What do you consider a big raccoon?

It’s not very often I catch a raccoon way out in the bush. But I guess they’re out there.

I caught this raccoon yesterday and I thought he was big. Weighed him once I got home and he was 28lbs.

Going to make a pair of mitts out of him!

Nice coon.Common sized here but they get big around here.

Anything over 35 lbs I've caught 4 over that 2 at 37#,38# and 39,5# 38"to 42" to the skirt.

Hard to get a 30 around here. 28 would be a good one too.
Jim

Our big males in Northern South Dakota that are fully mature are 28 pounds in the fall just like the one you picture and they will stretch 5X. If they get older they get bigger and heavier and I have taken a number between 35 and 38 pounds all of which went 6X(since that size was recognized).

40's and a few 50's here but they are fat butterballs.

I consider 35# huge

I still think 28lb raccoon is big lol!

Thirty is a big coon. Have caught a lot in that range. Rarely weigh a coon anymore. Thirty-five would be extremely large. Most forty pounders have never been weighed. Sometimes the really big boars are pretty rough and tough scraping damaged type goods. I’d take our corn feed twenty,twenty-five pound coon over farther north large but poorer furred coon.

Here in Pa, my biggest was 29#

My personal best is 24.25. It was just on Christmas. I can’t imagine some of the ones you guys are talking about

Nice one . Northern coon run bigger . I think anything over 35# is huge but upper 20's is no slouch . Largest I've caught was 46# a couple years ago ( used a coyote stretcher on him )

In Pa., few make it over 20 lbs. Back in the hay days in the late 70s, buyers here were paying out top dollars for coon over 18 lb. on the carcass. Didn’t seem like one 20-22 lb paid anymore.

I used coyote stretcher also.

34# 15oz was the biggest I ever weighed and I've caught 2 that would have been bigger, caught many over 30. Never seen a 40# coon.

This time of year after being holed up and now boaring that's a good one. I measure them from tip of nose to base of tail 37 inched and up are the big uns 41 was my biggest if memory serves me 33lbs.

Don't remember the exact weight but was in the high 40's for me and it was with hounds not trapped.

This is right on the money. Or lack there of. LLL

I agree as our coon are big and heavy furred but ugly.

28 would be a big one here. Every year I get one around 30, my biggest were two at 37, both females caught in barns in January years ago. Actually for me most coons over 20 here are 4xl so to me those are bigger coons.
Actually with the low coon prices numbers are up here and have been for a while. We have not had any major disease as of yet so we have high numbers but also several more older and thus larger coon so a few more big ones.
Bryce

JP some of the specimens I did for the museum back in the 70-80's their average weight was 15-18 kg and spring weight of 10-14 kg( 22-31#)
The sub-species destination is P-l-glenleainus, since most came from the university property near that town.
young of the year go 8-10 kg and hind foot measurement is >125 mm.

Looks like that boy was looking for a little love, or were you using some of that "tree Climber" lure

Around here 25 is big and 30 is huge.
Back many years ago I caught a legitimate 43 pounder.
It was large framed but way too fat for its size.
I suspect that it had been living easy out of garbage cans.

28 lbs is big coon most places. He should be prime.

At least you let him take a selfie.

Thats a chunk

Lol the funny thing about that raccoon was he played dead when I got up to him. Couldn’t believe it!

Part Possum !!!! LOL

I consider 26 pounds and up a big coon for here. 28 pounds is a big coon.

Keith

Yep, it'd be big coon to me.

Don't catch many but a couple of early winter late season coons at 32 and 24 while running cubbies for Fisher/Cat's. Late November to early December in with some warm weather.

Gotta be disappointing to realize it’s a coon in the trap instead of a bobcat eh lol

WOW!!!! I've taken my share of coon and around here north central Pa in the "mountains" anything over 20 is big. I have taken two big ones, one in upstate NY and one here that were big to me and skinned in the woods but I doubt that they were over 25. I have a scale in the truck and wieght most anything but not those two. Over 20 is big here......jk

I used to weigh and keep records of every raccoon I caught. Greatest percentage 22-26 lbs. Some smaller 14-18 lb. range. Also some in the 28 - 30lb. The heaviest I ever weighed was 32Lb. 8 oz. 28 lb. is a big coon. I don't care where its from.

28 lb coon is a Monster down here
You could ride it at the Rodeo.
Congratulations JP

JP, a 28 lb coon is no slouch.

Don't forget to show us a picture of the finished mitts when you get them done.

True....Most so called 40 lb coon have never been weighed. I caught one at 41 in my lifetime and will likely never catch another one. It took me a solid 5 minutes to pry it's head out of a #220 with my setters. No idea how it got it in there in the first place.

Coon sizes range quite abit depending on how far north you are. I remember letting dink YOY coon loose in MS until I realized that was a normal sized adult coon for the location.

28 is real respectable no matter where you're at.

20 pounds is about tops down here. I only recall about 10 or so coons that have stretched to the 4x size out of well over a thousand since the late 70s. Not many 3x either....a few over 100.

Most keepers here....XL and 2x...weigh about 10 or 12 lbs.

I don't weigh mine, guess I should...caught a big one today, I'd say maybe 21-25, I've caught bigger, just happy to catch at this point.

Yup, I will!


I caught another raccoon. She weighed 19lbs. Skinned, fleshed, and put up. Man are they ever greasy eh!
The fat pushed off like melted butter. Was super easy, but what a mess!

They have big A** holes too!

I seen 1 32 pound Dead coon on a scale in IL 43 years ago . Huge wide head and a tail that was 2 inches long.
I talked to a old fur buyer for GWF one time and he told me me those 30 plus pounders a lot of them have short tails , they have lived a long long time through some tough winters and a lot of of them their tails froze and fell off. He also told me he bought a 47 LB coon in upper MN the biggest he ever bought out of 10’s of thousands. Said a diary farmer fed it a pail of milk and cat food almost every day of hits life. Had to finally Shoot it one day because it killed wife favorite cat. They stretched it on a Coyote wire stretcher. Base touched the bottom of the stretcher. I wish I could have seen that. I am 61 and my biggest was 28 pounds and I made a rug out of him. MD

I was but they ended up on the March 2013 auction, both were NC first page lotting and got $88 and $72 for the pair! The whole auction was amazing prices.

Won a rifle in 70 with one that topped out at 41#. Have never had another over 32.

JP, put the coon hide in the fridge overnight before fleshing it's alot nicer to work with.

25# into the mid thirty's thats big enough ,those really big boars are usually inferior in the fur department

Thanks for that tip! I’ll remember it for the next one.

Slot less greasy this way but just a tad harder to push. Still best to cool them down first tho.

I was thinking anything over 30 pounds.

nice color too

Put them in a the freezer for a time and then flesh as they thaw sure makes things cleaner too.

Bryce

I still have a 48" coon I caught in North Dakota - did not get it weighed.

I don't put up large numbers but I've yet to hit 30, been close, but I think 28 is also the heaviest I've weighed. I've caught a couple of beach balls with fur, but for some reason they didn't have the overall length and didn't top 25.

I don't care what anybody says. 28lb is a big Coon. a few thousands of Coon from this area never had one over 37 lb

I caught one in the early 80’s that was 28” from the nose to the base of the tail
Didn’t weight it , but was a big one for these parts, big to me anyway.

I usually don't even consider raccoons big here until they are measuring up against the coyotes. I can say I've never weighed a raccoon here. Never did understand why people care what things weigh. That's just me though.

50 lbs.

30 pounds was a big one when we chased them.


WS

Nice coon but nothing in the photos to judge size by so I zoomed in. At max zoom that's a really big coon.

Whatever you think is a big coon good enough for me Reality has always disappointed me so i don't weigh mine

Those weights are amazing to me, "here" a BIG coon is upper teens, I did kill 2 that were over 20# but they were eating cat food all summer, and they were HUGE, lol, I can't imagine a 30#, much less 40# coon...

Anything over 20 is a big coon, usually a 4X by that weight.

A black bear.