Kentucky raccoon laws are set out in KRS Chapter 150 and administrative regulations enforced by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). Hunting season runs October 1 through the last day of February, raccoons can be taken at night with artificial lights, trapping is allowed on a shorter window, and landowners can kill or trap raccoons damaging their property without a license. Live relocation and pet ownership are heavily restricted because raccoons are classified as a rabies vector species.
Season and Hours
Raccoon hunting season opens October 1 and closes on the last day of February, one of the longest furbearer seasons in the state. Trapping season is shorter: it opens on the third day of the modern gun deer season and closes at the end of February.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers KDFWR can adjust these dates based on population data.
Raccoons may be taken day or night during the open season, with one twist: while modern gun deer season is running, raccoon hunting is permitted only at night. Kentucky is one of the few states that explicitly allows artificial lights for raccoon hunting, a privilege that doesn’t extend to most other game.2Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Hunting Regulations
Legal Weapons for Hunting Raccoons
During daylight, hunters may use a centerfire or rimfire gun, a shotgun, a muzzleloader, a bow or crossbow, or an air gun firing pellets of at least .22 caliber. Fully automatic firearms are prohibited.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers
After dark on public land, the options narrow sharply. You may use only a bow, a crossbow, or a shotgun loaded with a multiple-projectile shell. No rifles, no handguns.3Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide This catches people off guard, especially those used to carrying a .22 rimfire on private ground. At night on private property, firearm choices are broader, but the public-land restriction is strictly enforced.
Trapping Equipment and Placement
Trap size limits depend on where you set them and whether they’re on land or in water.
Dry Land Sets on Private Land
On private land, a foothold trap may have a maximum inside jaw spread of 6 inches, measured perpendicular to the hinges. A body-gripping trap may have a maximum inside jaw spread of 7½ inches, measured parallel with the trigger in the unset position. Wire cage or box traps, deadfalls, and snares are also legal.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers
Public Land Is Tighter
On wildlife management areas and outdoor recreation areas, body-gripping traps used as dry land sets are capped at 5¼ inches of inside jaw spread, measured in the center of the trap in the unset position.4Kentucky Administrative Regulations. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:049 – Small Game and Furbearer Hunting and Trapping on Public Areas That’s well under the private-land limit, so check your gear before you leave the truck.
Water Sets
Water sets have no size or type restrictions, with one exception: any body-gripping trap wider than 20 inches must be completely submerged.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers
Spacing
On private land, dry land sets must be spaced at least 10 feet apart unless the landowner has given written permission. Even with permission, no more than three traps may be placed within any 10-foot spacing. Cage and box live traps are exempt from the spacing rule, and so are properties of five acres or less. Traps cannot be set in trails or paths regularly used by people or domestic animals.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers
Hunting Raccoons With Dogs
Dog training on raccoons is allowed year-round in Kentucky, but harvest is confined to the open hunting season. Outside the season, dogs can tree an animal but you cannot use any device to force it from the tree or den. Raccoon squallers may be used year-round.2Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Hunting Regulations No special permit is required beyond a valid hunting license, and all firearm and lighting rules still apply when a raccoon is treed.
Licenses and the Landowner Exemption
A resident annual hunting license costs approximately $28.54; nonresidents pay about $169.12.5Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. License and Permit Fees Night hunting for raccoons requires no separate permit. Trapping requires its own license, distinct from the hunting license.6Legal Information Institute. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 5:022 – License, Tag, and Permit Fees
Resident landowners, their spouses, and dependent children may kill or trap raccoons causing damage on their own land without a hunting or trapping license, and they may do so outside the regular season. Tenants living on the property and their dependent children share this privilege. After taking wildlife under this exemption, you must report it to KDFWR or the local conservation officer for proper carcass disposition; if you want to keep the carcass, the department can issue a disposal tag.7Justia Law. Kentucky Code 150.170 – Requirement of Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, or Guides License
Nuisance Raccoons on Your Property
The landowner exemption covers damage to your land or personal property on it, which includes gardens, poultry, and structures.7Justia Law. Kentucky Code 150.170 – Requirement of Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, or Guides License If non-lethal steps like securing trash, removing food sources, and installing motion-activated lights don’t resolve the problem, lethal removal is permitted.
If you’d rather not handle it yourself, licensed nuisance wildlife control operators (NWCOs) are available through KDFWR. The operator application fee is $100, and applicants must pass a KDFWR test on humane capture, handling, and euthanasia.8Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator Application NWCOs keep records of animals removed and must produce them on request. Any lethal control must comply with state animal cruelty laws.
Why You Usually Can’t Relocate or Keep a Raccoon
Kentucky classifies raccoons as a rabies vector species under 301 KAR 2:081, alongside skunks and foxes.9Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:081 – Transportation and Holding of Live Native Wildlife That designation drives most of the rules about moving them alive.
Within the enhanced rabies surveillance area, a zone of counties in eastern Kentucky, a raccoon trapped during the trapping season must be euthanized before being moved, and rabies vector species cannot be transported into or out of the surveillance area at all.9Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Administrative Regulations 301 KAR 2:081 – Transportation and Holding of Live Native Wildlife Outside the surveillance zone, relocating a live raccoon without KDFWR authorization is generally prohibited. Raccoons captured outside Kentucky cannot be released within the state, and no raccoon may be released onto another person’s property without written consent. If you catch one in a live trap without authorization to relocate it, the practical options are euthanasia or a call to KDFWR.
The same classification rules out casual pet ownership. You cannot keep a wild-caught raccoon without proper KDFWR permitting, and the transport and holding rules make maintaining one as a household pet effectively impossible. Wildlife rehabilitation permits exist, but they cover temporary care leading to release, not long-term possession.
Health Risks Worth Knowing
Raccoons are one of the primary rabies carriers in the eastern United States, which is the reason for the transport restrictions above. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. If a raccoon bites or scratches you, seek medical attention immediately; post-exposure treatment works when started promptly.
Raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) spreads through feces rather than bites. Eggs shed in droppings become infectious after two to four weeks in the environment, and humans, especially children, can be infected by accidentally ingesting eggs from contaminated soil, water, or surfaces. Serious neurological damage is possible. If raccoons have set up a latrine on your property, remove the feces before eggs become infectious; contaminated material can be burned, buried, or sent to a landfill, and hard surfaces can be treated with boiling water.10Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Raccoon Roundworm
Penalties for Violations
Kentucky sets wildlife penalties in tiers under KRS 150.990. General violations, including violations of KRS 150.170 (the landowner damage provisions), KRS 150.280 (wildlife propagation and holding), and administrative regulations with no specific penalty, carry fines of $50 to $500. Transportation and sale violations under KRS 150.290, 150.300, and related sections carry fines of $50 to $500 and up to six months in jail. Licensing violations under KRS 150.180 escalate: $100 to $1,000 for a first offense, $500 to $1,500 for a second, and $2,000 for any subsequent offense.11Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Code 150.990 – Penalties
Beyond fines and jail time, KDFWR officers can confiscate illegally taken wildlife and revoke hunting or trapping licenses. Using prohibited trapping equipment can also trigger separate charges under Kentucky’s animal cruelty statutes. Repeat offenders and anyone caught selling raccoons or pelts without proper documentation face enhanced penalties and permanent license revocation.