Do I need my own dogs to go raccoon hunting?

Not necessarily — many established coon hunters welcome newcomers along on hunts, since it's a social tradition, but owning trained hounds is central to hunting independently.

Is raccoon hunting always done at night?

Overwhelmingly yes, since raccoons are primarily nocturnal, though some daytime hunting with hounds is possible in specific circumstances.

Can I release a treed raccoon instead of shooting it?

Yes, many hunters run hounds purely for the sport of the chase and tree, calling dogs off and leaving raccoons unharmed once the dog work is complete.

What breed of dog is best for coon hunting?

Popular breeds include Treeing Walker Coonhounds, Black and Tan Coonhounds, Bluetick Coonhounds, and Redbone Coonhounds, each with slightly different trailing and treeing styles.

Is raccoon fur worth anything?

Fur value fluctuates significantly with the fur market; it was historically a major economic driver of the hunt and remains relevant in some regions, though it's a smaller factor than in past decades.

What safety precautions matter most at night?

Reliable lighting, knowing the terrain in daylight beforehand when possible, carrying a charged phone or radio, and clear firearm safety discipline in low-visibility conditions.

Hunting · Small Game & Birds · Raccoon

Raccoon Hunting

A nighttime hound-hunting tradition built entirely around a dog's nose and voice, ending with a treed raccoon lit up by headlamp.

Raccoons are highly adaptable, found in nearly every habitat type across North America from deep forest to suburban neighborhoods, and are hunted almost exclusively at night using specially bred hounds trained to trail scent and tree the animal.

The entire hunt is organized around the dogs — a coonhound's job is to strike a fresh track, trail it by scent through the dark woods, and switch to a distinctive 'treed' bark once it has the raccoon cornered up a trunk, at which point hunters follow the sound and shine a light to locate the animal.

It's a genuinely social, night-woods tradition with deep roots in rural America, valued as much for the competitive and recreational aspect of running good hounds as for the harvest itself, and many hunts today are catch-and-release for the dog work alone.

Range: Nearly continent-wide
Peak season: Fall – winter, night hunting
Tag access: Over-the-counter
Live weight: 10–20 lb

Where to hunt raccoon

Raccoon hunting is possible almost anywhere with hardwood bottomland or mixed forest and reasonable hound access — quality depends more on dog work and local raccoon density than any specific destination.

Place	Why it's worth your time	How you get a tag
Southeastern bottomland hardwoods	Dense raccoon populations in river-bottom timber with a strong hound-hunting tradition	Over-the-counter fur-bearer or hunting license
Midwest farm country	High raccoon densities near agricultural fields and waterways	Over-the-counter fur-bearer license
Appalachian hardwood forest	Deep-rooted coon hunting tradition with good public hunting land	Over-the-counter fur-bearer license
Louisiana & Mississippi river systems	Excellent raccoon habitat in swamp and bottomland forest	Over-the-counter fur-bearer license
Northeast farmland-forest mix	Solid raccoon numbers near agricultural edges and streams	Over-the-counter fur-bearer license

How to hunt raccoon: the repeatable method

Raccoon hunting at night is built entirely around trained hounds locating, trailing, and treeing the animal while hunters follow on foot.

1Head out after dark into hardwood bottomland, agricultural edges, or mixed forest known to hold raccoon activity.
2Release trained coonhounds to range and search for fresh scent, listening for a change in bark that indicates they've struck a track.
3Follow the hounds on foot or by vehicle as they trail the scent, using their barking pattern to judge distance and direction in the dark.
4Listen for the distinctive 'treed' bark — a steady, continuous bark different from the trailing bark — indicating the raccoon has been cornered up a tree.
5Approach the tree and use a bright spotlight or headlamp to locate the raccoon's eyeshine high in the branches.
6Confirm the target is a raccoon and not another species before considering a shot, since eyeshine alone doesn't confirm identification.
7Take the shot with an appropriate small-caliber rifle or call the dogs off for a catch-and-release hunt focused purely on the dog work.
8Reward and praise the dogs immediately after a successful tree, reinforcing the behavior for future hunts.

Raccoon tracks, droppings, and sign

Coon sign is concentrated around water and food, and the tracks are the most human-looking prints in the woods.

Tracks

Handprints

Five long slender toes on both front and hind feet, the front print looking like a tiny human hand and the hind like a small flat human foot. Nearly always found in creek mud, on sandbars, and along pond edges.

Droppings

Latrines

Blunt-ended tubular scat full of berry seeds, corn, crawfish shell, and insect parts, deposited in communal latrines on logs, rocks, and at the base of den trees. Raccoon roundworm is a genuine hazard — never handle latrine scat bare-handed.

Feeding sign

Water & crops

Crawfish shells and mussel shells pulled apart on a creek bank, cornstalks pulled down and ears stripped in a field, and turned-over rocks in a shallow riffle.

Den trees

Cavities

Hollow trees with worn, hair-lined entrances 10–30 feet up, plus scratch marks on the bark below. Also culverts, barns, and rock crevices.

Trails

Water edges

Well-worn narrow trails along creek banks and between water and a crop field, used nightly and heavy with tracks.

Tags, licenses, and seasons

Raccoon hunting typically requires a small-game or fur-bearer license, and many states distinguish between raccoon hunting season and the separate trapping season for fur harvest.

1Buy a small-game or fur-bearer hunting license online from the state wildlife agency.
2Check whether your state requires a separate night-hunting permit or headlamp/spotlight use authorization.
3Confirm season dates, since many states run raccoon hunting seasons separate from and often longer than trapping seasons.
4Check local leash and dog-training regulations if running hounds outside the official season for training purposes.
5Verify landowner permission for hunting private timber at night, since access is a bigger factor than tag cost.

What the hunt is actually like

A coon hunt happens entirely in the dark, walking through unfamiliar woods by headlamp, following the sound of hounds working a scent trail somewhere ahead in the black timber.

The moment the bark changes to a steady treed chop is electric — hunters pick up the pace toward the sound, spotlights sweeping the canopy until a pair of eyes shine back from high in the branches.

Many hunters treat this as much a dog-competition and social hunt as a harvest pursuit — trading stories around a truck tailgate, judging each other's hounds' voices, and often letting a treed raccoon go unharmed once the dogs have proven their work.

Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Gear that decides the outcome

Not a shopping list — the handful of items that change whether you fill the tag and whether the meat gets home in good condition.

Trained coonhounds

The entire hunt depends on them

Breeds like Treeing Walkers, Blueticks, and Redbones are bred specifically for trailing and treeing raccoons; a good hound's nose and voice are the core of this hunt.

Powerful headlamp or handheld spotlight

Locate eyeshine

A bright, focused light is essential for spotting raccoon eyeshine high in dark canopy and for safely navigating rough terrain at night.

GPS dog tracking collars

Follow hounds in the dark

Modern GPS collars let hunters follow their dogs' location and hunting pattern on a handheld unit, critical in thick, dark terrain.

Small-caliber rifle (.22 LR or .22 WMR)

If harvesting

A precise small-caliber rifle handles a treed raccoon shot cleanly without excessive pelt or meat damage.

Sturdy night-hiking boots and headlamp backup

Rough terrain in the dark

Night hunts cover uneven ground with no visibility beyond your light; good footwear and a backup light source are essential safety gear.

How to harvest and field dress raccoon

Most coon hunting happens at night behind hounds, and the shot is straight up into a tree.

1Identify the animal in the tree with your light before shooting — confirm it is a raccoon and not a house cat, a possum, or someone's dog.
2Use a .22 rimfire and place the shot at the head so the pelt is not ruined and the animal is not left wounded in the tree.
3Leash the hounds before you approach — a live coon on the ground will maul a dog and bite you.
4Wear gloves. Raccoons carry rabies, leptospirosis, and roundworm, and they are the highest-risk small game animal to handle.
5Do not handle any raccoon that behaves oddly in daylight, staggers, or appears docile.
6Field dress promptly if you intend to eat the animal; otherwise handle the carcass for the pelt with the entrails intact and get it cool.
7Check trapping and hunting license requirements — pelt sale often requires a separate license or tag.

Safety and legal notice

This is general educational information, not legal advice and not a substitute for hunter education. Hunting law is set by the state, province, territory, tribal nation, or country you are standing in, and it changes every year.

Confirm the current season dates, legal hours, weapon and ammunition restrictions, tagging, and transport rules with the governing wildlife agency before you hunt.
Public-land, tribal, refuge, and private-property rules can differ from statewide regulations — verify the rules for the exact unit you are hunting.
Complete a certified hunter-education course and follow firearm and archery safety rules at all times; identify your target and what is beyond it before you release a shot.
Knife work on a downed animal causes most non-firearm hunting injuries. Cut away from your body, use cut-resistant gloves, and never work a blade toward a partner.
Recovering game in remote terrain, cold water, steep ground, or bear country carries real risk. Carry communication, tell someone your plan, and be willing to leave an animal rather than get hurt.

How to skin and process raccoon

Raccoon is skinned 'cased' for fur and quartered for the pot. Both start the same way.

1For fur, case-skin: cut from one hind foot pad across the vent to the other hind foot pad, ring the feet, and peel the hide down the body inside-out like a sock without opening the belly.
2Strip the tail bone out with a tail stripper or two sticks pinched together — a tail left on the bone rots.
3Flesh the hide thoroughly, pull it fur-in over a stretcher, and dry it in a cool place with airflow. Never dry a hide with heat.
4For meat, skin the animal open-style, then remove every one of the scent glands: the pea-sized kernels under the front legs, along the inner thighs, and at the base of the tail. Missing one ruins the meat.
5Trim all the fat off. Raccoon fat is where the strong flavor lives, and there is a lot of it on a fall coon.
6Quarter the carcass, soak overnight in salted or vinegared water, and change the water once.
7Parboil the quarters, then roast or braise long and slow. Always cook raccoon to well done — trichinella is a real risk.

Safety, health, and legal notice

Skinning and processing steps here are educational only. Food-safety outcomes depend on your handling, temperatures, and local health and wildlife rules.

Wear gloves and eye protection; wild game can carry brucellosis, tularemia, rabies, trichinella, and other zoonotic disease. Wash hands, blades, and surfaces thoroughly.
Follow your agency's chronic wasting disease, avian influenza, and carcass-transport rules, including mandatory testing and restrictions on moving intact heads or spinal columns across boundaries.
Chill meat below 40°F quickly and cook wild game to the USDA-recommended internal temperature — 165°F for game birds and 160°F for ground meat.
Do not eat meat from an animal that looked or behaved sick, and contact your wildlife agency if you find anything abnormal.
Selling, bartering, donating, or shipping wild game meat is restricted or prohibited in many jurisdictions. Check before you give any of it away.

Meat care and what you take home

Raccoon meat is dark, rich, and fatty, and requires careful trimming of fat and glands before cooking to avoid a strong flavor.

Traditionally slow-roasted or braised, often with sweet potatoes or in a barbecue-style preparation that renders the fat and tenderizes the meat.

Many hunters today pursue raccoon primarily for the hound-hunting experience and fur value, with meat consumption being a regional and personal choice.

Raccoon photo gallery(6 photos · tap to zoom)

Official sources and further reading

Seasons, bag limits, and shell restrictions change every year — especially for migratory birds. Confirm with these agencies before you hunt.

United Kennel Club — Coonhound Events
Coonhound breed standards, competitive night-hunt events, and training resources.
Find state wildlife agencies
Directory of every state wildlife agency for current fur-bearer regulations.
National Trappers Association
Fur-bearer management and harvest information relevant to raccoon hunting and trapping.
USFWS — Hunting
Federal hunting resources and public land access information.

Keep going

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Year-round hunting, minimal licensing, and one of the sharpest tests of calling skill and patience in North American hunting.

Wild Turkey

Cheap tags, dawn woods full of gobbling, and a shotgun hunt that rewards patience and calling more than gear.

Questions

Frequently asked

Do I need my own dogs to go raccoon hunting?: Not necessarily — many established coon hunters welcome newcomers along on hunts, since it's a social tradition, but owning trained hounds is central to hunting independently.
Is raccoon hunting always done at night?: Overwhelmingly yes, since raccoons are primarily nocturnal, though some daytime hunting with hounds is possible in specific circumstances.
Can I release a treed raccoon instead of shooting it?: Yes, many hunters run hounds purely for the sport of the chase and tree, calling dogs off and leaving raccoons unharmed once the dog work is complete.
What breed of dog is best for coon hunting?: Popular breeds include Treeing Walker Coonhounds, Black and Tan Coonhounds, Bluetick Coonhounds, and Redbone Coonhounds, each with slightly different trailing and treeing styles.
Is raccoon fur worth anything?: Fur value fluctuates significantly with the fur market; it was historically a major economic driver of the hunt and remains relevant in some regions, though it's a smaller factor than in past decades.
What safety precautions matter most at night?: Reliable lighting, knowing the terrain in daylight beforehand when possible, carrying a charged phone or radio, and clear firearm safety discipline in low-visibility conditions.

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