Man... it might be that raccoons are just tough buggers, or that we weren't committed enough... but anyway I have actually watched something be killed with a claw hammer and it wasn't as quick as I'd hoped.
One unfortunate side effect of having fairly hoplophobic parents despite living in the country is not having a gun around to deal with animal control.
There was raccoon hanging around our house, bothering our pets -- likely diseased. My dad pinned with a pitchfork. I went looking for something to put it out of its misery... couldn't find the axe, so I bring out a hammer and tried to smash its head in. First blow didn't do it, so Dad takes the hammer away from me and starts wailing on it.. The thing definitely *died*, but it wasn't really "out of the fight" until the 4th or 5th blow to the head... Sent blood spurting ten feet into the air. Dad looked like an extra in a Tarantino movie (washed that shit off right quick, too -- see the earlier "diseased" comment.)
Anyway... that sticks me with me hard any time I think about having to go hand to hand with someone. Gotta go hard and keep going.