The fisher looks like a thin overgrown weasel. The male measures 40 inches long and weighs no more than 20 pounds. The female has 35% less fat and is about 10% shorter than the male, which is covered in fur. The fur is blackish-brown and the fisher has a pale gray spot on its head and shoulders. It has a pale face and very dark feet. The fisher has a long body, short legs, a pointed face, rounded ears, and a bushy tail that weighs about 2 pounds.

From November to March the fisher gets thick, soft fur. Therefore, trappers kill 50,000 to 130,000 of these animals per year. They use the fur for coats, hats, and muffs. The fisher is now protected by law. The fisher is a carnivorous animal. It eats rodents such as mice, rabbits, squirrels, and birds. The fisher is one of the fastest and most aggressive hunters in the North Country. Its name is deceptive because it does not specialize in catching fish, but it does kill deer, sheep, and caribou. It also eats porcupines and can escape from their sharp needles. The fisher also bites into the stomach of the porcupine, and eats what it wants, and then leaves it wherever it kills this animal. The fisher is also known as a black cat, pekan, or wood stock. It is in the Mustelidae family.

The fisher lives mostly in Canada and the northern part of North America. It lives in the coniferous forest which has evergreen trees. It likes dark and wet wooded areas, places along swamps, lakes, rocks, and hollow trees. The fisher climbs trees and spends most of the day running or pacing.

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It may help. From what I understand-Similar to the Martin- from the same weasel like family, I THINK... bigger than the martin. Hopefully BUCKSHOT will work his magic and post a good peice about them!!!!! Please? Pretty please with kibble on top? Heather William

A mind reader! Now I can read the info! Thanks, Heather

FISHER

order: CARNIVORA
family: MUSTELIDAE
genus: MARTES
species: pennanti

The Fisher is a medium size member of the mustelid family often compared to the American Marten, a slightly smaller mustelid, due to many shared habits and characteristics. The "fisher-cat" is neither much of a fish catcher nor is it a member of the cat family though it does resemble a house cat in general body size and shape, but the fisher has shorter legs and a longer, wedge- shaped snout. The fur on a fisher is dark brown to black, as an animal ages the hair tips may become ‘frosted’, especially around the head and shoulders. They molt in the fall. Males generally have coarser hair coats, this makes the females more desirable to trappers. Their bodies measure 20 - 30 inches with an additional 13 - 17 inches of tail and weigh from 3 - 12 pounds. Males are usually significantly larger than the females. Tracks reveal 5 toes in a plantigrade foot averaging 3 in. wide by 4.5 in. long with thick fur on the soles of their feet in winter. The nails are at least partially retractable though not sheathed and the mustelid, 2x2 bounding gate is most common with fisher track patterns. (see tracking section for illustrations)



Fishers are considered to be quite carnivorous, favoring snowshoe hares as well as squirrels, carrion, mice, shrews, voles, birds, fruits like berries, and ferns. They are also famous for their ability to successfully hunt and kill porcupines. One of the very few other animals to prey on porcupines is a close cousin of the fisher, the wolverine. The fishers’ long, wedge-shaped snout is well suited for making vicious attacks to the porcupines face until mortal wounds cause the porcupine to succumb. In some forests, fishers have been reintroduced to try to control porcupine populations. This biological control method has been successful at least for short-term population reductions; it is currently unknown how well it works for long-term porcupine population control. They generally hunt by systematically searching for patches of abundant prey and then systematically searching those patches for prey to kill. Fishers will sometimes cache food items and find/make temporary den sites near large food items like a deer carcass.

The breeding season for fishers is in late March and April. Like most other mustelids, fishers experience delayed implantation of 10 - 11 months. The egg is fertilized at the time of mating, then the embryo stops developing and remains in a dormant state until the female is in good physical condition during late winter, the embryo then implants and develops. The actual gestation lasts approximately 30 days with parturition (birth) occurring in March and April. They typically breed again within 10 days of parturition. Females breed at one year and have their first litter of about 3 kits at age 2 years. Males are probably not sexually mature until age 2. Fishers are pretty solitary animals except during the breeding season when plantar glands on their hind feet increase secretions and a black, tarry substance of unknown origin signal their intent to mate.

Fisher natal and maternal dens are usually located high (+/- 50 ft.) in tree cavities which partially explains their overall preference for mature to old growth, late successional, forest habitats. Researchers have noted significant use of young to mature forests during the winter. They also require significant tracts of contiguous forest with a high degree (70%) of canopy cover and prefer conifer or mixed conifer and northern hardwood forest types. They are also disproportionately associated with riparian communities for less than well known reasons. Fisher distribution and survivability is negatively impacted by forest fragmentation, stand isolation, and deep, fluffy snow. In comparison, martens have very similar habitat requirements but they are much less inhibited by deep snow. This may be an important way in which these two species are segregated. There is a considerable span of home range size estimates from 1.5 to 25 sq. miles, probably averaging around 10 sq. miles. Once again, males tend to have much larger territories than females, which often overlap territories of more than one female but rarely that of another male. Fishers will commonly travel 2-3 miles each day and while they are arboreal to some degree, most hunting and traveling is on the ground. They mark their territories and communicate with urine and anal, cheek, abdominal, neck, flank, and plantar (feet) glands. Martes pennanti was formerly widely distributed across northern forests of N. America up to around 60 degrees N. latitude, south in the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina, and throughout the Pacific Coast mountains. Current distribution is now well known but they have not returned to the southern Appalachians, and are considered spotty in the Pacific Coast mountains, especially in Washington and Oregon, and in the southern reaches of their former distribution in the Rockies. These medium size weasels are particularly susceptible to logging and trapping.





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i got my info from WILD THINGS UNLIMITED
http://home.mcn.net/~wtu/index.html

I think that was where I had originally read about the fisher. I'd love to see one, but... if they reach our end of town I'm sure they'll get some of our chickens... Oh well. We have been lucky not to lose them to the yotes. There are plenty of unsuspecting housecats to prey on.
Thanks again! Heather William BIGCASTLEDAWGS

Fisher....one of my favorite topics. Ok, for starters...when I hear someone call a fisher a "fisher-cat"...it makes me crazy. Fishers are just a weasel! Also, I think a fisher will only eat a porky if they are almost starved to death. Here in NH we have a ton of both, and see fisher tracks all over swamps where porkies have den trees so, they're much happier eating pine squirrels. You could even say, like the martin that if you dont have hemlock trees and squirrels, you'l have a tough time finding Fisher. People also rave about how mean Fisher are, claiming they've seen them take down weak deer, coyotes, etc..all thats just bull. They arent any meaner than a boar coon. I cant tell ya how many I've trapped, and caught a few with dogs too. They can run, rabbits and house cats are about the biggest stuff they dare try to take down, and when treed they act like a squirrel...jump from tree to tree and are soon 100 yards away from where your dogs trees it. Getting back to martin, I think a dog would run them if they were trashy enough to run a fisher, mink, etc.. They give off a strong scent but they spend more time in trees than they do on the ground so there may not be much of a trail.

This link has a very good picture of a fisher http://biology.wsc.ma.edu/biology/cours ... nanti.html

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around my way in the last year. A trapper friend showed me a female pelt he had caught less than half a mile from my cabin, but I have never seen one alive. The neighbor I get my eggs from has had trouble with one in his henhouse... People on nearby farmland at lower altitudes also tell me they have fishers running their hounds crazy jumping from tree to tree.... I have never seen a marten, but we have lots of weasels and minks...

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esp

Wow.. Thanks for all the information!! We have some fishers here.. and i tell ya what.. They put on a dandy show for standing there ground.. but you charge them... and most will turn tail and run from you!! I would say their more threatening then dangerous! But i surely dont want to push my luck with one.. Thanks everyone!! lots of good information!

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a few pics of ones I've caught in cage traps..

http://www.metrocast.net/~mjflores/phot ... 02_jpg.htm

http://www.metrocast.net/~mjflores/phot ... 02_jpg.htm

http://www.metrocast.net/~mjflores/phot ... 02_jpg.htm

Cool pix, is that a Fisher??? Since we talked of both Fisher and Martens here....
Nice pix, if you hit next it brings the viewer thru the whole bunch of pix! That can't all be in NH, can it? Wow.
In our part of MA we have so little land left for hunting or ATVs or anything much. Land is TOO valuable. Just had ONE 2 acre buildable lot on my St sell for over 350,000.00! Kills me to see it all lost.
Thanks for posting the pix,
HeatherbigcastledawgsWilliam

Yup, those are fisher. Yes, thats all good ole NH! We have tons of land around here, plenty of deer, moose, turkey, trout, salmon, fisher, bear, ..coon are a bit thin but ya can tree one if ya have good dogs. Plenty of open land, but it changes like anywhere else. The places I hunted when I was young are all built up now, but still plenty of woods and farms left too.

My aunt used to have a wonderful summer home in Gilmanton or Belmont NH. I forget which! It was right on route 140 if I recall. I loved her rolling fields! I stayed away from the woods because I KNEW there were BIG things in there...like Bear! I was such a city girl!
My neck of the woods we get Lots of coyotes, deer and tons of turkey. I have a few groups of turkey that frequent my farm (Chickens)... they beg for scratch and eat from the wild bird feeders. I have one tom that survives hunting season every year so he can lust over my husbands Harley when its outside. The commuters either stop and stare at the huge groups of turkey... or they go fast and try to hit them. I could walk out and Grab one of the big males for Our thanksgiving meal!
All the land my husband and I coonhunted in the 70s is BIG homes now. Sad but it does change.
Well, enjoy all that wildlife... I'm very jealous but I love where we live!
Heather