A bill proposed by an Iowa representative would establish a raccoon bounty program where the state would shell out $5 per raccoon tail turned into the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
In 2006, the Iowa DNR reported 2,417 raccoons in its spring “spotlight” survey, which counts wildlife along rural roads in all Iowa counties. In 2023, it counted 5,526 — a surge of nearly 130 percent, and the fifth year in a row of “relatively high” population sizes. State residents, including wildlife control specialists and the lawmaker himself, label them as pests of crops, farm equipment and homes.
Between 2021 and 2022, the statewide harvest for raccoons was 34,529 — the lowest harvest since 1958, according to the Iowa DNR.
Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, who chairs the House’s environmental protection committee, introduced the bill for the raccoon bounty program, House Study Bill 636, in hopes of spurring more take of the species.
Rep. Dean Fisher R-Montour
“Population is going up because we're just not harvesting enough,” he said in a Tuesday subcommittee hearing surrounding his legislation. “That's the impetus behind this bill.”
In the 2022 session, he proposed legislation that would allow people to kill certain animals — including raccoons — without permission for nuisance control. That bill passed the Senate but was ultimately stalled. A 2023 attempt at a similar rule was eventually signed into law.
Under Fisher’s new proposal rule, the Iowa DNR would establish and administer the raccoon bounty program. Participants would be able to redeem a $5 voucher for each raccoon tail they turned in at “a monthly raccoon tail pick-up event” in each county. The Iowa DNR would be appropriated $0.50 for each raccoon tail relinquished.
The bounty rewards would come from a new fund in the state treasury, which Fisher proposed would be filled by a state appropriation of an unknown amount. He also suggested the fund could be filled by “donations and gifts” from organizations like Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited, which could be motivated to protect bird eggs from raccoon depredation.
The bill would require participants to check their traps every 24 hours, and licensed fur dealers would not be able to participate. The bill would also create a maximum fur dealer license fee of $50.
Trappers who attempt to turn in a raccoon tail that wasn’t harvested in Iowa would be guilty of a simple misdemeanor and subject to other penalties, like a trapping suspension and a fine up to $250. Unlawfully taken raccoons, like those harvested out of season, could result in at least $200 in fines. Those fines would be deposited into the raccoon bounty fund.
The Iowa DNR would be charged with investigating potential fraud and monitoring trapping data “to ensure excessive harvesting does not occur,” the bill reads.
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Fellow House environmental protection committee member Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, called the proposed bounty program ineffective and irresponsible.
“In a state where we're defunding water quality sensors … it's fiscally irresponsible to put any sort of appropriation on something like this,” he said. “This is what people get frustrated about with national level, in the state level, is us putting funding towards this and not addressing larger issues.”
Turek voted no on the bill and suggested instead putting such resources toward habitat for natural predators of raccoons that would help control the nuisance population.
Committee member Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, voted yes with Fisher to move the bill forward: “I’m willing to move ahead and do further study on it,” he said.
www.thegazette.com
In 2006, the Iowa DNR reported 2,417 raccoons in its spring “spotlight” survey, which counts wildlife along rural roads in all Iowa counties. In 2023, it counted 5,526 — a surge of nearly 130 percent, and the fifth year in a row of “relatively high” population sizes. State residents, including wildlife control specialists and the lawmaker himself, label them as pests of crops, farm equipment and homes.
Between 2021 and 2022, the statewide harvest for raccoons was 34,529 — the lowest harvest since 1958, according to the Iowa DNR.
Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, who chairs the House’s environmental protection committee, introduced the bill for the raccoon bounty program, House Study Bill 636, in hopes of spurring more take of the species.
“Population is going up because we're just not harvesting enough,” he said in a Tuesday subcommittee hearing surrounding his legislation. “That's the impetus behind this bill.”
In the 2022 session, he proposed legislation that would allow people to kill certain animals — including raccoons — without permission for nuisance control. That bill passed the Senate but was ultimately stalled. A 2023 attempt at a similar rule was eventually signed into law.
Under Fisher’s new proposal rule, the Iowa DNR would establish and administer the raccoon bounty program. Participants would be able to redeem a $5 voucher for each raccoon tail they turned in at “a monthly raccoon tail pick-up event” in each county. The Iowa DNR would be appropriated $0.50 for each raccoon tail relinquished.
The bounty rewards would come from a new fund in the state treasury, which Fisher proposed would be filled by a state appropriation of an unknown amount. He also suggested the fund could be filled by “donations and gifts” from organizations like Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited, which could be motivated to protect bird eggs from raccoon depredation.
The bill would require participants to check their traps every 24 hours, and licensed fur dealers would not be able to participate. The bill would also create a maximum fur dealer license fee of $50.
Trappers who attempt to turn in a raccoon tail that wasn’t harvested in Iowa would be guilty of a simple misdemeanor and subject to other penalties, like a trapping suspension and a fine up to $250. Unlawfully taken raccoons, like those harvested out of season, could result in at least $200 in fines. Those fines would be deposited into the raccoon bounty fund.
The Iowa DNR would be charged with investigating potential fraud and monitoring trapping data “to ensure excessive harvesting does not occur,” the bill reads.
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Fellow House environmental protection committee member Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, called the proposed bounty program ineffective and irresponsible.
“In a state where we're defunding water quality sensors … it's fiscally irresponsible to put any sort of appropriation on something like this,” he said. “This is what people get frustrated about with national level, in the state level, is us putting funding towards this and not addressing larger issues.”
Turek voted no on the bill and suggested instead putting such resources toward habitat for natural predators of raccoons that would help control the nuisance population.
Committee member Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, voted yes with Fisher to move the bill forward: “I’m willing to move ahead and do further study on it,” he said.
Fetch $5 for each raccoon tail under this proposed Iowa bill
A House subcommittee advanced the bill forward in a Tuesday meeting
www.thegazette.com
