This is absurd! I used to go after them with a baseball bat (never got one though). Sometimes they would just sit there and stare at me until I was almost on top of them. Some of those suckers are BIG!
LOL, my brothers and I did the same thing. We'd drive around the countryside until we came across a raccoon. Then with flashlights and baseball bats, we'd chase them down and bash em. We'd get $35 to $40 per coon, not bad money for the early 70s.