all of the bait that way. Never set the trap off. Next night, we used bigger stuff and left the trap on safe to try to get them to think it's okay to go into the trap. They ate everything. Next night we tried the same approach but left the trap armed. They ate everything without setting the trap off again. The next night we used peanut butter spread onto a piece of cardboard with birdseed sprinkles for added enticement. We also put some boards all around the trap, leaving only the door available for entry. This time it worked. I woke up at 2:30 AM and sure enough, there was a raccoon in the trap. I left it out there until morning and then drowned the thing. I have to admit, I felt a little bad killing it in this manner. I think a bullet to the head would be much more humane.
So, my question to the Surly hoard, what type of rifle/round will be quiet enough to shoot from inside a window without waking anyone up and kill the vermin from about 20 yards? If I can do that, then I'm sure that I won't disturb my neighbors, whose house is about 200 yards away. I've looked at some air rifles, but to get the killing power it looks like there will still be a fairly loud crack as the round leaves the muzzle.