Surviving Minnesota!

[holm25]

Siggie I am thinking Fisher. If you guys get the chance I would take it out. I am sure you already planned on doing that though

 

[duluthralphie]

You win the prize!!! When I got home I found out they got one photo before it disappeared into the woods.... my guess is a Fisher as well, what do you think?
View attachment 1027954

Looks pretty fishery to me.. I see they got a picture of it's best side...

I am afraid they are not a real cuddly animal and may not change their ideas towards your chickens.

I doubt an expert Cuddler like Jerry or EJB could tame them even..


I would be very tempted to take the first preventive measures required to assure safety on the homestead for my birds. I cannot really tell you the exact things I would do as I would hate to be brought in as an accomplice by the Lake County Authorities... My first impulse would be to do something distasteful...Of course, when I thought about it. I would never do that..

I am 99.99% confidant the local game warden would not want to know about the fisher as they are too busy with trout and walleyes this time of year.

Holm is a juvenile under our system and he cannot be charged with a crime without a ton of hearings. I doubt killing a fisher would get him to that point....however he could be charged with a juvenile offense and told to never do that again.......

You should warn the fisher to becareful in the area, I have heard some of them run in front of high speed lead pieces flying NAP of the earth missions....

good luck..

I think you would have been better of if it had been a otter...

 

[ejb3810]

I suspect that critter to be a juvenile Wolverine. They are purportedly moving up from Michigan.
It is likely a Fisher actually, but is darker than most I would say. They prefer cats to chickens, so warn the cats.

 

[Siggie]

Yea, I confirmed it with the locals...the Fishers up here are black like in the photo. They are nomads so maybe I will get lucky and it will just keep going. If not, we will have to take a more direct approach involving gunpowder and lead

I thought about going out today after work and stringing another line of hot wire so it would be impossible to try and walk through the fence without getting zapped but I wonder how effective that would even be because they are excellent tree climbers and could just go over it that way. I guess it depends on how much he wants my chickens.

My husband said it didn't look as if it even noticed the chickens...I think it was stalking a rabbit because he said it came down the driveway on the "chicken" side but crossed and was more intent on getting into my garden area before he scared it away.

The beauty of my property is that it is a rectangle but it is cut off from the road on the north side by a fast moving creek, the river on the south side and a swamp on 60% of the west end on the northwest side of the driveway. The only way in if you want to stay dry is down the driveway or the small area south of the drive between the driveway and the river and that's the way it came in.

 

[Siggie]

Looks pretty fishery to me.. I see they got a picture of it's best side...

I think you would have been better of if it had been a otter...View attachment 1028349 View attachment 1028349

Yes! I think I would have preferred a beaver, otter, anything else!

 

[memphis]

We don't have Fishers down here. Had to look it up. YIPES! Certainly hope it was just traveling through

 

[Momof3plustwins]

So I just set 8 turkey eggs and 15 chicken eggs. Not ideal as I will have chicks hatching before the turkeys but, if I didn't set them all I don't think they would hatch as some are from last weekend. I have no idea what kind of turkeys they will be. A neighbor and local meat locker owner gave them to me and I have never seen his birds nor would I know enough to even say what kind it will be. I suspect they will all be come dinner aside from maybe one Tom and 2-3 hens. IF we decide we like having turkeys too. I should measure the pop doors in the chicken coop to be sure the turkeys and TOADS will be able to fit through the door. I can keep the turkeys and chickens together right?? The other thing is is that we will be on a houseboat trip right when the chick eggs should hatch! I am going to have to teach my sister in law or mother in-law what to do so they can watch for the hatch and move out chicks when they are ready. NONE of this is happening at the ideal time! BUT that houseboat trip is sans children and will couple friends! It should be a fun relaxing 3-4 days on Rainy Lake.

 

[Momof3plustwins]

Oh, and DD, Kjerstin runs tomorrow at sections. I think I am more nervous than she is! I sure hope she can pull this off! It will do so much for her personal happiness and that desire to stand out. 13 is a hard age. Running events start in Bagley at 11:00. She is in the 800m so I imagine that will be 12:30 ish. But who knows. Our girls 4x100m relay should take first barring anything out of the ordinary. They are fun to watch run this race. Currently they hold the school and subsection record at 51 secs and some hundredths.They are seeded 1st. Should be an exciting day tomorrow!

 

[bobbi-j]

You win the prize!!! When I got home I found out they got one photo before it disappeared into the woods.... my guess is a Fisher as well, what do you think?
View attachment 1027954

That does not look like something I'd want wandering about near my chickens... Pretty sure it would die quickly of lead poisoning here.

 

[duluthralphie]

That does not look like something I'd want wandering about near my chickens... Pretty sure it would die quickly of lead poisoning here.

The sad thing is they are very hard to ever see, unless in a trap. I have not ever seen anyone get that good of picture of one in the wild before...