Fisher Martes pennanti

Description: The fisher has thick dark brown hair with white-tipped hair in some places and is one of the largest members of the weasel family. Males weigh 7-15 pounds with females weighing about half as much.

Habitat: Fishers inhabit the mature hardwood and conifer forests of northern Wisconsin.

Diet: Snowshoe hares and deer carcasses make up the bulk of this opportunistic predator’s diet. Porcupines, squirrels, mice, berries and sometimes leaves and buds are also eaten.

Habits: The fisher climbs well and is at home in the trees as well as on the ground. It is the only animal that will regularly prey on porcupines, but because of the danger involved prefers to feed on other animals.

Fishers and People: Overtrapping and destruction of forest habitat led to the disappearance of fishers from Wisconsin. After re-introduction efforts, their population is currently increasing. It has done so well that a trapping season with a bag limit is now in effect. Their name may come from early trappers who often used fish to bait their traps for this animal, not because of its diet.

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