Iowa farmers want year-round raccoon hunting to lessen gnawed-down crops; population has tripled since 2006

(Photo by Peter Nuij, Unsplash)

Ethan Crow is an Iowa farmer with a gripe: raccoons. "Shine a light at any of the buildings on Ethan Crow’s central Iowa farm at night and you are likely to see several pairs of eyes staring back," Crow told Joe Barrett of The Wall Street Journal. "And piles of scat covering the floor—signs of what farmers are calling an out-of-control raccoon problem."

Crow told Barrett that he loses several thousand dollars in sweet corn to raccoon raids every year. “We do some trapping when we can. Otherwise, I mean legally, there’s not a lot that we are supposed to do.” The fine for hunting or trapping a raccoon outside the early-November-through-January season can be as much as $335, Barrett notes.

Farmers want year-round raccoon hunting, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, isplanning hearings on it. DNR biologist Vince Evelsizer noted that Iowa's raccoon population has tripled since 2006, and raccoons love sweet corn and grain corn, which both vital to Iowa agriculture.

Year-round hunting "won’t solve the problem overnight,” Evelsizer told Barrett. “But it will give people more flexibility to deal with nuisance situations.” He said the department would keep supporting nonlethal means of dealing with raccoons, such as putting electric wire around sweet-corn patches, installing a metal mesh to keep raccoons out of homes, and relocating problem raccoons.

Barrett writes, "Many farmers have clearly had enough of the crafty mammals, which typically weigh about 8 to 20 pounds, have distinctive bandit-mask facial markings, keen eyes, human-like forepaws that make them excellent climbers and a bushy, ringed tail."

Dean Fisher, a Republican Iowa state representative, told Barrett: “They may be cute and cuddly, but not here in farm country. They’re vermin and a nuisance.” Barrett reports, "Last year Fisher introduced a bill to extend raccoon hunting, which passed both chambers but was never reconciled," Fisher said he is waiting to decide whether to reintroduce his bill based on what happens with the state proposal.