The Status of the Raccoon in Iowa for the Past Twenty Years as Revealed by Fur Reports

In recent years the raccoon (Procyon lotor) has become more and more popular with \u27coon hunters in Iowa. This is also true in many other Midwest and southern states. This increased interest in the raccoon as a game animal, plus the almost phenomenal increase in its numbers, has helped to focus much attention on this animal throughout the United States. Many papers dealing with various phases of the raccoon\u27s life history and habits have appeared in the past few years. Few of these papers have presented actual figures on the trend of the population in any given area, although there does seem to be general agreement among biologists and others concerned that the raccoon population has increased tremendously in recent years. With no actual figures available, it is difficult to determine when this irruption occurred, since memories usually fail to agree when data are not available