Where DOES the red fern grow?

So the boys got to fulfill one of my boyhood dreams. Gotta love living here in OR. Apparently the boys went out and treed a family of 'coons that live in our neighborhood. A mother and 4 little Kits. Sounds like the method of choice was to chase them down and throw rocks at them. Can't say that I would've come up with a better method given the quick required response time. Kind of a risky endeavor since raccoons are notorious for being a bit ornery under normal circumstances - let alone times when their trying to protect their young. I have a hard time envisioning how I would react if they were to get attacked by a protective raccoon. I'm pretty sure they would've had to have sustained a near life-threatening injury for me to react with any sense of urgency. In fact once the 'coon backed off I might even egg them on to give it one more round. I'm bad huh :) Builds character, puts hair on your chest. They'll thank me later.