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Who Is That Masked Bandit?

© B. J. Barton

Who is that Masked Bandit? Why, the Common Raccoon, of course. These handsome thieves with their black masks always make me think of Zorro. The Common Raccoon is, indeed, common, though it is generally nocturnal and seldom seen in the daytime. But, if you watch for it about dusk, you might even see it in your own neighborhood.

A few days after we moved to this house, my son-in-law came in just before dark and said, "There's a big raccoon in one of the elms out front. A dog was chasing it and it scrambled away up there where I can't even see it among the leaves."

Over the last three years since then, we've seen and heard raccoons fairly often. They usually prowl around at night and our dog, Goldie, goes wild when she hears or smells them. One mid-summer night, we heard a raccoon disturbance in the big trees behind the neighbor's house. They went out with flashlights to see what was going on. A couple of 'coons were up in one of the elms, growling and screaming at each other, making a lot of noise. Added to that, all the dogs around were barking in excitement. It was probably a territorial dispute between a couple of males. Eventually, one of them backed off and the night became quiet again.

Raccoons can be quite destructive. I soon learned that I can't hang a little plastic suet feeder on one of those metal poles. It only took one night for this delicacy to be discovered and removed. They haven't done much damage here, but they certainly do clean the plums off the wild plum trees and the cherries from the cherry trees. The squirrels work day shift and the raccoons at night. I know the 'coons get their share because I found raccoon scat with lots of plum seeds in it in the little evergreen garden under my front window. One friend lost a couple of young fruit trees when raccoons literally tore the branches off to get to the fruit, and a family of raccoons can devastate a nice little patch of corn.

The Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) is two to three feet long, with a tail averaging another 12 inches. Their fur above is gray-brown to orange-brown with black mixed in, and it is gray below. Distinctive features are the black face mask and bushy tail with 4-6 black rings. Their weight ranges widely from 12 pounds to 48 pounds. Tracks resemble human footprints with flat feet and claw marks at the ends of the toes. When a raccoon is walking, their left hind foot print is almost beside the right front foot print. One handy characteristic of a raccoon's

Common Raccoon

Raccoon Tracks

Raccoon, Standing Up

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