Humans hunt a number of animals, including raccoons. But, why are raccoons hunted?

Raccoons are hunted mainly to keep the population down, they are a nuisance to humans. These animals can also attack your pets, spread disease, steal your pet’s food and rummage through your trash. They are also hunted for sport and a small number of people eat their meat.

Many people don’t like raccoons, raccoons are seen as vermin and as a nuisance. These masked bandits are known to make a mess and rummage through your trash. Just as with many wild animals, these wild mammals are hunted too. So why are raccoons hunted? This article looks into it. So whether you’re a concerned raccoon lover, want to hunt raccoons or are simply curious this article is for you

Why are raccoons hunted?

Some say that raccoon hunting is as old as America itself, there are various reasons why people hunt raccoons. 

Raccoon hunting was a very profitable industry during the 70s and the 80s. During this time you could sell a pelt for $30. Trapping and hunting raccoons could help you pay for a considerable number of bills.

Over time the demand for the pelts decreased. Today, a good, very high-quality pelt can only be sold for around $2, if you can find a willing buyer, because of this lack of demand many raccoon pelts are left unsold 

These days, people mainly hunt raccoons for sport and only if their hound dogs are trained to hunt these small animals. Raccoon hunting is generally a tradition passed down in the family.

In addition, hunting raccoons has become more of a wildlife management activity. It is necessary to do in some areas where raccoons have a very high population, hunting is necessary to maintain a low raccoon population.

Raccoons have spread outside their natural wildlife range, thus hunting them is more of a need now. If these animals aren’t hunted they will turn up your trash, spread disease and they can also eat your dog or cat food if you leave it out. They are a nuisance overall. 

In some cases, people will even hunt and kill these animals to eat. People who do this say that the animal tastes like beef but some disagree, but of course each to their own.

This isn’t only a tradition in America. Raccoon pelts are an important part of the fur trade in Canada. These pelts can only be harvested when it’s prime harvesting time. Prime harvesting time happens during the cold weather seasons. This is when the fur of the raccoon is at its highest quality. Harvesting has to be done before winter because during winter the fur becomes ruined. In Canada, raccoon hunters need a license to hunt raccoons

What do you hunt raccoons with?

Many people who hunt raccoons let their dogs out at night. The dogs will go out searching for the raccoon scent, when they finally find the raccoon scent they will start to bark and this is how you’ll know that your dog has found the trail. The trail is helpful because you know which direction the raccoon is going and thus find its den. Once you find and look into the raccoon’s den it’s reflective eyes will flash, you can use a small calibre rifle to take the raccoon

If you want to hunt the raccoon during the day you can use electronic game calls. This method also requires you to take the raccoon with a small calibre rifle. To do this, you need to find the raccoons den sites, these include large bush piles, empty and abandoned buildings and hollow trees.

To attract the raccoons, the electronic game call will create the sounds of young raccoons or fighting raccoons. This will draw the raccoon out of its den or where ever it’s hiding and you can use the rifle to take the raccoon. 

Tip: To avoid getting lost you can use a GPS tracking device. This will help you get back to your car, you can also use a GPS device on your dog’s collar

Summary

In summary, raccoons are hunted for a variety of reasons, in the 70s and 80s they were hunted for their pelts. These pelts where of a higher value and people would pay a considerable amount of money for a pelt.

Today raccoons are hunted to keep the population down because they can become a nuisance to humans. They can also spread disease, attack your pets, rummage through your trash and steal your pet’s food. They are also hunted for sport and some people eat their meat as they say it tastes like beef.

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other raccoon related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: how do raccoons not get sick, why do raccoons eat garbage, how to keep raccoons from eating tomatoes, why are raccoons fat,