Fisher living on my property

[woodmort]

In NYS Fishers are highly protected and one is required to tag and seal the pelt of one that is trapped during the Oct to Dec season. Outside of the season and without a valid trapping license you could face a stiff fine for killing one. Again, however, if one is menacing your livestock you can get help from the DEC but I wouldn't advise taking the law into your own hands without it. If you do SSS, don't brag about it.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Why are they protected? What are they preserving them for?

 

[theFox]

Quote:
Why are they protected? What are they preserving them for?

They hunt (and control the levels of) porcupines (one of very few predators that do).

ETA: They operate over a fairly large area, the one around this lot comes through about once a month. I worry more about other members of the same family than I do the fisher (they are just as mean and there are more of them).

In Maine you may trap fisher during trapping season, there is no hunting season for them. Predation matters should be discussed with a game warden, however generally the trapping and hunting laws do not apply to the protection of life or property in Maine.

 

[woodmort]

They are also extremely rare--one of those furbearers that was trapped almost to extinction and are just coming back in their former range. As theFox says they hunt over a large area and tend to move around. Mink and weasels are more likely be be a problem as they stay on an area and hunt it until they clean out their prey.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Deter him with a hot wire around your run. I would do two strands of electric fencing, one low to prevent digging and tearing into the coop, and one high to prevent climbing onto the top of the run. Will not only deter Fisher, but coon, possum, skunk, dogs, ...

 

[CamillaRules]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm going to seriously consider the hot wire and in the meantime we are "battening down the hatch" as it were. Dave screwed the hatch in place the last 2 nights and we're looking at doing more to secure the top of the run, since it appears that's how it got in. Nasty looking claw marks all down the back of the hen house. We live on the western side of the Quabbin Reservoir in MA, so it's a huge wilderness area. I hadn't thought about the Game Warden too. Our town animal control person quit. I think this is probably what took my best girl Camilla a couple of weeks ago. The scream this thing emits makes your blood run cold. It was terrifying. A friend at work said her son had a flock of 75 and only has 3 left....think the same kind of animal got them.

Thanks again and I hope everyone else's flocks stay safe.

 

[kesali]

Fishers are among the worst of all predators. They are overgrown weasels with the temperament of the wolverine. The Wisconsin DNR released them here in northern Wisconsin some years ago. I seems that the lumber companies were whining because porcupines were killing the poplar trees used by the paper mills. Never mind that one lumberjack destroys more such trees in one day than a porcupine and all its great, greats, can destroy in their lives. Fishers are about the only animals that will take on a porky and kill it. So to appease the lumber/paper industry, they released a bunch of them here. They have no natural predators here and they spread like wildfire. They did their job and all but wiped out the porkies, then started on dogs, cats, and almost decimated our small game.

Yes, they are protected here, too. If you are caught killing one you are in deep doggie doo. However, many residents kill them on sight and as far as I am considered good riddance. Of all the predators discussed on BYC, the fisher is to be the most feared. It is a raccoon on steroids, just a smart, far more brazen, far faster, and the most deadly creature you can possibly have around your chickens, pets, or anything else that it considers to be of "edible size." If you truly have a fisher hanging around, your chickens are in serious peril.

 

[dmccann]

My son had a fisher in his barn,it was hurt and really going off,he called the game comm.and they told him to shoot it.I never heard of one until then.Good luck

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Large claw marks and "screaming" could also be a Bobcat or Lynx (if you have those)

 

[aprophet]

and it might just be a raccoon sprinkle some flour,talc powder etc across a piece of plywood drop a piece of chicken in the middle of the plywood check the tracks and fisher are not that rare they have had a season to trap them in Pa the last coupla years they are moving into Ohio last I heard