Need a summer job? Hunt raccoons

By Patrick Roche

Jake Englund, a percussionist, has an interesting job. Currently, he works at Prince of Peace Church in Burnsville and plays with Heatherlyn, an acoustic artist who plays at coffee shops in the metro.

Englund plays the Cajon, a percussion instrument that produces heavy bass tones, and also the Djembe, another percussion instrument.

Englund’s music career started at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Upon graduation, Jake began playing music with “Dropping Daylight,” his first performing group.

They went on tour and played around 600 shows all around the country.
Englund plays one day a week and does not consider being an independent musician a reliable source of money.

For musicians like Englund, the pay can range from anywhere as low as $50 a day to $500.
Rehearsal can range anywhere from 5 minutes to several days, depending on the song and how it is built up.

Mikal “Hunter” Moore, 19, of Le Center, Minnesota, has a nocturnal seasonal job as a raccoon hunter.

Moore hunts with two other men, one being his father and another family friend named Jack.

The first step to hunting raccoon is to transfer their hunting dogs to the kennel in the truck,
followed by driving to many different wooded areas (preferably by corn fields).
The dogs are then let out of the kennels to start in on the scent of a raccoon. They wait until the dogs bark in a high-pitched tone to signify they have “treed” a raccoon.

When the dog frees the animal, the hunters approach with headlamps and their .22 caliber rifles.
Two men locate the animal while the third takes control over the dogs.

When the raccoon is spotted, one person will shoot the raccoon, often in the foot, causing the animal to fall out of the tree. The dogs are then released and are set on the coon to finish the job.

Sometimes there is more than one raccoon per tree, the dogs will tell the hunters this by staying on the tree following the first kill. This means the tree is hollowed.
In this case, the hunters must climb the tree to satisfy the dogs. Usually they find the animal in the “V” of the tree.

The hunter aims his rifle inside the hole and lets off a few rounds, then proceeds to retrieve the caucuses from inside the tree using special equipment.

On average, the hunters kill around 30 to 40 raccoons per hunt.
Upon retrieval of the bodies, they are skinned and the hides are taken to many fur buyers/traders.

Depending on the season, the hunters average around $15k a year.