Abstract
During two years of trapping, in a sweet and field corn growing area in the Eastern Townships (P.Q.), population levels of raccoons based on a Lincoln index and on a Bell's equation varied from 0.17 to 2.90 individuals per hectare of corn. In 1978, corn, chokecherries, and raspberries were the main food sources. The following year spring foods, mainly invertebrates, were replaced during the summer by chokecherries, corn, hawthorn drupes, and apples. Corn and apples constituted nearly all of the food ingested in the fall of 1979. Corn crops are damaged yearly through being a staple in the diet of raccoons. Monetary losses to sweet corn were estimated at $61.03/ha in 1978 and $20.56/hain 1979. Field corn losses were very low, less than 1% of total crop biomass for both years. Damage levels varied from 10.61 kg/ha to 98.49 kg/ha implying monetary losses of $0.19/ha and $1.60/ha. Comparing the 1979 Canadian market value of $41.00 for a raccoon hide with the maximum crop loss of $4.42 per raccoon indicates that management of the species could be beneficial.
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