Daytime raccoon calling

[Castmaster]

I want to try to do some daytime raccoon den calling for the first time this season and looking for advice. I would like to know about what types of den trees to look for, best month, best call etc. I have a foxpro hi-jack that I’ve only used for crow hunting so it would be awesome to break it in properly on some trash pandas!

thanks in advance

 

[dirtytough]

Look up the FP podcast. I believe there was a recent one on calling raccoons with MFK. Not sure if MFK has any coon vids or not.

Also The Last Stand usually does an episode on calling raccoons.

 

[ddowning]

The level of instruction on those videos isn't great. Rick Pallet did a video with the Borlands years ago that was pretty good. They were the owners of Minaska game calls. It was probably about 20 years ago. Also, around that time some good articles were written on the subject.

Coons den in different areas in different climates as well as different times of the year. They partially hibernate when it gets extremely cold, so the days that are unseasonably warm usually produce the best. They aren't real smart but if they see you or hear you approach the stand your odds go down. SOME are stupid enough you can hold the call out of the window of a pickup in a pasture and kill them. That's probably less than 1%, so don't believe the stories about hunting that way being super effective. Also, surprisingly enough, it helps to play the wind.

Download a bunch of coon fights and some coon in distress. Work through the sounds at about 60 seconds each until you get a response. Start with the least aggressive and move to the most aggressive. Once you get a response to the call, keep playing that sound on that stand unless it appears they are losing interest. Like coyotes, changing the sound will grab their interest. Hide the call on the back side of the tree away from the hole or use a decoy. It doesn't have to look like a coon, you just need movement. They will sit and look at the call from the den if there is no decoy and they can see it. If you haven't seen a coon in 5 minutes, the likelihood of a response is very low.

Don't jump up and end the stand the moment you get a kill. We have killed as many as 6 from one den tree and 13 from a stand between 2 old abandoned buildings. Both times we were on stand for over 20 minutes.

Hopefully this helps some.

 

[Skerhunter]

The level of instruction on those videos isn't great. Rick Pallet did a video with the Borlands years ago that was pretty good. They were the owners of Minaska game calls. It was probably about 20 years ago. Also, around that time some good articles were written on the subject.

Coons den in different areas in different climates as well as different times of the year. They partially hibernate when it gets extremely cold, so the days that are unseasonably warm usually produce the best. They aren't real smart but if they see you or hear you approach the stand your odds go down. SOME are stupid enough you can hold the call out of the window of a pickup in a pasture and kill them. That's probably less than 1%, so don't believe the stories about hunting that way being super effective. Also, surprisingly enough, it helps to play the wind.

Download a bunch of coon fights and some coon in distress. Work through the sounds at about 60 seconds each until you get a response. Start with the least aggressive and move to the most aggressive. Once you get a response to the call, keep playing that sound on that stand unless it appears they are losing interest. Like coyotes, changing the sound will grab their interest. Hide the call on the back side of the tree away from the hole or use a decoy. It doesn't have to look like a coon, you just need movement. They will sit and look at the call from the den if there is no decoy and they can see it. If you haven't seen a coon in 5 minutes, the likelihood of a response is very low.

Don't jump up and end the stand the moment you get a kill. We have killed as many as 6 from one den tree and 13 from a stand between 2 old abandoned buildings. Both times we were on stand for over 20 minutes.

Hopefully this helps some.

Great advice above! Around here big cotton woods by water and corn are a safe bet. High creek banks with dens also work. Nice days in late Jan/Feb is when I go.

I sit with the caller and tree within shotgun range. Sometimes they will come out but run away from the caller.

It’s a good time! Lots of shooting and for some reason I find it hilarious watching them charge the caller.

 

[Castmaster]

Do you specifically look certain species of trees even if you can’t see any holes in them or any species of big tree that looks like raccoons could live in will do?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

They will den higher up in the tree and in smaller limbs than you think. Mature cottonwoods are their favorite when I used to hunt them. I always killed them at night with a 12 gauge using buck shot, under barrel mounted 1,500 lumen light makes them stop up like a deer in headlights. Lots of free hand shots at dusk on them with my 17 worked well too, shoot them in the face/head. Bait them out with canned dog/cat food if legal. They come running to that stuff.

 

[Castmaster]

Thanks for all the great advice guys! I will definitely try to get after some raccoons some time in the next week or two.

 

[30338]

Need more guys doing it. We've killed them at noon calling around big cottonwoods on river bottoms. Kill some nest predators.

 

[ddowning]

Do you specifically look certain species of trees even if you can’t see any holes in them or any species of big tree that looks like raccoons could live in will do?

Look for holes. Also, lots of trees with holes aren't den trees. I like to be around water and corn but other areas can be good too. Look for narrow trails leading to den trees. They will look like narrow deer trails. If not present, likely no coons. Going when there is snow on the ground is really helpful for finding dens. Also, don't be tricked by trees that have no place to den. At night coons like to get something to eat and climb a nearby tree to eat it.

 

[DeerCatcherUT/CO]

I’ve called some in using a fighting coon sound and braying/fighting horse sounds. Kind of random but it’s worked for me

 

[WCB]

Killed a lot of them. Any tree will do as long as they can den in them... large oaks and cotton woods seem to be most common where I hunt just due to size. Also, any abandoned farms....most times houses as most barns don't have places for them to crawl into...but don't rule them out. Middle of Feb to March is peak mating here in the upper Midwest and Dakotas and any real warm day will work anything sunny and in the 30s is good.

We've killed them using a few different Raccoon vocalizations and called them in using rodent sounds before.

 

[Rich M]

I've seen raccoons stuck up inside tree cavities. Weird to look in a hole about 20 ft up and see a fuzzy butt.

 

[Reddish]

We have a few cottonwood trees, but mostly hardwoods here. Walking creeks along corn fields and looking for trees with holes is effective. A little snow and then some warmer weather makes tracking them to a tree pretty easy.

Lots of other good advice above. You learn alot by just getting out there and calling. Dec-Feb seems to be effective as that's when they start to breed.

 

[Andrewlonghi]

Just starting doing this over the weekend, me and my brother took the boat out and gave it a try. Called in 3 got one

 

[mgray]

In colder climates, WI, will they respond in winter? If we had a nice warm day, would that be tue best time to try calling?

 

[Reddish]

In colder climates, WI, will they respond in winter? If we had a nice warm day, would that be tue best time to try calling?

Yep, they’ll respond. If you get a day near or above freezing they should respond. I’ve called when it’s colder and you’ll get a couple, but right around freezing or above is more productive.

 

[WCB]

I've seen raccoons stuck up inside tree cavities. Weird to look in a hole about 20 ft up and see a fuzzy butt.

Ever stick your head between floor boards in an abandoned house or a chimney...look one way nothing....look the other way SH!T theres a racoon or 3 inches from your face! It's quite the rush.

 

[Rich M]

Ever stick your head between floor boards in an abandoned house or a chimney...look one way nothing....look the other way SH!T theres a racoon or 3 inches from your face! It's quite the rush.

That's good for soiling yer underoos! Would freak me out.

I'm in suburbia and we feed 2 cats. But about every night 2-3-4 raccoons come thru. They will sit there eating cat food and arch up at me, then they back into the doorway and corner themselves, start making noises. If i back up they go right back to the bowl. Absolutely no fear of man.

Tough mothers.

 

[Old Dog]

Where I live trees are at a premium but there are a lot of coons around. I'm just not sure where to check for them but it makes sense getting out there when there's snow on the ground would give a guy a fair idea of where to call. Thanks for the tips.

 

[mitchell]

I climbed den trees in my younger years and would shot over 300 coons in a two week period. Prices were really good back then. Around here, the nicest and cleanest coons came out of mature Beech trees. Mature basswood trees that were broken in half because they were hollow all the way down to the bottom would house anywhere from two to seven coons all sleeping together. Mature maple and Oak trees that had holes in them half way up were also great great den trees. Once you have located each den tree in a bush lot, you can go back there each year and extract the coons. Coons will start denning when the weather gets cold. If you do see a tree with a football sized hole up in it , look for coon crap at its base. You also look freshly scraped of bark as the coon climbs up the tree. These scratches will be wider than what a squirrel would make. Coon hair will also be seen on the bark, for the belly hair touches the tree as it climbs. Try to look up higher up in the tree and look for where the coon has crapped out on one of the bigger branches right where it meets the trunk of the tree. If I were to call and shoot coons , It would be an hour or two just before dark and right at sunrise. Here are a couple pics of coons and den trees.