While muskrats are often the first furbearer caught by new trappers in Minnesota, raccoons are usually the first large animal new trappers target.  For many, making the changes necessary to locate, catch and hold a raccoon can present some challenges.

Looking back more than forty years ago, I can remember obtaining permission to trap a large farm in my home area (East Central Minnesota).  I rode my bike to the farm a couple times a week in summer, counting all the raccoon tracks I’d see in the mud puddles along field roads and ponds in the cow pasture.  I’d never caught a raccoon before, but had already picked out the new bike I was planning to buy with the money from the sale of my coon pelts.  Raccoon tracks were everywhere.

When trapping season opened, I wired 1 ½ long spring traps to fenceposts along the field road, dumping raccoon lure onto the ground near the mud puddle, or wire a trap to a wooden stake and pound into the ground at pasture ponds where coon tracks had been all summer.  Some sets were baited, some without.  Surely a catch was a done deal on next morning’s check.

We didn’t have opossums in the area back then but skunks were extremely plentiful and they seemed to find the fish bait to their liking.  After another week or so, I finally had a raccoon blunder into one of my sets.  Upon arrival, my set looked like a bomb had gone off.  A huge catch circle was clearly visible.  The farmers wood fence post now looked like a toothpick, chewed around from bottom to top.  The trap was wound so tight around the wire and post that it was difficult to untangle.  The only way I knew I had caught a raccoon was the coon tracks in the mud.  The coon had wrapped the trap tight around the fence, and using its great strength, powered out and escaped.

I didn’t bring home a raccoon that season, but I learned a lot.  What I later came to realize is how little I understood about raccoons and their habits.  I had completely ignored the farmer’s oak woods, corn fields and geographical features (ridges, dry washes, culverts).  I even knew less about what raccoons ate, where they lived, how the seasons changed their habits, and just how strong they could be!  Finally, my understanding of traps and methods were also seriously lacking.

Raccoons are large, strong animals.  Often 25 pounds, Minnesota raccoons can be much larger. Body length of 30 to 37 inches is common with a tail between 9 and 12 inches long.  Heavily muscled skull, neck and front shoulders along with an ornery disposition make them formidable opponents to larger predators and dogs.  Long legs with tapered feet make pulling out of traps easier for raccoons than other furbearers.  Raccoons have five toes on each foot and when walking have a peculiar back foot front foot, front foot back foot, track pattern.

  

Raccoons start breeding during warm spells in late February or March, and young are born approx. two months later.  Litters between two and eight “kits” are common.  Female raccoons do all the work, raising the kits alone.  Four to six months later, raccoons are “adults” and will start to live on their own.

Raccoons are “Omnivores” meaning they eat multiple types of food.  The kits start out with minnows, frogs, crayfish, but also eat bird and turtle eggs and young.  In midsummer, raccoons will eat worms and nightcrawlers, often tearing up sod in lawns to get them.  They love soft dirt, and will investigate freshly dug dirt for grubs, insects and worms.  In late summer, raccoons start to shift their diet to various plant material - fruits, berries, apples and grapes.

Late season finds raccoons hitting the oaks for acorns and in the corn fields, putting on as much weight as possible before winter.  

Raccoons are not “true hibernators” like woodchucks or ground squirrels.  They will den up at times during bitter cold weather, but do leave the den from time to time.  I have trapped many raccoons during below zero weather, and often get some of my largest raccoons of the year during the winter in fisher/bobcat seasons.  If a food source is easily available, and the snow is not too deep, raccoons will be feeding from it.

Raccoons are opportunists in denning locations.  In my area, large Oaks, Cottonwoods, Silver Maples, and especially Basswood trees seem to be favored by coons.  I have also found large numbers to den in dry culverts, large brush/tree piles, vacant buildings, storm sewers, under sheds, junked cars.  In northern wilderness areas they like abandoned/dry beaver lodges and beaver runs.  While living in Western Minnesota I often found raccoons living in ground dens and old badger holes.  Raccoons will often change den locations, especially when ticks and fleas are numerous.

The male “boar” coons also make trails to and from dens and food sources, although it has been my experience that these trails are less visible and not nearly as worn down as those made by the sow and her young.  In more open country with long fence lines, raccoons will follow weedy fence lines with scattered trees, having a distinct trail from tree to tree.

Lakes, ponds and marshes often have a heavy coon trail around its perimeter.  Look for large hollow trees close by and trails will be found leading from the tree to the water.  Raccoons hunt for injured ducks, geese and muskrats around water.  In winter, check farm fields or woods for fruit/apple trees with fruit still attached to the branches.  Coons will travel a long way to feed from these.

Rivers, streams and ditches often have distinct wet trails in and out of the water, and higher dry trails up on the bank, from raccoons.  Trails may lead to a tree leaning out over the river and used as a crossing log, log jams, or prime food sources.  Late season trails may lead to an area of the stream that doesn’t freeze over in cold weather, giving coons access to open water.