Problem Solving

Is It Legal to Kill a Raccoon in Your Yard?

Usually, on land you own or occupy, once the raccoon is damaging your property. Texas, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan need no permit. Georgia does. Ontario needs none, but if you keep the carcass you must notify the province. A raccoon raiding a bird feeder is a different matter: the one rule that defines damage leaves feeders out.

Usually yes, on land you own or occupy, once the raccoon is damaging your property. Texas lets landowners take nuisance raccoons "in any number by any means at any time" with no license. New York, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan need no permit either. None of them gives you a reason to kill a raccoon for eating birdseed. Michigan is the only one that defines damage, and a feeder is not in the definition.

We read seven rules: six states and Ontario, each in its own text or on the agency's page. Moving a trapped raccoon is covered on squirrel relocation laws by state, which has a raccoon section. Squirrels have their own page, is it legal to kill squirrels, and so do chipmunks.

What "take", "furbearer" and "nuisance" mean#

Take means kill or capture. Ontario's rule spells it out as "capture or kill." So a rule that lets you take a raccoon covers the trap as well as the gun.

Furbearer means a wild mammal the law manages for its fur, with trapping seasons and licenses. Texas names raccoon as a fur-bearing animal in Parks and Wildlife Code 71.001. Ontario lists it in Schedule 1 of O. Reg. 669/98. Because the pelt can be trapped and sold in season, the rules keep control of the body even when they lift the season.

Nuisance means an animal causing a problem for people or property. Most rules here use the word without defining it. New York skips it for raccoons and asks whether the animal is "injuring private property." Michigan defines damage instead, and that turns out to settle the feeder question.

The rules we read#

The last column is where the states differ most.

Six of the seven need no permit. Georgia makes you call. Every one of them still leaves the method to other laws.

Why the answers online disagree#

Two answers circulate. One says raccoons are pests, so you can do what you like on your own land. The other says raccoons are furbearers, so you need a trapping license and an open season. Each is half right.

The first is right about the license. Where these rules mention it, damage on your own land lifts the license and the season. Texas says "without the need for a hunting or trapping license." New York says "at any time." Michigan exempts the owner "from season date restrictions."

The second is right about the fur. Texas forbids keeping the animal or its pelt. New York forbids possessing the pelt of one taken in the closed season. Ontario wants notice before you keep the carcass. You may remove a raccoon. You may not use the damage rule to harvest fur.

What both miss is the trigger. Every rule except Virginia's page names one, damage or a nuisance. In Michigan the word has a definition.

Does a raccoon at a bird feeder count as damage?#

No, in the one state whose rule defines the word. No agency we read says outright either way. Michigan's text comes closest.

Section 5.56(1) of Michigan's Wildlife Conservation Order: "'damage' means physical harm to forest products; roads; dams; buildings; orchards; apiaries; livestock; and horticultural or agricultural crops." A bird feeder is none of those, and nor is the seed in it. The definition covers every animal in the section, raccoon included. When the list grew in 2023, DNR specialist Cody Norton told Michigan Public: "Just them eating out of a bird feeder or breaking your bird feeder is not going to be damage that would justify taking them." He was speaking of the new species, such as squirrels. The definition is the same for raccoons.

The other states give no definition. Georgia's statute ends its list with "other personal property," which is wide enough that only the region office can say. Virginia's advice points the other way: "Remove bird feeders when problem species have been seen around them." An agency that tells you to take the feeder down is not treating it as damage you may kill over.

So read it this way. A raccoon tearing open a roof vent, an attic, a soffit or a crawl space fits every rule here. A raccoon emptying a feeder fits none of them clearly, and in Michigan it fails. Bringing the feeder in at night ends that problem, as covered on keeping raccoons off bird feeders.

One raccoon walked through Ohio's rule#

Ohio's rule is the most detailed we read. Take a house in Ohio where a raccoon has torn the screen off a roof vent and is denning in the attic. The owner decides to trap it. Here is what the rule asks, step by step.

1. Permission. None. Paragraph (E)(4) lists "Raccoon" among animals that need no written permission to kill.
2. The trap. A cage or box trap is allowed under (E)(2). It must carry a durable, waterproof tag with the owner's name and mailing address, or a Division of Wildlife customer number, under (D)(1).
3. Checking it. The trap must be checked, and any animal removed, "once every calendar day" under (C)(1). A camera or other electronic monitor counts.
4. The clock. A person who is not a licensed operator may not hold the animal "longer than twenty-four hours from the time of capture" (A)(5).
5. The outcome. Paragraph (E)(3) makes it unlawful "to fail to euthanize, or release on site, any nuisance raccoon." So the raccoon goes free at the house, or it is put down. It does not go in the car.
6. Help. A neighbor may help, but may not charge a fee unless licensed (A)(2). Setting the trap in the neighbor's yard needs that neighbor's permission (A)(4).

Now change one fact. Suppose the raccoon only empties the bird feeder, and the house is in Michigan. The no-permit rule needs damage, and a feeder is not in the definition. So the no-permit route is closed, and the fix is the feeder.

Texas: any number, any means, no pelt#

Texas Parks and Wildlife: "Landowners or their agents may take nuisance fur-bearing animals in any number by any means at any time on that person's land without the need for a hunting or trapping license." Raccoons are fur-bearing animals under Parks and Wildlife Code 71.001.

The next sentence is the limit. Animals "or their pelts taken for these purposes may not be retained or possessed by anyone at any time," except by licensed trappers in season. A nuisance raccoon in Texas is not yours to skin or sell.

The same page carries a rabies rule: "It is a Class C misdemeanor to transport or sell live foxes, coyotes and raccoons from, to, or within this state." Under Penal Code 12.23 that means "a fine not to exceed $500." It matters if you trap rather than kill. Regional feeding: Texas.

New York: "injuring private property"#

New York's rule is ECL 11-0523(6). It reads: "Raccoons, muskrats, coyotes or fox injuring private property may be taken by the owner, occupant or lessee thereof, or an employee or family member of such owner, occupant or lessee, at any time in any manner." Subdivision 8: "No license or permit from the department is required for any taking authorized by this section."

Compare the skunk clause just above it. Skunks may be taken when "injuring property or which have become a nuisance." Raccoons get only the first test, so a raccoon that is merely a nuisance does not qualify. A tenant is covered, as an occupant or lessee.

Subdivision 9 governs the body. A raccoon taken "in the closed season or in a manner not permitted by section 11-0901 shall be immediately buried or cremated. No person shall possess or traffic in such skunks or raccoons or the pelts thereof." Regional feeding: the Northeast.

Ohio: euthanize or release on site#

Ohio's nuisance wild animal rule, Admin. Code 1501:31-15-03, took effect January 1, 2024. Most nuisance animals that cannot be live-trapped may be killed "only after applying for and receiving written permission." Paragraph (E)(4) lists the ones that need none, and "Raccoon" is item (i).

Raccoons get a stricter outcome than small animals. Squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits "may be released or may be euthanized." Raccoons, skunks, beaver, coyotes, red foxes and opossums are euthanized or released on site. The opossum's own rules, state by state, are on is it legal to kill an opossum. You also may not take one "with the use of dogs outside of a structure during the closed season." Regional feeding: the Midwest.

Virginia: no permit, but ask about methods#

Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources opens its raccoon page with the answer: "No Kill Permit Required from Department to kill on your own land during closed season." Then it sends you elsewhere: "You must contact the Commonwealth Attorney's office in your county/city for information regarding legal methods of animal removal. Local ordinances are usually more restrictive than state laws."

So the state says yes, and the method belongs to the county prosecutor and the town. The page also says: "It is illegal in the State of Virginia to trap and relocate an animal to another area." It names no statute, and we did not read one. Regional feeding: the Southeast.

Georgia: a permit, by phone#

Georgia is the one state here that wants a permit first. Under O.C.G.A. 27-2-31, DNR may issue one when wildlife is likely to injure people or damage "agricultural crops, domestic animals, buildings, structures or other personal property."

You call a region office. Be ready to say what damage is happening, which animal, what you have tried, and whether you own or live there. If a permit is warranted you get "verbal authorization." Permits last "up to 90 days," go to the "property owner or legal resident only," and cover one property and species. Animals "may be killed or trapped and relocated (no relocation of carnivores)." The sheet does not say whether that means raccoons, so ask before you plan a release.

Michigan: damage, defined#

Section 5.56(2) took effect May 11, 2023. It reads: "A property owner or their designee may take the following species all year on property owned by the individual if the wild animal is doing damage or physically present where it could imminently cause damage." Raccoon is on the list, and subsection (3) says a written permit "is not required." Raccoons were on Michigan's no-permit list before 2023 too, Michigan Public reported.

Three conditions are easy to miss. The right belongs to the owner or a designee, on land the owner owns, so a tenant acts as the owner's designee or not at all. You "must abide by all legal hunting and trapping methods and trap check requirements." And the body is yours to handle: animals "shall be properly possessed or disposed of at the discretion of the permittee."

Ontario: the carcass is the catch#

Ontario's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act sets the test in section 31(1). You must believe "on reasonable grounds that wildlife is damaging or is about to damage" your property. Then, on your own land, you may "capture or kill the wildlife." You may not kill "more wildlife than is necessary to protect the property," or "cause it unnecessary suffering." Subsection (6) switches off section 6, the rule that a furbearer may only be trapped or hunted under a licence. The province's page calls killing "a last resort."

The carcass is where raccoons differ from squirrels. Raccoon is a furbearing mammal in O. Reg. 669/98. O. Reg. 666/98 s. 2(2) covers the body. You "shall not keep possession of the carcass" unless, "promptly upon acquiring the carcass," you give "notice of the acquisition to the Ministry." Section 2(7) exempts most lawfully killed wildlife, but not a furbearer "lawfully killed while protecting property under section 31." So if you keep the raccoon, notify the ministry. Feeder by-laws: are bird feeders illegal in Canada.

Moving it instead#

Trapping a raccoon and driving it away is the harder road in most of these states, not the easier one. Ohio requires release on site. Virginia calls relocation illegal. Texas makes moving a live raccoon a Class C misdemeanor. Georgia's permit sheet bars relocating carnivores. The state rules that do allow a move, and their distances, are on the relocation page's raccoon section. A cage trap set on the ground also catches ground-feeding birds and cats; see the trap does not check the species.

The method is a separate question#

Every rule above says whether you may take the raccoon. None says you may fire a gun in your neighborhood. Virginia sends you to the Commonwealth's Attorney, Michigan to its legal methods, and Ontario forbids unnecessary suffering. Town discharge rules and state cruelty laws apply on top. In squirrel cases, the charge that lands is deadly conduct or cruelty, not a wildlife offense; those cases are on the squirrel page. How to find your own town's rules is under municipal and county ordinances.

Health is the other reason to slow down. Virginia says to call your local health department if a raccoon "exhibits signs of rabies such as stumbling, foaming at the mouth or aggression." It also says "just seeing them during the day is not a sign of rabies."

What works without killing anything#

Killing one raccoon leaves the food that drew it, and the next raccoon finds it. Virginia's list is the right order: stop feeding wildlife, keep trash in a latched metal can, take pet food in, clear fallen fruit, close openings into buildings, and clear branches that give access to the house.

For the feeder, the fix is to bring it in at dusk, backed by a baffle sized for a raccoon. Keep seed in a metal can, as on storing bird seed. Not sure it is a raccoon? My feeder empties overnight sorts raccoons from deer and rats. Spilled seed feeds rodents too, and some cities fine that; see bird feeder rat ordinances. If a neighbor feeds raccoons on purpose, see is it illegal to feed raccoons.

Where this page stops applying#

This page reads seven rules, not fifty. Other states differ, so search your wildlife agency's site for "nuisance wildlife" before acting. Virginia and Georgia we read through agency guidance, not statute text, and Georgia's sheet does not say whether its carnivore clause covers raccoons. Texas, Ohio and New York use "nuisance" or "injuring" without a definition we could find, so whether a given harm qualifies is for the agency or a court. Nothing here covers how to kill an animal humanely, which firearms or traps your town allows, or what to do with a raccoon that may have rabies. A raccoon that has bitten or scratched anyone, or a pet, is a health department matter first. This is a reading of statutes, regulations and agency guidance, not legal advice.