Pros and Cons of Raccoon Hunting

Coon Hunting

Hunting is the oldest method human beings use to acquire food and animal products. Now that people get their meats from grocery stores in pre-packaged little chunks, or their furs from fancy stores, the act of hunting seems barbaric or primitive to some. Yet, hunting is the most fundamental, sustainable, and clean way to acquire food and any other animal produce like fur. Hunting is better for the environment than any type of commercial animal slaughter, and oftentimes more humane. Raccoon hunting is a special type of activity in the United States, too, for historical and cultural reasons. The sport is a social event, and brings together communities. Especially in areas where raccoon life is abundant, the hunt helps control populations that would encroach on and cause problems for urban environments. Therefore, raccoon hunting offers far more benefits than it has drawbacks.

One of the primary benefits of raccoon hunting in particular is that it is a social activity with strong historic and cultural roots. Raccoons are unique to North America, and so is the organized hunt. The American Coon Hunters Association and other groups organize events on a local level, and raise awareness about the sport. Some organized raccoon hunts are done in order to raise money for charity (Leggett, 2011). Local raccoon hunting organizations are good ways to meet people. Because raccoon hunting necessarily entails having a specialized dog, most of the people who go raccoon hunting also love dogs. Therefore, the activity becomes a way of meeting like-minded people in the community. As Leggett (2011) puts it, "Life outdoors is important to them. They do it for the dogs, and they drag along their kids and grandkids to keep the hound tradition a living, breathing thing. It's been a living thing for me for more than 50 years." Before the organized raccoon hunts took on their modern form, Native Americans have looked to the raccoon as an important source of food and clothing for centuries before the Europeans came.

Another reason to hunt raccoons is that their populations can get out of control, and the animals have been known to be pests in urban areas. Raccoons are omnivorous and can burrow in homes in search of food scraps. Even if their coexistence with people were no problem at all, raccoons are "ferocious fighters" and have been known to attack dogs ("Raccoon" n.d.). Moreover, raccoons breed rapidly and have large breeds: which is why most states with raccoon populations have open seasons for hunting them and other abundant creatures. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (2012), for example, indicates that between October and February there is no limit to the numbers of raccoons that can be hunted. Because raccoons have little commercial value, there is no risk of over-hunting. The people who hunt raccoons are doing so for the love of the sport; and also because they want to catch their own food, and use the rest of the animal as well.

Hunting raccoon is a sustainable means of acquiring food and fur. The toll on the environment from raccoon hunting is negligible when compared with the huge amounts of waste generated from factory farming or mass production and distribution of meat. From the inhumane treatment of animals in commercial slaughterhouses to the gross amounts of petrol used to transport meat from slaughterhouse to supermarket, conventional eating habits are extremely wasteful. The hunt is not. When a person hunts, he or she is only acquiring what is necessary for immediate family and friends. There is no tendency to waste, as all parts of the animal are used. Raccoon hunting is therefore much better for the environment than any type of commercial farming.

The raccoon hunt puts the individual in touch with their source of food and fur in a way that retail shopping can never do. Extreme vegetarians, and vegans, are free to avoid consuming animal products. From the perspective of a vegetarian, raccoon hunting is cruel. There is no way to argue this point, because it is an emotional case. However, not all people live in places like California, where they can live without eating meat. People who live in rural regions with temperate climates have long winters with few options for sustainable vegetarian diets. If cruelty is the biggest con to coon hunting, then it is a small one. The methods by which urban dwellers manage raccoon populations is far more cruel than the hunt: because many people lay traps that torture the animal for long periods of time. Some traps kill a new mother, leaving the brood of coon pups to starve to death.

Moreover, meat eaters are hypocritical if they are averse to hunting raccoon. Hunting is the most natural and sustainable means by which to acquire animal protein. All persons who eat meat should ideally kill their own at least once, in order to be more in touch with the source of the food. Raccoon hunting puts people in touch with the food chain.