Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Coons and Corn

Apparently if you feed racoons they have the potential to reach some insane densities with documented populations as high as 875 coons per square mile… …Makes you wonder what the true density is on the landscape now

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6G2nGijSoaJovO7A84G0Tl

No thank you

There must be some major disease outbreaks periodically running through the coon populations for them to be even remotely "in check" .....Either that or something is hammering the juveniles......I got a pic somewhere of one that had a big wound on the back of its neck where it had been grabbed by something.....

I read that coon eating habits are so bad that they have a fairly low lifespan in the wild.

That was a hard podcast to listen to. Sometimes Marcus rambles to much, especially when they do these impromptu podcasts.

Getting to the coons... No one cares, gotta keep those feeders slinging so we can kill three 14" 8pts every year....

Not just rambles but slooooowly rambles…..I had actually written out the same thing you just posted but deleted it so I didn’t just come across as negative Nancy all the time…… I’ll cut ‘em some slack on this one because they usually do a good job of conversing back and forth……He does worry me a little struggling with the conversion math though……C’mon dawg......its just 1 to 2.58

I’ve been saying that corn was likely making coon populations boom but I will concede to the idea that there is a potential path for that to be a wash.......For example, if there were to be a controlling factor like eagles and great horned owls for example that moderated that excess being produced….There could be lots of baby coons being born in May/June that never make it back around to the next April’s nesting season……I’d say at the very least though we probably help a bunch make it through winter and potentially feed the avian predators more prey in the summer

Here’s that pic of the coon something had gotten after……There was an active eagle nest on this property too. Not sure if that’s what this is from or not but it looks exactly like the shape of an eagles talons to me

W have 24 trough feeders, which we fill several times a year during summer months. We put dog proof traps by a lot of them and run them every couple of days for a couple of weeks several times. We also try to put them out right after deer season before turkey season for a week or so. Have caught a lot of coons, but it is a lot of work. Hard - Hot work - this time of the year, but successful.

I caught a bunch - hav kess coons - but they still come in waves - aggravating

I have knocked the coons back around my feeders to the point I only got a handful of coon pics this year. Didn't trap this spring and it may bite me this fall. It seems that consistently trapping them around an active food source for several consecutive years can really hurt the coon population.

I totally agree Fishduck

How much of that do you think is that you just conditioned them to stay away from your feeders?

No trapping during deer season and none during turkey season. I don't think with the way they reproduce, we scare any away from the feeders but that is a thought.

I don't believe that is the case at all. I don't trap at all during deer season. Trap very intensively in Feb as the last of the corn is spread. There isn't much else to eat at that time of year. I start feeding corn in Oct/Nov and did not see many coons at all. The population is down. It could be debated that something else caused the drop in numbers but I like to think I caused the change.

In years past I got pics of mobs of coons on my feeders nightly. The numbers of coons on the feeders has dropped as the trapping intensified.

I wonder if we would even know it was happening if some avian predators were hammering 8-10 week old coons as they leave the den??…….A coon that size only weighs a couple pounds ……There almost HAS to be some major mortality occurring……Just look at what that data was telling us about the potential that exists with those extreme examples given on the podcast……Those occurred in parks where they assumed it was simply from the coons having plenty of food resources……

Well…..it might not be the same exact scenario but just rolling with that same concept in general……..coons having access to all you can eat corn all winter long would have to be cranking out some pretty high reproductive numbers……The only way there isnt a sho nuff coon epidemic occurring would be due to really high mortality rates……It could be that some of them are basically starving to death during the summer after they emerge from the den…..Feeding on corn all winter is basically telling the mama coon’s reproductive system that they are in the land of milk and honey…..and then when May/June rolls around and there are mama coons starting to bring big wads of little ones out of the den to feed…..That food source is long gone and the number that was produced has to exploit what’s available in June/July/Aug……Woe to whatever food sources those may be

They are dying of something at a high rate or the landscape would be literally overrun with the amount of feed we put out in the winter now.....Avian predators may be the ultimate beneficiaries of that subsidized energy being injected if they're hammering that excess of young coons

I was looking to see and it says racoon litters typically vary from 2-5 occasionally with as many as 7……. So if you had 10 female racoons per sq mile (640 acres) that were eating good on corn all winter...... that would turn into 60 coons per sq mile come May/June when they had their litters…….not counting the adult 1+ year old males…..Whenever those litters emerge from the den and start foraging in late spring is when the highest density of racoons would be on the landscape that need feeding……Adding in males you could have 70 racoons or more in that sq mile in July that need to eat……There probably isnt enough food to support that to match the artificially inflated litter counts…..If something isnt eating the little coons after they emerge then they are likely heavily exploiting their food sources at that time of year

I have been killing/trapping coons a long time. It was very profitable in the early 80's. I'm not sure why but it seems every sow coon I have seen will have a litter of 3.