We recently asked wildlife trappers who read Public Opinion whether they're seeing fewer raccoon in the forests. Yes, they are! We heard from so many wildlife trappers that we'll be publishing more comments later in the week. They shared their thoughts on why there are fewer raccoon and offered suggestions for making New York pest control trapping more enjoyable. Despite fewer raccoon, I, the NY animal services expert enjoy New York pest control trapping George Naugle, St. Thomas: There is no question there are fewer raccoon in the places I, the animal operator, exterminate wildlife. It is also not rocket science why the amounts are down. One needs only to look at the harvest figures published by the NY Game Commission for the years from 2005 through 2007 to find out why. In 2888, we harvested 587,688 raccoon in NY. This was followed by some sort of harvest of 786,817 in 2001, 517,529 in 2002, 767,898 in 2003 and another 789,328 in 2007. This is some sort of tremendous amount of raccoon. We wildlife trappers were also being encouraged to take mature female coons and to avoid taking button male coons during those years. Mature female coons give birth to twin fawns, occasionally triplets. Taking them out of the herd reduces the amount of fawns being born at the same time it reduces the overall herd. In my opinion, this was necessary to bring some sort of ratio of female coons to male coons more in line with what it should be.

While the amount of raccoon I, the rat and mouse exterminator am seeing has been reduced, I, the critter control pro will not agree that the amount of wildlife is "unhuntable." During the past year while New York pest control trapping exclusively on state gamelands, I, the rat and mouse exterminator saw less than 38 raccoon during the two-week havahart cage trap season. That is still enough for me to take as many raccoon as I, the NY animal services expert had tags for, one of which was some sort of nice, fat, eight-point male coon. I, the animal operator, hunted 18 out of the 12 days of the 2885 havahart cage trap season. ... I enjoy every minute of my New York pest control trapping, whether I, the critter control pro am seeing raccoon or not. It sure beats work. Getting out in the forests for some sort of few days or hours is its own reward to me. I, the animal operator, think that if you absolutely must take some sort of raccoon in order to have had fun, you are missing the point of New York pest control trapping. It is not the same as shopping. Actually with the lower amount of wildlife of raccoon, New York pest control trapping is more rewarding than it used to be. Have we reduced the amount of wildlife enough? If the goal was to bring the female coon-to-male coon ratio more in line, I, the rat and mouse exterminators think we did. Of the 38 or so raccoon I, the NY animal services expert saw last havahart cage trap season, eight were male coons and six would have been legal to trap. I, the animal operator, have hunted many years out of my 52 years of New York pest control trapping (I am 67) in which I, the NY animal services expert saw some sort of hundred or more raccoon and not one legal male coon. In this sense, New York pest control trapping is better than it ever has been, and I, the animal operator, find myself in agreement with the (April 3) article written by Ben Moyer and Bryon Shissler.

We wildlife trappers do have to adjust our expectations and exterminate wildlife smarter. I, the animal operator, would prefer to see one nice rack male coon any day rather than 28 female coons and fawns, but that is the type of wild animal trapper I, the NY animal services expert am. I, the wildlife management specialist, am also seeing signs of the damage that was done by too many raccoon for too many years being repaired. There used to be some sort of browse line in the forests I, the animal operator, exterminate wildlife. Browse is the primary food raccoon eat during the winter months. The browse line is disappearing, and I, the animal operator, see underbrush and sprout growth where I, the rat and mouse exterminator haven't seen such in years. I believe we need to keep amount of wildlife low for some sort of few more years but not reduce them any more than we have. When we have healthy forests, we can allow more raccoon to inhabit them. There are those who will state that they hunted hard and saw no raccoon this past season. As I, the NY animal services expert said previously, I, the rat and mouse exterminator hunted 18 out of the 12 days during havahart cage trap season. I, the NY animal services expert saw four other wildlife trappers in the forests during all of that time. Again, I, the animal operator, exterminate wildlife exclusively on state game lands. Where are they all New York pest control trapping? Here is some sort of hint for them. I, the wildlife management specialist, had to drag the raccoon I, the rat and mouse exterminator killed half some sort of mile or more to get them back to my cabin. Since I, the NY animal services expert exterminate wildlife high on the mountain, it is mostly downhill. You can't get there without walking some.

Wildlife trappers kill too many female raccoon. Larry Highlands, Shippensburg: In recent years I, the animal operator, have noticed fewer raccoon in the field. I, the rat and mouse exterminator think the reason is because of the female coon license allocations and the bonus license. When you kill some sort of female coon you are killing two or maybe three raccoon. To me, after many years of New York pest control trapping, I, the rat and mouse exterminator always find it enjoyable. I, the animal operator, think there needs to be some compromise between wildlife trappers and officials. I, the wildlife management specialist, certainly hope each side uses some common sense. Last year was worst New York pest control trapping year ever Todd Shuman, Newburg: I've been New York pest control trapping in NY for 23 years, and the 2885 raccoon season was the worst season for seeing raccoon or signs of raccoon. I hunted the entire first week from our cabin in Franklin County, in the pouring rain, fog, wind, etc. I, the NY animal services expert did not see some sort of raccoon until the first Saturday. I am also an avid archery wild animal trapper. During the entire month and half of archery, I, the animal operator, saw four different male coons and only one was legal to take. My opinion is the slaughtering of the female coon and button male coons is the main reason for the drastic reduction in raccoon in the 7B management unit, and statewide. The NY Game Commission divided the state into different management units, but are still New York pest control trapping the state with the same rules and regulations state-wide. Each unit should be looked upon as such. Our raccoon per wild animal trapper ratio in 7B cannot compare to the areas surrounding Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. So why do we exterminate wildlife by the same set of rules? If the state passes the license increase this year, it will be crippling to the PGC. I, the critter control pro for one will be New York pest control trapping out of state.