A masked bandit peering down from a tree in our yard recently reminded me of a camping trip that my wife and I, along with our preteen daughter, took one summer to the Upper Peninsula.

We had set up a pair of pack tents in a state forest campground at Kingston Lake, not far from Munising. A stream nearby had produced brook trout for the next day’s breakfast. Brats and sweet corn made for a simple evening meal.

A colony of sandhill cranes nearby gave us a cacophonous concert as darkness set in. We turned in to grab some shut-eye before the next day’s waterfall hunting, and the sandman did his job on the three of us.

In the middle of the night my daughter Kathy woke us up. “Dad, dad…there’s something out there on the picnic table, knocking things around and trying to get into our cooler. I think it’s a bear!”

I doubted it was a bear, but I had a hunch who our night visitor was. A flashlight’s beam confirmed my guess. The masked face of a furry bandit, eyes like reflector glass shining in the light, peered back at me. A raccoon was doing what raccoons do—trying to get into any unguarded food.

A little yelling and waving had the critter running off, and I put the cooler and other food in the car’s trunk, safe, I hoped, from the bandit. An hour later, sleep was interrupted again, with the sounds of clattering metal as the bandit tugged off a campground garbage can lid.

It’s common to encounter raccoons as summer arrives. New raccoons are born about the time things warm up, and female raccoons with young begin to roam in search of food.

Raccoons breed from February to April. After a gestation period of about nine weeks, an average of two to six young are born, usually in hollow trees, logs, or other protected dens.

The young are born blind and deaf, but can hear after 13 days, and their eyes open after 22 days. It takes about six months before the young can look after themselves, so they remain with the female until fall and may den with her through the following winter. A raccoon may range one or two miles from its den.

The mother raccoon is the protector, teacher, provider, and caregiver. She has to be—the male’s contribution is only sperm, and he takes no part in raising the young. As a result, a deadbeat male raccoon is not welcome except at breeding time, and will be aggressively chased from the den area by the female.

Raccoons are most active at night and are natural explorers with a curiosity that often leads them to mischief. Raccoons often get inside houses if doors or windows are carelessly left open, and they are known for getting into attics if any holes or vents are not safely screened.

Raccoons in the wild generally reach an age of six to eight years, if they don’t meet up with a car on the roadway first. They have natural predators. Fox, coyote, bobcat, and large owls take a share of the young, and they are hunted or trapped in season by humans.

The raccoon originally lived only in North and Central America, but now they are also seen in Europe, where they escaped from fur farms. Raccoons have a range in North America from Canada to Mexico. Populations are highest in the warmer, southernmost zones, but Michigan has raccoons in both Peninsulas—and sooner or later you will encounter one
up-close—usually on a nighttime road.

They are a problem in some agricultural areas, getting into a field of sweet corn and eating partial ears. This leaves a farmer with lots of partially-eaten sweet corn that isn’t saleable.

Raccoons are often found along streams, lakeshores and marshes, but they also live in upland areas. They are good swimmers, but usually stay in shallow water. They love crayfish (crawdads) and will wade shallows to find them.
Raccoons are becoming increasingly common in suburban areas. If they can find food and a place to hide, the location doesn’t seem to matter.

Raccoons are 18 to 28 inches long, with a tail of 8 to 12 inches, and can weigh up to 30 pounds or more. Their fur color is grayish brown to dark gray. A black and white mask on the face is their easiest identifying mark, which also explains their nickname, “bandit.” They also have a tail with black rings.

Often living in the vicinity of water, they favor forests and parklands with enough places to hide in, such as tree cavities or the deserted dens of other animals. These bandits are also fond of living near humans because they can rummage in garbage cans for food, and they are most active at night.

Raccoons are omnivorous and not fussy about their diet. As efficient predators, they will feed upon nesting birds, eggs, fish, frogs, crayfish and insects. Their diet also consists of worms, snails, and small animals in spring and summer. Come fall, they eat large quantities of fruits, grains, berries, and acorns.

On an autumn trip to Newberry two years ago, we visited an excellent logging museum. The boardwalk that took us into a riverside habitat full of berry-bearing shrubs was covered with scat, at once identified as raccoon droppings by the seeds and nut shards from the natural foods it favors in the fall. The raccoon also stores these foods for winter, and if it’s a very cold one, it spends most of it sleeping deeply.

Raccoons are great tree climbers, but clumsy walkers or runners. With their short forearms, running on all fours causes them to hunch over awkwardly, and often leads to becoming road kill when they can’t move out of a car’s way.

Whether you enjoy them or cuss them, these furry bandits are truly a summer creature. I prefer to enjoy them—as long as I can keep them out of my cooler.