Need varmit ID

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
%$#^^##$$$ FISHER . I can't live over 3 mi. away as the crow flies.

I read they have a big range.

Instead of looking at it as much as I could for an ID, why in the crap didn't I put the petal to the metal and try to run it down?

I was hypnotized by such an odd creature here.

I so wish I didn't live in a neighborhood. Hard to kill varmints here.

Darn It,it's enough to know there are possums,coons,foxes,hawks, and this year a skunk that all come in my yard. Now FISHERS .

 

[woodmort]

First you're way out of range for a badger or wolverine. From your description and from those I've seen it sounds like a fisher--aka fisher cat. Peterson's Field Guide shows the historic range for them as including the southern Appalachians and they are not only being reintroduced into their historic range but are reclaiming a lot of it since the hunting/trapping pressure has eased.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
Well darn it. How can you control them? Does anyone ever trap them? I've never needed info on a fisher cat. If I didn't have educational channels I watch on TV I would not have even heard of them before now.

 

[GA_in_GA]

Quote:
Really interesting info. Thank you for posting. My DH is from NE TN and he had never heard of a fisher. But I bet if I ask my mother-in-law she'll remember them. She remembers when painters (panthers) ran in the hills up there.

And to bring this back to chickens,

, hope yours stay safe!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quote:
Now ''kid'' I've seen you post on BYC many times. You're cute as a button but trust me when I say it was not a fox.

BTW I do like your posts and lucky for you I'm old.

Silver is a mutation of red, grey is a different fox all together. Reds can be found as true red, black, silver, platinum to name a few. Grey fox are mainly salt and pepper grey with tipped tails.

Red fox

Grey fox

Silver fox

Black fox

Platinum fox

LoL, there ya have it in photos. Some of my favorite fox colors.

 

[thekid]

i want a pet fox now were can i purchase one

 

[spectrumranch]

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
Now ''kid'' I've seen you post on BYC many times. You're cute as a button but trust me when I say it was not a fox.

BTW I do like your posts and lucky for you I'm old.

Silver is a mutation of red, grey is a different fox all together. Reds can be found as true red, black, silver, platinum to name a few. Grey fox are mainly salt and pepper grey with tipped tails.

Red fox
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/c642ebde.png
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/abf23b1c.png

Grey fox
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/a208cfd9.png

Silver fox
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/58728f3d.png
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/89ec9305.png

Black fox
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/84c0ac5a.png

Platinum fox
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Military_Mom/6be56171.png

LoL, there ya have it in photos. Some of my favorite fox colors.

Well thanks so much for the pics and info. We definitely have the red and silver.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

Fisher cats do look harmless but they are far from it. They can and WILL kill a human so they are nothing to mess around with. Im a hunter and there is nothing i fear more in the woods then walking up on a fisher cat. In my neighborhood they've killed dogs and cats. If you've ever seen them walk they are the most strange creatures.'they stay low to the ground and they move almost in a slithering motion. The first time i saw one was in a field when I was 7 and i said slab dad look at that snake in the field. Then he told me what it really was

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
Really interesting info. Thank you for posting. My DH is from NE TN and he had never heard of a fisher. But I bet if I ask my mother-in-law she'll remember them. She remembers when painters (panthers) ran in the hills up there.

And to bring this back to chickens,

, hope yours stay safe!

First to SPECTRUM thanks for posting the pics. Part of what threw me off on Fishers was the lack of bushy tail,size,roached back when I first investigated it.

As I continued to rule out other predators I kept looking at more of the possibles. Finally after many more pics of the Fishers and the videos I see now that's what it was unfortunately. Enough of all of it fits now. Just great. I read how really bad they are and like to eat cats too. This is bad news.

On another note, GA-in-GA I would be interested in what your mother-in-law says as I truly don't think they would have been in the region in the''recent'' past. I don't doubt most native ppl here don't know of them nor have seen them ever.

Ppl here still see and hear the ''painters'' (panthers). Of course according to what I have read they have not been here for many many decades. I can't believe random ppl from various parts of the county are just telling big tales.

There is a lot of protected state and federal land here which includes The Blue Ridge Parkway.There is no doubt in my mind if some of this remote land could be navigated new and old species would be found just like the plants found here in our recent past in protected land.

There is a basin about 200 or so feet from my house. I haven't checked the tracks there since spring. The land is wooded with heavy underbrush and briars.Tree limbs covered by leaves and such steepness of the land makes it real hard to get there. I don't feel safe walking it as I fear falling. When I went in the spring there were fox,possum,and coon tracks. Now I've got to learn Fisher tracks. Thank goodness for some great sites I've saved in my favorites about tracks and all sorts of animal sounds. You know some of those recorded animal sounds made the hair stand up on my neck.