Marten, mustelidae family

» freebirdwi - Any one have personal experience with a Fisher?

I was recently deer hunting in north central Wisconsin, November 2002. I shot a nice buck at 6:50 a.m. of opening day and had gutted it and dragged it closer to my tree stand to hang it to drain for a while. My gun was still in the tree, as I had plenty of work to do cleaning and hanging this animal.

As I knelt to tie a rope to the antlers, I heard a sound of heavy footsteps over my right shoulder coming rapidly in my direction. I assumed it was a large deer, probably a buck, by the sound of it. Not having a gun, I knew the best I could do was hope to get a good look and maybe get it to stop for a moment. I turned my head and was very surprised at what I saw. A furry black creature caught my movement and sprang 6 feet up the trunk of a tree about 30 feet away like Spider Man, in one leap. It then ran a few more feet up the trunk, its powerful claws making a very obvious noise on the bark. After hesitating for a few seconds, it ran back down a few feet and leaped off the tree and ran in the direction it came from. A very intense animal, for certain!

I didn't know what it was at first, having never seen one. I only knew it didn't look friendly and was obviously powerful. My assumption was that it smelled the fresh blood and was closing in for a meal.

If anyone has seen or heard of any human-Fisher encounters, please let me know

-- posted by freebirdwi

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