Oak Ridge
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6168 |
quote:
Originally posted by Doug Robinson
If they were breeding now the kits wouldn't survive the long cold spring. Please tell me how you know they are in rut just curious?
Raccoons usually mate in a period triggered by increasing daylight between late January and mid-March.[92] However, there are large regional differences which are not completely explicable by solar conditions. For example, while raccoons in southern states typically mate later than average, the mating season in Manitoba also peaks later than usual in March and extends until June.[93] During the mating season, males roam their home ranges in search of females in an attempt to court them during the three-to four-day-long period when conception is possible. These encounters will often occur at central meeting places.[94] Copulation, including foreplay, can last over an hour and is repeated over several nights.[95] It is assumed that the weaker members of a male social group also get the opportunity to mate since the stronger ones cannot mate with all available females.[96] In a study in southern Texas during the mating seasons from 1990 to 1992, about one third of all females mated with more than one male.[97] If a female does not become pregnant or if she loses her kits early, she will sometimes become fertile again 80 to 140 days later.[98]
Doug,
I've seen lots of kittens born in late February in this area. That would put them as being conceived late december and early January!
Trust me, I've been hunting in Northern Indiana for over 25 years, and the Rut here starts at the end of December and is in FULL SWING by mid January....
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Joe Newlin
UKC Cur Advocate
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