September, 1943 
caves and sinkholes in the bluffs. As 
stated, recent clearing in Calhoun County 
disturbed the raccoon population there and 
seems to have resulted in a total larger 
catch, as well as a reduction in habitable 
range (Yeager & Rennels 1943). The 
Brown & YEAGER: SURVEY OF FuR REsouRCE 
465 
raccoon, figs. 6, 18, and 22. Among possi- 
ble den sites, tree cavities rank highest 
with this species. Rock or ground cavities 
may be used, but where timber is present 
they are generally passed up except as 
escape cover. The opossum readily dens in 
Fig. 18.—Big Slough, Pere Marquette Wildlife Area, Calhoun County. The riverbottom 
type shown here is probably optimum for raccoons. 
river bluffs and bottomland habitat, gen- 
erally, is now gradually being depleted 
by timber cutting, overgrazing, fire and 
erosion. 
In table 9 an attempt is made to eval- 
uate the influence of forest cover, grazing 
and water on the several types of raccoon 
habitats in the state, as reflected in the 
catch per square mile. 
It is apparent that there is some corre- 
lation between raccoon numbers and the 
proportion of woodland in given regions, 
but the influence of woodland may be 
affected by various other factors. Water 
is believed to be the most important of 
these. Grazing, fire, maturity of wood- 
land and other conditions have some effect, 
undetermined in this study. 
The raccoon does not possess to the 
same degree the opossum’s adaptability to 
a wide variety of habitats. Forest cover 
and a plentiful water supply appear to be 
more or less inflexible requirements of the 
the ground, even in the vicinity of tree 
cavities (Yeager 1936). 
The Northwest Hills Region affords 
excellent raccoon cover, both forest and 
bluff, but much of the wooded area 1s 
too far from water to be of high attrac- 
tiveness. Water, except along the Missis- 
sippi River, is in the form of small, steep- 
banked streams. There are few heavily 
wooded swamps or large riverbottoms, 
which appear to furnish the best type of 
raccoon habitat. Pelts from this region 
are dark and well furred, a high percent- 
age of them grading as “collar” raccoon. 
The Western Prairie, Central Sand 
Prairie, Northwestern Sand Prairie and 
the Glacial Lakes regions are alike in that 
water is generally available. ‘This con- 
sists of streams, marshes and sizable lakes, 
and along the Illinois River a very limited 
amount of wooded swamp. ‘The degree 
of grazing varies widely, being especially 
heavy in the Northwestern Sand Prairie, 
