One Less

[Gary Laudermilch]

A mature female I caught harassing deer yesterday.

[winplumber]

Their a beautiful animal but ..........

[Dean Romig]

Now there's a good coyote.





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[Kentucky Bird Hunter]

Agreed, Dean.

They are becoming a really dangerous nuisance here in SC Kentucky.

Dave

[Andy]

We have a LOT of coyotes but our biggest problem now is fisher cats. I have two on my property and apparently illegal to kill. They had babies last year I had them on my trail cam.

[Dean Romig]

Andy, what threat do fishers pose?





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[Andy]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Andy, what threat do fishers pose?
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They eat birds, and lots of them. I have a friend who is a wildlife biologist for NY State and he said they eat porcupines (from the butt hole side to gain entrance) and grouse/squirrels/mice and rabbits. They are killing machines. There's a video out there somewhere of one chasing a squirrel down in the tree and killing it. One of my employees had her whole chicken coup killed by one fisher (which she finally saw and killed). Took the heads off all the birds. Worst part is she really couldn't figure out how it got in it was a pretty tight enclosure with netting above.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/arti...t-11588390.php

[Steve Hodges]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

They eat birds, and lots of them. I have a friend who is a wildlife biologist for NY State and he said they eat porcupines (from the butt hole side to gain entrance) and grouse/squirrels/mice and rabbits. They are killing machines. There's a video out there somewhere of one chasing a squirrel down in the tree and killing it. One of my employees had her whole chicken coup killed by one fisher (which she finally saw and killed). Took the heads off all the birds. Worst part is she really couldn't figure out how it got in it was a pretty tight enclosure with netting above.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/arti...t-11588390.php

Having been a trapper in NH in my younger days I have trapped many Fishers. Every one I skinned had a few Porky quills imbedded under there skin. They are not "killing machines". They do not kill for pleasure. They are a predator that preys on all sorts of critters in order to survive. Do they eat birds, absolutely, but so do raptors, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, wolves and weasels. As with all predators they they play a crucial role in the environment. Your chicken coop story sounds a lot more like the work of a weasel than a Fisher. If the fisher was not caught in the coop I suspect that he/she was not the culprit, but even so, he/she was just trying to eek out a living. I wish folks would stop putting human traits on predators such as labeling them "killing machines". They just want to eat and raise there young. Look, I am no fan of Coyotes but where they occur they have filled a void that was lacking by another predator. As for your video story of a fisher killing a squirrel, of course they do!!! And there ability to chase one down for lunch has me in awe of there hunting skills.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hodges

Having been a trapper in NH in my younger days I have trapped many Fishers. Every one I skinned had a few Porky quills imbedded under there skin. They are not "killing machines". They do not kill for pleasure. They are a predator that preys on all sorts of critters in order to survive. Do they eat birds, absolutely, but so do raptors, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, wolves and weasels. As with all predators they they play a crucial role in the environment. Your chicken coop story sounds a lot more like the work of a weasel than a Fisher. If the fisher was not caught in the coop I suspect that he/she was not the culprit, but even so, he/she was just trying to eek out a living. I wish folks would stop putting human traits on predators such as labeling them "killing machines". They just want to eat and raise there young. Look, I am no fan of Coyotes but where they occur they have filled a void that was lacking by another predator. As for your video story of a fisher killing a squirrel, of course they do!!! And there ability to chase one down for lunch has me in awe of there hunting skills.

Steve, you and I, and a lot of others in the PGCA, have a mutual friend who raised chickens as a food source for he and his wife, along with rabbits for the same purpose. He had built and extremely strong and secure weasel-proof chicken house within the confines of the fenced in (against weasels and such) chicken yard. Something got into the chicken house at night and dragged every one of their chickens out and killed them all, stopping to eat just the more select parts of just a few of them. Somehow the marauder got in through the screened 3" opening under the sides of the vent cap some 5 feet above the floor of the house - an incredibly strong and determined animal and by all counts a "killing machine." Judging by the carcass, it was determined that our mutual friend's wife had Parkerized a large fisher in the act. There's no weasel that strong - but being of the same genus, is more than a little bit likely to simply enjoy killing.





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[Tom Flanigan]

I remember years ago, it was fashionable to label predators as vicious killers that should be destroyed whenever possible. I have in front of me an Outdoor Life article from May 1938. One of the articles is called “Villain’s of the Wood and Field”. “If the coyote and skunk are skilled at annoying outdoorsmen, they are positive geniuses at defeating his efforts to wipe them out.” Also in that magazine is an advertisement for Winchester small bore rifles for killing “pests”. The advertisement features a picture of an owl.

I guess, to this day, vestiges of that sentiment still linger. Much of my hunting is on a large estate that has large populations of predator’s. I plant acres of sorghum every year to provide food and cover for the pheasants, but we still lose quite a few. By far the most effective predators on the property are hawks. It is very common to find dead pheasants with their breast eaten and the rest of the bird remaining. They don’t need to work to get every bite when there is plentiful food.

The foxes and coyotes generally take the whole bird. Predation by these animals is not a factor on the property. New York, as some other states, have hunting seasons on these animals to protect them. I guess these states don’t see these predations as “killing machines”

Hawks and owls are protected, as they should be. I don’t begrudge the hawks on the property their pheasant kills. Unlike myself, they are eating to survive.