Hi Jim....this is Bryan.. Your answer on the fur bearers is indefinitely. Like us, most trappers try to manage the fur bearers on their traplines, like any rancher, you do not want to deplete your breeding stock. For a trapper, this can be done in many different ways, depending on the species and the situation. These strategies are discussed in detail and at great length in our B.C. Trappers Manual.
We are trapping a fly-in only area. Our trapline is 1300 square kilometers with NO roads and no flat ground. Most of the ground is very steep and heavily timbered with lots of blow down. It's a Coastal environment, with Devils Club, thick underbrush, Salmon and Bears. When we acquired the trapline, very little trail had ever been cut, and the trails that were here had not been maintained in 6 years. If we cut trail for the rest of our lives, we still wouldn't access 10% of our fur bearers.
This beautiful Fisher had 5 porcupine quills in it's face and neck. They usually do not bother with our sets. We see their tracks in the snow occassionally. They are great rabbit hunters. Two weeks after this fisher showed up , we caught a Marten in the same set, that had a porcupine quill in it's back.
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Wow! Is that a fisher? It's so large, and a beautiful, fierce looking animal.
I am shocked that you have access to such a large area - it's like your own national park! I looked up your area (Inklin River, Atlin, etc.) using Google maps. What an amazing part of the world. I guess 1300 sq km is relatively small when looking at the total area.
Thanks for your response and for sharing such an amazing endeavor. I could ask a thousand questions, but I don't want to annoy you. Best of luck to you guys.
Do you guys believe that "fewer than 5 fishers are trapped in the Yukon each year"? That's what this says: http://www.environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/wildlifebiodiversity/mammals/fisher.php
This fisher we caught had 5 porcupine quills in it's face and neck. We see their tracks in the snow but usually they do not bother our Marten sets. Fishers are great rabbit hunters. Two weeks after this fisher showed up we caught a Marten in the same set and it had a porcupine quill in its back.
Bryan says....the Yukon is probably the far extreme of their area. Prince George area has lots of Fisher, even here it is far north for them, but the pacific influence might make a difference. There are no cougars in the Yukon either and yet where we trapped before... down near Big White Ski Resort outside Kelowna, they were everywhere.
We heard from our local C.O. that cougars have made a couple appearances in the Yukon. And last summer there were two sightings outside of Fort Smith in the NWT.
i have had 2 couger sitings in the yukon, and have seen the tracks a few more times. they are here. i saw one as far north as dawson city, and they have deer moving on the other sie of pelly crossing now.
i have not seen a fisher yet, but what a great looking animal.
The Cougar are obviously following the deer up and heaven forbid that they come across Stone Sheep or Big Horn sheep. It is great in one way but they can sure take down alot of animals in a short time. They only like to eat fresh meat and then they are off killing again. Down at Chilcotin Junction in BC there was a growing herd of introduced California Big Horn Sheep that was thriving. Hunters kept on telling the conservation officers that something was killing the herd. The idea at that time was to let nature take its course, but finally the conservation officers went in and found a mom Cougar and two kittens who were staying there and just feeding off that one herd. These numbers are not correct but it was something like a herd of 140 taken down to 40 in no time at all.
wow, that is amazing. we have a unique sheep herd here, interesting to know before it happens, is there a artical or further reading on the sheep herd vs couger?
here is a link about our fannin sheep http://www.faroyukon.ca/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B0D255FC1-A64E-426E-B494-26C9E2A53BDA%7D&DE=%7B7B84802C-1F64-4286-92DA-B7FF81AC2911%7D
Hello Yukonmusher. I will find the article. Thanks for the fannin sheep site. I will check it out.
That is a beautiful fisher. They are seen in Minnesota usually now in areas that have been logged. They're smaller here but they eat porcupines. I did come face to face with one while throwing firewood. They do not make nice pets. We do have cougars once in a while. Last year one was tracked from the western Dakotas across MN and WI and was ultimately shot outside of Chicago.
Hello John....Yes the Fisher is a animal with alot of ----'s. They tackle animals way bigger than themselves. As I said before they usually don't bother our Marten sets because they are such good hunters. On our last trapline down in southern BC, Cougars were very common. But the deer population is huge there and can support a large cougar population. But up here the cougar would have a hay day with the sheep, and goats. Hopefully there are not that many heading north
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