Some of the game laws here are strange.
It came about this way on purpose.
It was an us against the misinformed polis contest.
To ask for a rewrite on anything is opening a can of worms
with a self-destructing lid.

I thought weasels had a season but that may have changed.

We are allowed to protect our property,
sweet corn, chickens, anything.

Groundhogs seem thin lastly, should we ask for a season?
LOL

Coon season goes longer than muskrat and mink in PA..

Yes. They gave us three sundays the past few years. Archery, rifle deer, and small game. But foxes, crows, and coyotes can always be hunted on Sundays. Groundhogs get sundays off I think

What state has a limit on coons but not bobcats that always seemed strange to me for several reasons.

For raccoons and some others, I have always assumed much of the closed season was a nod to ethical concerns? As in not catching a nursing sow with young pups in the den, leaving the young to die of starvation.

Right so wouldn’t that apply to all other lil babies?? Sorry guys this thread has gone far enough. And I still don’t fully understand

Land owners vs. hound hunters vs. fur trappers vs. nuisance trappers vs. tree huggers

Its a mess, I don't think anybody truly understands it.

I know many, myself included, who trap coons for the sole purpose of eliminating nest robbers, in order to enhance their turkey population. Some states, well at least one I hunt, offers a free predator control permit, largely based on this. You can still eliminate predators, after trapping season ends(on private land). If you live in a state that protects coons, they’re not protecting Turkey.

I’m not, nor will probably ever be super interested in turkeys. However I do recognize that raccoons play a huge part in their populations due to eatin up the eggs. My main concern with trapping in general has always been disease control. And of course fur is a beautiful by product of that.
Our state is in a bit of an upheaval due to the potential reintroduction of the pine marten, mostly from Turkey people. Just don’t see why three “trash” species have open seasons while raccoons do not. Rotten little midnight marauders!

@elsmacho28

I think the biggest reason that the racoons or trash pandas if you prefer didn't get unprotected species status like skunk and possum was that they had value until fairly recently as far as time it takes to change regs

houndsmen wanted them to run

trappers wanted them for fur

so they represented a resource more than nuisance while they were being used as a resource

When considering season times, you also have to take into account user group conflicts.