Beating a Raccoon to Death....

This is from today's edition of The Boulder Daily Camera, our local newspaper:
  "The Boulder City Attorney's Office has filed municipal charges against the University of Colorado student accused of killing a raccoon with a baseball bat last year so he could "take its' hide."  Jace Robert Griffiths, aged 20, was charged with subjecting animals to unnecessary suffering, killing prohibited wild animals, and littering, Boulder city prosecutor Janet Michaels said this morning.  (Littering is one of the municipal violations for which the Boulder City Council is currently considering reinstating jail time.)
   Griffiths originally was charged in the Boulder District Court with one count of felony aggravated animal cruelty, but the Boulder District Attorney's Office later dismissed the charges, saying Colorado law allows the killing of "fur-bearers" - including raccoons - during certain seasons for people with a proper license. At the time, District Attorney Stan Garrett said he planned to turn the case over to the city attorney for consideration of municipal violations.  Griffiths could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.
   According to a police report, officers were called to Griffiths' home in the 2800 block of Springdale Lane on 6 November 2013 on a report of a person killing raccoons. When officers arrived, they found a baseball bat covered in blodd on the front porch of the house, along with a raccoon skin covered in salt.  The porch was covered in what appeared to be dried blood, according to the report.
    In a written statement, Griffiths said the raccoon came out of a trash dumpster and was walking toward him and a friend.  "We could have walked away, but I decided to go up and kill it, so that I could take its' hide," Griffiths wrote in the statement.  "I immediately regretted hitting it, but, rather than throwing it out, I took the hide and threw the remains in the bottom Dumpster." " ~~~~
  I still cannot understand the reasoning behind this attack and killing.  Why would a person want a single raccoon hide?  Raccoon coats were all the rage 90 years ago - but a single pelt won't make much more than a cap.  Did he want a "coonskin cap?"  I know a lot of folks who collect raccoon tails - but what would a city boy do with a single hide from a raccoon?