A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

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duluthralphie said:
You are so much nicer than me.....all I would have said over and over is "you lie".....

I have lived in fisher country for 25 years or so. They love anything a farmer can supply them, like chicken, ducks, geese, rabbits and so on...At least she was honest about the chicken netting. You might as will have wax paper in place..
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Ralphie - all I can say is that she became real "guarded" in her responses when I said I was concerned about my chickens - oh, and it might have also been because I stated plain out that DNR had lied to me about the cougars after they themselves bragged to me about setting pairs loose at the end of our property in order to reintroduce them.

I also had a friend (who is now deceased) who had researched and did field work on cougars in Frederick and Carroll Co MD for decades. He was a small and large animal veterinarian and had treated and "autopsied" a number of injured and/or dead sheep and goats in that area. One day he gave me a set of photos of a goat that had been killed by a cougar. When I showed them to my "friends" at DNR, they ALL exclaimed about how the animal looked, about how you could tell it had been disembowled by a large cat, about the claw marks across it's back and sides - and were like "oh wow!". Until one of them asked me if the photo was of one of my farm animals on the 500 acre tract we leased. When I said no, it's a goat in Frederick Co.

You could have heard a pin drop.....

Three of them walked out of the office. A fourth one said to me, "Dusti, if you had told me it was a goat from Frederick Co, I would have told you it was killed by a dog!". So, yes, they do lie and they know I know they do. lol

Apparently, cougars and other critters are supposed to abide by geographical boundaries and with state and county road signs.
 
Flashpoint said:
I spoke with the local farm agency, the forestry department, another agricultural dept, and the wildlife folks this morning. (these are the numbers I was given as I was shuffled to the next agency) This is what I was told or what is in their research documents.

Farm agency had no idea about the blackhead disease, but gave me the number to someone else - who is currently out of town. So waiting on a callback.

The wildlife agency said that blackhead had only been found twice (2 wild turkeys) a couple years ago, but had no reports of incidences regarding any domestic poultry issues and was not considered to be a health issue for turkeys in this area.

She also told me about the reintroduction projects and the info is readily available online. The Fisher or Fisher Cat were reintroduced in WV next to the Maryland border starting in 1969 with 23 fishers from New Hampshire. Pennsylvania reintroduced Fishers starting with 30 animals in 1979 and then followed up in 1994-1998 with another 190 animals.

Today in Western MD, Fishers are present in enough numbers that hunters are now allowed to "bag" two, either by firearm and bow hunting or traps and must have a Furbearer permit. Fisher numbers are increasing rapidly and have spread from Garrett Co to Frederick Co, MD, not counting the increasing numbers in WV and PA. One article from the Maryland DNR said the average numbers have been approx. 280 otters and 52 Fishers taken "legally" each year for the past five years. They assume the numbers are higher if taking into account the number of Fishers taken illegally by hunters or farmers. (duh!)

The Fisher's diet consists of berries and fruits from shrubs and trees and considered to be an important mammalian seed spreader. They also eat insects, lizards, snakes, birds, shrews, moles, mice, squirrels, porcupines and other small mammals and there is evidence of predation on white-tailed deer. (!!!) They competently forage for food in both the tree canopy and on the forest floor. They have 1-6 kits once a year, breeding in March/April but the embryos do not attach until the following Jan/Feb with gestation lasting 40 days. Their dens are usually found in tree cavities 30-40 feet high (I though this was interesting).

She also stated that regular chicken wire or netting would not be a deterrent if the Fisher was after chickens or other fowl. They are extremely strong and have razor sharp claws. Some reports say females only weigh 4-9 lbs with the male being much larger at 15 pounds. According to some educational videos and articles, the males often reach 20-30 lbs. Females are typically 30-37 inches long with the males reaching a length of 48 inches long.

She did say that she did not think fishers would actively target a chicken coop (and apparently she has not watched the videos!) and that I stood a bigger chance of running into a bear (been there, done that, have the video).

Personally, I know these folks are trained to not speak about anything alarming - like the fishers being big hunters for birds or any easy meal. Just like DNR claims Eastern Cougars are extinct - BUT it's illegal to shoot one........righttt.
#flashpointobsessedwithfishers :lau
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I love animals. I deplore competition. It Nevers ceases to amaze me the lengths the tree huggers will go to reintroducing a failed species. I'm not of the crowd that believe its necessary. Its a proven fact Nature abhors a vacume. One species goes the way of the dodo or democrat,another will expand to fill the niche. Its how new species evolve and grow. Any animal that chooses to compete for resources at the Land of Nash(including democrats and revenuers) is in for a rough time and a massive genetic bottleneck that will prove detrimental to their existence.
 
I've never felt the need to see predators in "the wild" Thats what books are for. I believe we should tie a ribeye to the backside of all those who do and drop them into appropriate "habitat" and let them REALLY get to know NATURE.....Like the no swimming signs and crackheads
 
JRNash said:
I've never felt the need to see predators in "the wild" Thats what books are for. I believe we should tie a ribeye to the backside of all those who do and drop them into appropriate "habitat" and let them REALLY get to know NATURE.....Like the no swimming signs and crackheads
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I don't think anyone believes the fisher is a failed species just because it became locally extinct due to the destruction of it's habitat - by humans. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any fishers left to use for reintroduction. Like every other creature, they do have a place in the ecological system. Just ask those in the Pacific Northwest when they realized they were losing large portions of their forests due to porcupines after the fishers had been hunted out to "local extinction".
 

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