From:

WINTERBERRY WILDLIFE

January 9, 2019 Janet Pesaturo

“Do Fishers slide?...”

“The fisher and its cousin the river otter often create tracks and trail patterns of similar appearance. If tracking conditions are poor and tracks are unclear, distinguishing between these two mustelids can be tricky business. However in snow, otters usually slide frequently, creating a characteristic toboggan-like impression. But do fishers slide, as well? Not very often, and I don’t know if they ever really slide for the purpose of efficient travel, as otters do. Maybe they do, but my interpretation of the fisher “slides” that I have found so far, was that the animal was dragging and rubbing its underside, probably for the purpose of scent marking, maybe for grooming, but not sliding to move quickly. For this reason, I prefer to call these “drags” rather than “slides”, for the latter implies a similarity to what the otter is doing….”

Otters can be ferocious critters. A friend, long ago, was 'coon hunting with his 'coon dogs and they struck a trail that ended at a leaning tree. When my friend arrived there was an otter up on the leaning tree, with the dogs all around baying. As he watched, the otter jumped out of the tree into the midst of the dogs and whipped them soundly, then went on his way. He said he had never encountered anything that fought dogs like that otter.

Otter. I see a lot of those sliding tracks off the end of a lake west of Fairbanks that has some springs in a swampy area that keep water flowing and holes open all winter. The otters love that place because they can get into the water all winter and there is a maze of slides between the open holes.

I have seen porcupine leave tracks like that.

thanks for all the information, I didn't have the notification button on.