Are Fishers that bad?

Got one in the neighborhood, sounds awful at night.

According to the link you posted, more likely a red fox?

"Like most members of the Mustelidae (weasel family) found in New England, fishers are pretty quiet creatures unless they are in the grip of a predator. They use scent to locate prey, and successful hunts require silence and stealth. You may have come across videos and audio recordings online of loud, unearthly "screaming" sounds that people have attributed to fishers. However, the nighttime vocalist in these videos is nearly always a Red Fox—and never a fisher."

Otherwise, it doesn't seem like a bad predator to have around.  Especially if you have porcupines in the area and curious dogs.

Bad?  No they a just big weasels that are part of the eco system.  On the other had I have come face to face with a big male and inadvertently I was between him and his freshly killed squirrel. (How I parked my car in the driveway). Let's just say I don't like these critters. They are big really mean looking things that I am really glad that our stand off resulting in me  backing away slowly and him going around me (about 10 feet away) to get to the squire to my left. 
 

They are definitely not something  you want to mess with. A big male can be the same size as a small to mid size coyote. 

In reply to dean1484 :

You say big weasel, I say miniature wolverine. They're awesome creatures but they are definitely just larger than pint-sized nastiness. 

If all the Karens in the world that blamed coyotes for every missing or killed Bichon, pom-pom, or house cat knew about fishers fur would make a come back. 

Also apparently there's nothing that will eradicate a norwegian rat population like fishers, minks and martens (or is it martins). If you want to go down a wormhole there is a pest control company or a handful of them that keep them to clear out rat populations. They flush and chase and just slaughter hundreds of rats in a 10 to 15 minute period. And if they can't get to the rats they'll mark where they are and point almost like a field dog allowing for people to use tools and equipment to flush the rats out and then they give chase and continue on there rat murder spree. 

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

You do paint a mighty pretty picture!

Wow. Always learn something from this board--I had never heard of Fishers/Fisher Cats. Did some reading: They look like methed-out foxes and act like crazed assassins. My quick reading served up lots of stories like this:

"Lorraine Blake, who runs a farm in Norton, Mass., said a fisher killed three of her five chickens last year. Ms. Blake said the fisher decapitated one chicken through the wire on the side of the coop."

They seem to be a Northeastern thing right now, which is good. We've already got plenty of killer fauna here in Florida.

Margie

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

Martens.  And it is awesome that they can be trained like that!  I thought animals had to be far more domesticated.

Although, in this case, it may be the critters have US trained, to give them access to their next snack   I suppose this is what you call a symbiotic relationship.

Attention, moderators:  I propose we change the thread title to "Are Fishers that Bad-Ass?"

I love these guys and I'm sad they're not down South. My sister's property is part of the range of one of these.

They've never had a problem with it. Just let it be. As others have said, it's probably doing very good work in terms of rodent control fo you.

I never knew they were that big. I guess it makes sense, since I think I've heard of them killing deer.  

I just busted out the fabric tape measure and learned my dog is roughly fisher sized. He's part corgi so he's even got the short legs. How fun. 

Fishers, just a wimpy version of their cousin the Wolverine.    (Fisher)^2 = Wolverine

Fishers are forest carnivores closely related to wolverines. They are about the size on a large brown cat and den in cavities in old trees, making the old-growth forest an ideal habitat. Fishers prey on squirrels, mountain beavers, snowshoes hares and other small mammals. A North American marten, Martes pennanti, that has thick brown fur

Wolverine (noun)  - A male wolverine, (a female wolverine being called an angeline).  A solitary, fierce mammal of the Mustelidae family, Gulo gulo.

In reply to jharry3 :

"Gulo Gulo" translate to "Glutton Glutton" or "Gluttonous Glutton". So named because they can and will eat an entire carcass of an animal such as an elk.

Mustellids are awesome. Back when I was teaching, we were doing a biology and evolution unit, and I assigned one group of students to all do reports on the adaptations of different species of mustelids and how they are adapted to the specific environments they lived in.

In reply to Beer Baron :

I would have done my report on how otters are the only ones that didn't choose violence . One of the most hilarious things to me is how otters have a completely different personality when compared to all of their closest relatives. 

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

No kidding. The otter videos that get spread around the web make it seem like they'd make awesome pets. I'm sure that's complete nonsense, but still... in the videos they are so damn cute.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

There was a bank in rural IL that had a large aquarium in their lobby with a river otter for years. 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

No kidding. The otter videos that get spread around the web make it seem like they'd make awesome pets. I'm sure that's complete nonsense, but still... in the videos they are so damn cute.

Those videos make it extremely difficult for me to convince DW that an otter would be a bad idea for a pet.

In reply to Duke :

Do you have or want a fish pond? 

Because apparently otters are gleeful aquatic assassins, but are cute when romping on land.

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

I was on the sailing team when I went to school in Monterey (we raced little 14 footers). One contingency we discussed was what to do if a sea otter ever decided that jumping up onto the bow of a boat was a good idea. It was apparently not unheard of for them to jump up onto kayaks and chill for a bit.

Otters are not complete shiny happy people like sea lions, but it was generally agreed that the proper response was to be as calm and non-threatening as possible.

Yeah, river otters and ferrets are tiny, cute, and playful. In the same way that a cat of the same size is. Cat's and mustellids are still fluffy balls of murder.

In reply to Beer Baron :

I mean part of the reason why otters are relatively tame in their natural and wild state, is because they're not afraid. They are well aware that if they need to kick some ass they can, were that they can fend off predadation from a human long enough to escape into an aquatic setting where they know they have an advantage. 

An underlooked aspect as to why otter seem fascinated with humans is that, we have noted that we're fascinated and impressed by the fact that otters use tools. They use rocks and other things to bang on and open mollusk. Which is in part why they don't seem so savage to us compared to all of their cousins. Because they just hunt the stationary pray that others struggle with giving them a competitive advantage. Where this gets to with regards to otters being fascinated with us, is they are observant creatures, and I'm confident that they see us using tools and are like, look at those bipods using a paddle to propel that floating device onto the water, to make up for the fact that they're rather terrible species at swimming. Any interaction with them is entirely because they have chosen that they want it to occur whether it's stemming from initial curiosity on their part, or if it is stemming from the opportunity for an easy low stress meal without a hunt. 

Sea lions are just funny. They're like an obnoxious aquatic dog that is also hunted by sharks and orcas to the point of paranoia. Their interactions consist of wanting to rest at a safe spot where they can't get eaten. Needing to escape being chased to avoid potentially getting eaten. And then all they can do is disrupt the stability of whatever craft your piloting and bite. And the biting isn't even out of aggression or fear it's totally because they don't have hands or soft mouths like a lab or golden retriever. I feel like there's such a misguided creature. Like they're kind of cute, And they give looks like they want to be sweet, but they're just unintentionally such obnoxious shiny happy people. 

The island we had outside Discovery Bay was host to a rather large otter population, and had occasional visits from sea lions. The otters are cool, they hid from the Wolf and the pitbull, but the piles of crawfish shell laden poop gave them away.

The sea lions though, scary as hell when they're the same size as your boat and they like to pop up on one side, submerge, and pop-up on the other side. That's a little nerve wracking. 

Never saw a Fisher here in PA, but the sportsmen club lake had a problem with muskrats for a year or two. Vicious looking little bastards.

In reply to Beer Baron :

We've done the meet-and-greet with the sea otters at the Audubon Aquarium in Nola a few times. They're very friendly & playful, but they also have something like 1000lbs clamping force with their jaws. So they probably wouldn't hurt you(unless you smell like fish), but they certainly could. 

I mean, that's pretty much true with most wild animals, but size does matter in some cases. 

Everybody thinking otters are cute never saw them hunting fish. They're relentless, but they make it look easy.

Otters will also bully crocodilians. 





 

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

Everybody thinking otters are cute never saw them hunting fish. They're relentless, but they make it look easy.

Otters will also bully crocodilians. 





 

Cats are cute and they are pointy-ended hunting and killing machines.  There's a good reason why domesticated cats are so small.

jharry3 said:

Fishers, just a wimpy version of their cousin the Wolverine.    (Fisher)^2 = Wolverine

Fishers are forest carnivores closely related to wolverines. They are about the size on a large brown cat and den in cavities in old trees, making the old-growth forest an ideal habitat. Fishers prey on squirrels, mountain beavers, snowshoes hares and other small mammals. A North American marten, Martes pennanti, that has thick brown fur

Wolverine (noun)  - A male wolverine, (a female wolverine being called an angeline).  A solitary, fierce mammal of the Mustelidae family, Gulo gulo.

TIL that there is something called a Mountain Beaver. 
 

Also...I like to say Mountain Beaver.