I believe it especially in a state where you can trap road right of ways legally makes a lot of difference and I believe in Iowa you can , Illinois it’s no of legal

He is indeed for real and has seen several dead coon and mentioned he thinks it distemper.

Skunks are down coons are down hawks are down here will it make a difference not much because of the lack of habitat.

It would seem to be localized here, Around my place definitely down , coon trails a few and far between, but west of here 10 miles I have heard they are still thick.

At my bird feeder after I caught 39 of them!

Mother nature is way more cruel than most other options Mother nature plays no favorites and cuteness has no effect on the amount the animal suffers before it dies of some disease In the mid 1980' rabies just about wiped out the coon population here And it also hit skunks groundhog some domestic farm animals But for some reason it did not affect foxes a much . It really took about 5 years for the coon population to rebound .The truth is what trappers do to help keep wild animals in control is priceless both for the animals and the people k

I've saw less wildlife than normal the last 5 years.

Happens virtually every year here to varying degrees. Ive always thought it would spread like wildfire given the coon overpopulation but instead just seems to end up being sporadic. One area will get hit hard and 30 miles away no sign of diseases. My areas been down last 3-4 years. This summer was probably worst in recent times but think worst ever recall was around thirty years back —-a few years after the 87 market crashed. But there are some trap pluggers still around now. Primarily big males. Basically no young ones left this year and few females. Hopefully it’ll keep them in check fir awhile longer

found about 3 dead ones by accident just deer and duck hunting, probably something going around the midwest, here in NW ohio is where I found them. i suppose it’s a disease, but honestly we need it, the raccoons will always come back but it’s harder to get wild turkey and pheasant populations back.

MChewk No idea if Gary Armstrong is still around but if he is he kept the most detailed trapline records of anyone I ever met. We trapped some adjoining ground and when discussing catch rates we also started to notice finding dead of the year close to water with no apparent injuries. I haven't seen him in years now but I do remember his catch on coon got to the point he bought an Iowa license.

Late 80's early 90's Paul Kelly and I cornered state biologist about rat and coon population losses. Long story short they were nothing of interest being they were not ducks, turkey or deer. He couldn't get away from us fast enough.

My wife did a long line in Iowa one year and I did a ride along as I grew up in the area. I noted the population was way down from what it was when I grew up. When I was in my early 20's there were coon trails beside every telephone poles but no more. I am not buying distemper as there was no puffy noses or matted eyes along with other missing signs.

There have been discussions on past threads where species like predators, and others not including rabbits, rats, voles etc. that can regulate populations to somewhat of an extent by litter size and or having a higher percentage of unbred females etc. This is a self regulating system that can be based on environmental conditions that impact reproductive hormonal systems etc. I don't know if coons would fall into that mode, but it would not surprise me if they did. I have never been a big time coon trapper. Since 1980 I have probably caught 3-4000 coons total with the last 10 years being only about 200. Early in my trapping I caught very few large or what I called barren females. I have caught more of those the last 10 years then I ever caught earlier when coon trapping pressure was much higher.

Bryce

guys find a dead one get all excited theres a lot that die that no one ever sees they die 12 months a year and decompose how much time does a hunter or any outdoor person average in the woods a year guys think they control the population mother nature does a lot more than any trapper hunter out there she workes 12 months a year