I'm sorry to prolong the raccoon controversy, but I thought I'd add my thoughts on it. MOO, but the raccoon was just an attempt at a believable cover story to explain to Tammy why there was disturbed ground. I've read a lot of people, in a lot of places, questioning why one would shoot a raccoon that was just walking around in the day, but:
1) there's a common perception that only sick/rabid raccoons come out during the day, as they are primarily nocturnal animals (really, though, there can be other reasons that they might be out during daylight), and
2) raccoons can be major pests on a farm or homestead or anywhere, really. Tammy had ducks. Raccoons can harass or kill ducks, or steal their eggs or eat their feed.
I can imagine that maybe Chad and Tammy had previously had the "ugh, raccoons are getting in the duck coop" conversation before, and thus, this text message both proves him heroic to his duck-keeping wife and provides an explanation for a grave-like area in the pet cemetery. And yes, if my husband shot a raccoon on our farm, he'd probably haul it out to the woods to decay. BUT, if he shot a raccoon on the Daybells' 4 acres, what else do you do with a dead critter to keep other critters from flocking to the carcass, but bury it?
All MOO and no, it still doesn't explain why Prior was so fixated on this fictional trash panda.
