With 5,060 records spread across all 88 Ohio counties, the common raccoon is among the most thoroughly documented mammals in this atlas. Summit, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, and Franklin lead the count, but the map has no real gaps, from the Lake Erie shore to the southern hill country.
At home wherever water meets cover
A raccoon eats nearly anything, but it feeds best near water, taking crayfish, frogs, insects, berries, nuts, and corn along streams, ponds, and marsh edges. Hollow trees and dense tangles give it daytime dens. Ohio supplies both in abundance: Magee Marsh, Sheldon Marsh, and Maumee Bay State Park hold records along the Erie marshes, Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area anchors the inland wetlands, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Wayne National Forest cover the wooded country in between. The species takes to towns and farm country just as readily, which is why urban counties like Franklin and Hamilton sit high in the record.
Busy nights from spring through fall
Raccoons do not hibernate, but they hole up during hard cold, and Ohio’s record reflects it: December and January are the quietest months. Reports climb steadily through spring to a May peak, when females are out foraging for growing kits born in April and May, and stay strong through the first frosts. Nearly all of this activity happens after dark, so most raccoon encounters come at dusk, in headlights, or on a trail camera.
Status in Ohio
NatureServe leaves the raccoon unranked (SNR) in Ohio, but the species is native to the state, USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous, and globally it stands as G5, Secure, with an IUCN rating of Least Concern.
