What was that animal? Completely brown with minimal lighter markings, the size of house cat, long-bodied, and slipping furtively through the woods, these mystery creatures are being observed more frequently around Bearskin Lodge. They are fishers (sometimes erroneously called “fisher cats”) and if you are lucky enough to glimpse one slipping through the woods, you’ve seen an elusive animal that most people only get to read about.
The fisher is a close relative of everyone’s favorite Bearskin animal, the pine marten. Pine martens have light-colored, cat-like faces, pointy ears outlined in white, a fashionable furry tan neck scarf at their throat, and a bushy, darker tail. In the winter pine martens are frequently sighted cleaning up the dropped seed under your cabin bird feeders. Often, they aren’t particularly concerned about whether you are nearby and may even stand up and peek in your windows. Pine martens also have no shame about dumpster diving, and can sometimes be spotted making a mess around the Bearskin dumpsters. They have no difficulty squeezing into cracks between the dumpster lids to pull out your leftover orange peels and chicken bones. To prove they’ve been there, pine martens like to leave a nice line-up of their discarded food items on top of our dumpsters.
The fisher is a pine marten cousin, but it’s a very different animal. Fishers are much more reclusive. Early in our time at Bearskin, a fisher might be observed once a year, covertly sneaking through the shadows in the woods. One time Bob walked up to Cabin 11 in the off-season and was surprised to find a fisher on the open porch, apparently chasing a squirrel who’d inadvertently become trapped there. We talked about it for days, because a fisher was such an unusual sighting, especially on a porch.
Fishers are primarily found in Canada, the far north of Minnesota, and many northeastern states, where they were reintroduced by logging companies to control forest decimation from porcupines. Yes, porcupines. The fisher: the only species that will intentionally attack a porcupine — and win.
In recent years, we are starting to see fishers much more regularly here. We’ve watched a fisher run across our house deck multiple times and guests are regularly reporting that they’ve seen a mysterious brown animal run through the woods. This picture of a fisher, taken by photographer Tanya Piatz-Sandberg near Cabin 11, was the first really great fisher picture we’ve seen from a guest. Since then, guests have been regularly photographing this “mystery animal” that they’ve never seen before. We’re thinking our nearby fisher population is doing well.
Are they cute? Fishers don’t have as much of an “adorable” factor as our pine martens do. Both animals are members of the weasel family and are vicious hunters, but pine martens look like they should be curled up in your lap. Fishers are solitary creatures, and have a long, low profile with an arched back and long, narrow fluffy tail. Their fur is a rich, glossy dark brown, which was highly sought after until the mid-20th century. After decades of over-trapping, the population has rebounded.
When can I see a fisher? Fishers climb trees, but you are most likely to see them in the dark shadows of the Boreal forest floor. They are omnivores, preying mainly on snowshoe hares and smaller mammals, but they are also content to eat mushrooms and seeds. They are one of the few porcupine predators and are even known to take down much larger lynx. One thing fishers don’t usually eat is fish, so forget about that name having much significance. (And they aren’t in the cat family either, so the common name “fisher cat” is totally bogus.)
Theoretically you are most likely to see a fisher at dawn and at night, but we’ve never seen one then. Almost all our sightings have been mid-day, on the ground, and always stealthily moving. Lately we’ve had a small fisher show up on our deck almost daily around lunch time. Sometimes he even stands up to look into the kitchen window.
Fishers are most active in the spring, so now is a good time to watch for them. Let us know if you spot one!
