Who here has seen any of these animals in the eastern us?
Who here has seen any of these animals in the eastern us?
I've seen two fishers on my property in Western Maryland, up in the Allegheny Mountains. I also have weasels. The fishers are a recent arrival, seen last year, over the 13 years I've owned the property. The weasels have always been there. Pretty animals, but they play hell with the other small wildlife. The rabbits took a big hit. The bears, deer, coyotes, bobcat, and fox have been unaffected.
Anyone who wishes to do some reading about these critters is invited to go to Pennsylvania Game Commission's website and read their online wildlife notes. Reading them all will keep you busy for days and once finished you will know more than 99.9% of all A.T. hikers about the wildlife that lives there.
Last edited by emerald; 08-04-2011 at 13:57.
Mrs Gorp sent me a picture of a serious "fisher cat" photographed in her backyard in VT.
I saw a Fisher just south of Front Royal back in '99, unfortunately I didn't have a camera.
I saw a fisher in Vermont in 2000.
I have seen a pair of pine martins (close relatives) north of the whites in Nash Stream Forest. Cute little guys!
Pine Martens and fishers used to be all over the Adirondacks - I'd See a lot of them in the winter and deal with them living under shelters in the deep of winter,.
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
I saw a fisher in Vermont in 2001, around July 4.
I would love to see a fisher cat in person. Fisher cats rock!
I once saw a fisher in a tree from the A.T. in Maine personally. It seemed like a redundancy because it happened so fast.
I had to ask myself, did I really see what I thought I saw in the fading light? When I saw it again in my mind's eye, it still looked like a fisher cat to me.
Last edited by emerald; 08-05-2011 at 10:32.
In the Adirondacks, where I stomped for many years, I used to bearbag in the early years, but then I started having problems with Pine Martens getting into food bags - I learned in winter to hang a bear bag closer to the ground than closer to the branch simply because on 2 occurrences, I watched Pine Martens climb down my bag rope (Hanging 2 feet from the branch) and scurry off over branches as they make off with plastic sandwich bags of food/pop tarts from my food bag (Had a Zip open top bear bag then)
On another winter trip (around '96), I also had a problem with raccoons getting into my pack (Leaning against a tree overnight) - I had no clue what was in my pack at first - only I awoke hearing rustling noises and looked out my tent with my light and saw that my pack kept "bulging around from the inside". The pack finally fell over It finally fell over and one fat raccoon waddled out - several seconds later, another fat coon waddled out. It was pretty amusing. Fortunately they did no damage.
For areas that had no camping activity and plenty of snow, I would just bring the foodbag into my tent.
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
saw a fisher cat near the atc campsite in white mountains while trying to stealthcamp nearby to save money i moved a good 200 yds away i was afraid of what it might do to my gear while sleeping same reason i fear the porcupine
One other occurrence with a fisher happened. I was (again in the Adirondacks in Winter) at the junction of Wright and Algonquin, I was taking a short break, sitting with my back against my pack facing Wright , having a sandwich and some coffee. I don't know why but I got a strange feeling I was being watched. I looked up and down the trail and there was no one. It was deathly quiet and still - a perfect winter day. I looked behind me and at first saw nothing but pucker brush and a larger tree. I looked up in the branches and about 15' away from me, about 10 feet above me was a fisher "squatting" on the branch, appearing as if it was slowly coming toward me. I watched it and it backed up the branch, went down the back side of the tree and was gone. I always wondered if it was getting a closer looked, smelled my food or was planning an attack. It was definitely the size of a large raccoon.
Last edited by Toolshed; 08-08-2011 at 15:20.
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
My buddy back in Rhody lives in the northwest part of the state. It is about as rural as you are gong to get in Rhody....
anyway, on his property he pointed out some fisher cats to me. Rather cool.
Paul "Mags" Magnanti
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The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau
My B-I-L saw a fischer in NJ last year in his yard, just outside of Lambertville, not too far from Delaware River.
Seen them in Western Ma.
I saw two pine martens playing off of the Tuckerman Ravine trail just before the Lion head trailhead during my winter summit of Mnt. W. back in 2008. And I have seen a fisher in my back yard up in a tree. Very cool animals.
skinny d