I started trapping again this year. It's been a while and I'm a bit rusty. This weekend I caught a young plump female raccoon. Actually I caught it TWICE! I had three traps at that set and the ring-tail managed to get BOTH of it's front paws in two of the traps. The third trap was sprung as well. Obviously the traps were too close together. Lesson learned. I've never seen that before. What the heck?

When I skinned her out, the meat looked very pretty - dark red and a lot of fat. I've never eaten or cooked a raccoon before but I'd like to cook this one. Any favorite recipes out there?

The traps are Freedom Brand dog proof raccoon traps. The bait and lure are Coon Crush and Coon Crack respectively. My trapping rifle is a take down Marlin 336 in .22lr and the ammo is CCI .22lr Quite Round.

I'd like to find better sights for the Marlin. The sights are difficult for these 50 year old eyes to see in the dawn and dusk. Is there anything like tritium night sights available for my Marlin?

I ate coon as a kid but I didn't cook it, my grandfather did and he has passed on. I could ask my dad, he might know

I'd assume they would cook up like squirrel.

If anything, just make fajitas with it and call it good.

Coon is fatty. Cook it like marbled pork cuts (pork shoulder etc). It also makes fine chili if mixed with Jack rabbit or cottontail, deer etc any of the very lean meats. Coon can get stringy and tough if old.