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Post by BRIAN on Apr 12, 2007 13:14:55 GMT -5
MOOSE
WOLF
BRUSH WOLF
LYNX
BEAR
CARIBOU
WHITETAIL (BUCK)
FISHER
MARTEN (PINE MARTIN)
OTTER
BEAVER
MUSKRAT
RED FOX
SILVER FOX
CROSS FOX
MINK
ERMINE
WEASEL
SKUNK
RABBIT
SQUIRREL
MICE
NOT MENTIONED (I ALWAYS WAS SURPRISED IT NEVER WAS)
WOLVERINE
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Post by Matt (admin) on Apr 12, 2007 14:21:34 GMT -5
Brian, Good topic...
Ermine = weasel (usually just refers to the winter, white coloring)
I asked Jo Ann about bears. I assumed since they were never mentioned, there were none in those parts. Not true, she said. Also, they have raccoons there too, but again never mentioned in the book. Of course, coons are much more common almost everywhere now than they used to be.
Are (were?) there wolverines in the Nakina area?
How about porcupines? Usually, fishers in an area means porcupines since porkies are a main food source for them. We used to have them all over up at our place in Michigan. Haven't seen any there in years?
Jo Ann, can you comment on any changes since the book in terms of what wildlife is in the Nakina area? I know lots has changed down here in that time period. When I was a kid, no beaver, otter, or coyotes. Now beaver and coyotes are plentiful and otters are coming back. Less muskrats here now, but WAY more deer now.
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Post by BRIAN on Apr 13, 2007 8:06:33 GMT -5
oops, I knew Id forget something...Porkies were mentioned in the book (just as an observation by Jim), I dont remember coons in it though.
A bear was referenced in the book (remember the door being dismantled at one o the line camps....Jim remembered the rancid bacon left in there ) they found claw marks on a tree (or was it the door frame)
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Post by BRIAN on Apr 14, 2007 18:30:22 GMT -5
Another thing about porks, I see them all the time at camp in Tionesta, at the southwestern end o the Allegheny forest.
funny little fellers
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Post by joannrotz on Apr 14, 2007 21:59:50 GMT -5
MOOSE WOLF BRUSH WOLF LYNX BEAR CARIBOU WHITETAIL (BUCK) FISHER MARTEN (PINE MARTIN) OTTER BEAVER MUSKRAT RED FOX SILVER FOX CROSS FOX MINK ERMINE WEASEL SKUNK RABBIT SQUIRREL MICE NOT MENTIONED (I ALWAYS WAS SURPRISED IT NEVER WAS) WOLVERINE |
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Post by joannrotz on Apr 14, 2007 22:21:02 GMT -5
To all when i went thru the list there are few that are not here. Most are about except white tail altho I have heard they are getting closer. Also silver fox I haven't heard to be close. The only racoons ride the trains from southern Ontario and don't last the winter. Ermine are here during the winter and come summer they are called Stoat or probably weasel. We actually have had a couple of ermine in our woodpile....so cute. Racoons are not welcome here as they carry rabies and at this time we do not have rabies [too cold]. Porcupines yes but few, our Edna dog spotted one 3 years ago and I had quite a time containing her. Because of the fisher population the porkies are kept in check. Wolverines are yes here tho I haven't seen one. Yes we do have bear issues every summer.....BBQ's, ...one tore off a panel of the garage a couple of years ago. At the cabin they always go for the cabins with the most food....not us. I have a policy NO FOOD outside......they still can smell inside cooking. Edna the guard dog keeps them at bay. As to skumks Edna met up with one about a year ago....not fun. Thay are not plentiful here tho.
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Post by traplines on Apr 15, 2007 8:36:57 GMT -5
Just a little bit info that might help understand some of the wildlife. Weasels ( Ermine ) are usually numerous in the the forests and throughout most of Canada and the US. They are quite verocios and are afraid of nothing. ( You'll remember in the book the reference to Big Lindsay saying if they were as big as coyotes it wouldn't be safe for man to be be out in the woods. They're main diet is mice, birds and even kill rabbits. In the summer they are completely brown and turn white in the winter except for a black tip on their tail. You don't usually see them to often unless like Jo Ann says there living around your yard. If you know what to look for in the winter you'll see their tracks everywhere.Sometimes when they turn white and the snow is late in coming they stick out like s sore thumb. The harder you trap weasels the more there are and that is because you usually catch the males and adult males kill the young so if you can reduce the adult males the weasel population increases. The fisher is the only animal in the woods that hunts and can kill porcupines successfully. They get a paw under the porky and flip him onto his back and attack his belly where there isn't any quills. Very seldom do you catch a fisher that doesn't have quills embedded under the hide. Raccoon numbers are increasing and are moving into the forests but as Jo Ann Say's there numbers seem to be kept down I think mainly due to predators.
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Post by BRIAN on Apr 15, 2007 10:32:51 GMT -5
I always thought Ermine were the winter version of the weasel or stoat. Is this true, or, is a weasel a weasel and an ermine is an ermine. Just another member of the weasel famliy?
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Post by traplines on Apr 15, 2007 11:37:31 GMT -5
I've never heard the word Stoat but the dictionary Say's the European ermine esp. in its brown summer coat. Also the weasel and ermine are the same thing but I think its called ermine when its in its winter coat. Some one correct me if I'm wrong. Funny you learn something new every day don't you. There are 3 types of weasels in Canada. The least weasel, shot tail and the long tail. The least and short tails would be on TLN.
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Post by Matt (admin) on Apr 15, 2007 13:25:27 GMT -5
As I said above, ermine is just a name for weasels in their winter white coloring. Russ, we have the Least and Long Tails down here too. Never heard of the shot tail. Thanks for clarifying what a stoat is. I've wondered that before.
Jo Ann, you're right about those coons. Rabies is a big problem down here. More so in Pennsylvania than here but it's coming. Coons are everywhere. They're the most commonly trapped furbearer, leaving the muskrat behind a while ago. They also get and spread Distemper and Parvo. That's why it's illegal here to transport nuisance captures to another location, but people do it all the time. I've seen sick coons in the woods, in town, even once outside the revolving door at work. I have places on my line where they've overpopulated, then been completely wiped out by disease. Takes them a few years to come back. Not many natural predators and less control by humans than in the past.
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Post by BRIAN on Apr 16, 2007 6:07:07 GMT -5
Backpacking, we have more incidents with coons than bears. Of course we do. However, Racoons have become so brazen or bold that as soon as the lights go out in camp you can hear them nosing around.
Summer camp in boy scouts are the worst, as they are constantly getting into the trash in the campsites.
I had one snarl at me when I shouted at it on a canoe trip (in our camp) one time. Like standing its ground. It was in "our" area and it was not a situation with little coons or something like that.
We did have one time a couple years ago we, we were out of camp. upon coming back from a short hike we found a coon running around the three tents, in daylight. Before I could say anything my cop brother blew it away with his off duty weapon.
I was releived we didnt have to worry about the obvious sick coon however that was the last time I asked that brother to go on the river with us.
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Post by Matt (admin) on Apr 16, 2007 6:23:42 GMT -5
Brian, I could see how you might want to examine your travel roster carefully after that. The coons and especially the skunks are pretty brazen at the campgrounds around here. They think nothing of walking right under a table full of people.
Jo Ann, you said whitetail are getting closer. Are there any kind of deer around there now? How is the moose population?
I read somewhere that moose and deer (I don't know if it specifically referred to whitetails) can't inhabit the same areas. Something about a parasite or something that one carries and lives with but the other can't tolerate. (Is that vague enough?) Jo Ann or Russ, do you know anything about that, or do you see moose and deer in the same areas?
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Post by traplines on Apr 16, 2007 7:27:04 GMT -5
Wild life is funny. In the last 30 years moose,elk,bears cougars the odd fisher, some wolves hame moved from norther Saskatchewan right down to the bottom of the province. We have more white tail deer here than anywhere in Canada. I've also heard that mule deer push white tails out and I don't think that's true either. I've hunted areas with both. When I was a boy we only had ducks here and now millions of Canada & snow geese migrate through here. When someone tells you they saw some animal that's not native to your area don't dought them as it entirely possible.
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Post by traplines on Apr 16, 2007 10:11:30 GMT -5
Obviously a person should take the time to spell check before posting
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Post by BRIAN on Apr 16, 2007 12:30:21 GMT -5
Whitetail deer are staple around here, I see no less than 5 deer on my way to work each morning (it helps with this number that I leave at 4am). Out in Toinesta, where our camp is (Forest County), the deer are plentiful but when stood against the deer in Bucks County (where I live), they are slight smaller overall. Guess its the feed. Have any of you had a critter bite you. I was bitten by a skunk,  , seriously. A friend of mine had a pet skunk for a couple o years and I was feeding it one day and talking to someone at same time. Not the skunks fault, he just thought my fingers were part of the handout I guess |
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, seriously. A friend of mine had a pet skunk for a couple o years and I was feeding it one day and talking to someone at same time. Not the skunks fault, he just thought my fingers were part of the handout I guess