Fisher               

Enter Sighting Bat Beaver Chipmunk Coyote White-Tailed Deer Field Mouse Fox Fisher Groundhog Hare Opossum River Otter Cottontail Rabbit Racoon Skunk Gray Squirrel Snakes Vole

Introduction

The fisher lives in wooded area, and it prefers coniferous trees. Fishers are usually 20-25 inches long and weigh 6-12 pounds. They like to live near water and can swim well. They can be active any time of day or night and are as agile in trees as on the ground. They are solitary and territorial. The fisher is also a vicious fighter, it makes noises like grunts, growls, and hisses. It uses holes or dens dug up by other animals as it home. The fisher hunts, mostly at night, over a territory of several square miles. Once on the trail of a victim, it never quits and is capable of remarkable speed for short distances. The average home range of females is 5-6 square miles and males home range is 7-8 miles. An average fisher lives up to ten years.

Food Habits

On the ground the fisher preys on mice, shrews, and chipmunks, snowshoe rabbits, marmots, beaver, birds and small animals; also on dead deer and fish. In the trees it preys on squirrels, raccoons, the pine marten, and porcupines. They attack the head and face of a porcupine until it gets tired and can't fight very well. They also eat berries whenever they can find some.

Family Life

While fishers mate in March-April, the fertilized egg remains dormant and does not become implanted in the uterine wall until the following January-February. From this point, gestation takes about 30 days. Fisher dens are lined with the fur of mice they have killed and are found in rock piles, old buildings, burrows, and hollow logs or stumps. Litters of four to eight young are born in April or May, and within 10 days, the mother has mated again. At first, the mother stays with the 3-4 young most of the time, leaving for 2-3 hours to hunt. The male does not help raise the young. At 10 weeks, the young are weaned and by 12 weeks they begin to climb around the den. They remain with their mother for the rest of the summer and then disperse in the fall.

Winter Habits

The fisher does not hibernate. It commonly uses ground hog burrows in winter.

Threats

In the past, fishers have been trapped for their pelts.

Benefits

They help to maintain a balance in nature and they are good mousers.

Problems and Solutions

They may raid poultry flocks and other farm animals.