466 
the Glacial Lakes and the Western Prairie 
regions. Many of the shallow, marsh- 
bordered lakes in the Glacial Lakes Re- 
gion are some distance from forest cover, 
a fact which may partially explain the 
low raccoon population there. In all of 
these regions, the woodland has largely 
ILttino1s NATURAL History SURVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 22, Arie 
tent nature of many of the streams and 
ditches. Food, as in all other regions, 
is probably ample, although it falls far 
short of the variety and, except in corn, 
of the quantity found in riverbottoms. 
The severe shortage of dens throughout 
the prairie districts is indicated by the use 
Table 9—Effect of forest cover, grazing and water on Illinois raccoon habitats, as reflected 
in the calculated raccoon catch per square mile. 
Per CENT OF Raccoon 
REGION IN Water Resources CaTcH 
Fur Survey Recion Woop anp* (In RELATION TO SUITABILITY PER SQUARE 
to Raccoons) Mite, 
1938-39, 
Total | Ungrazed 1939-40 
River Bluffs and Bottoms} 24 13.0 | Excellent: Large rivers, creeks, lakes, 
Swamps, marshes... 25 eee 1.74 
Western Prairie........ 11 1.0 | Good: Year-around streams, ditches, 
marsheés 3 2 ..c5. 064s =. i 0.94 
Northwest Hills... .... 17 1.0 | Good: Year-around streams, spring 
PUNS....5. fan. ois 0 ee 0.83 
Central Sand. Prairie... 6 4.0 | Good: Streams, ditches, marshes... . 0.71 
Northwestern 
Sande Prarie. seen 3 0.3. | Very good: Year-around streams, 
marshé§.), bo; ou v cage or 0.55 
Gray eraitie ke eae i 4.0 | Poor: Small, intermittent streams... 0.54 
Glactalslakesmeg eee i 0.6 | Good: Lakes and marshes, some 
StreaMS.s «sass sues hae ee 0725 
BlacksPrairien aes ata e 2 0.1 | Poor: Intermittent streams and 
ditches. o.)ss.5 5 Ss vee 0.08 
*U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Agriculture—Illinois, 1935, pp. 9-15. Percentage figures 
calculated from data given on grazed and ungrazed woodland, by counties; based only on sample counties. 
been cut over, resulting in the loss of a 
large percentage of the den trees. 
In the Gray Prairie Region, compara- 
tively large timbered areas occur, but den 
trees are scarce because of long-continued 
lumbering operations, and also because 
many den trees have been cut by hunters 
and others. There are few bluffs in this 
region suitable as raccoon retreats. Water, 
supplied chiefly by small, intermittent 
streams, is scarce and undependable. Pas- 
turing of woodlands, because of their 
comparatively large area, is not so heavy 
as in the Northwest Hills, the Glacial 
Lakes or some other regions. 
The large Black Prairie Region offers 
the poorest raccoon habitat in the state. 
It is acutely short of forest cover, and 
practically all of the woodland is pastured. 
It contains few bluffs suitable for ground 
dens. Water is scarce and undependable 
over this prairie because of the intermit- 
made of muskrat houses. On three oc- 
casions, the authors found hibernating rac- 
coons using muskrat houses and evidence 
of such use on many other occasions. 
Trappers along the Illinois River often 
reported use by raccoons of muskrat 
houses, and even of thick tangles of bul- 
rushes, both as hibernating and overnight 
retreats. 
Trapping and Hunting.—lIn Illinois 
in the two seasons of the survey, about 
two-fifths of the annual catch of raccoons 
was made by trappers and about three- 
fifths by hunters, table 8. Hunting was 
especially prevalent in the Central Sand 
Prairie, the River Bluffs and Bottoms, 
the Northwest Hills, the Gray Prairie 
and the Northwestern Sand Prairie re- 
gions. Trapping was the chief means of 
capture in the other regions; coon hunt- 
ing apparently was practiced very little in 
the Glacial Lakes Region. 
