The fisher is one of the most interesting furbearers around. Somewhere between a marten and a wolverine, he’s vicious for his size, but doesn’t get big enough to pose a threat to much more than house cats, porcupines and in some cases, believe it or not, Canada lynx. Fishers do well in the young forests found in farmland reverting back to pasture and regrowth after timber harvest, both of which are common in the northeastern U.S. these days. Fisher populations are currently healthy and abundant in most places except on the edges of their range, which is quite a departure from the past, when their numbers were very low in most places.
Personally, I’m more of a marten trapper at heart, but in much of the forestland I trap, timber harvesting has made habitat more suitable for fisher, and the black cats have become more abundant to the detriment of marten. So I’ve done my best to adapt, and have had a great time targeting fisher on the northern Maine trapline. Fisher are fun to trap and their pelts are beautiful, particularly if harvested when prime. In this article, which was published in two parts in Fur-Fish-Game magazine back in 1959, Walter Arnold relates his lifetime of experiences with fisher, which spanned a period of time when the species was in a far different place than it is today. It’s a great history on fisher trapping and species management, with a few interesting observations and stories thrown in.
The Maine Black-Cat
First Published in Fur-Fish-Game November 1959 and December 1959
Walter Arnold
The fisher, often called black-cat and sometimes referred to as pekan or Pennant’s marten, is the largest of the weasel family in most of its range. It is said that this animal inhabits North America as far north as Alaska and the Great Slave Lake, and does not extend south of the 35th north parallel. It sometimes reaches a length of four feet. Some specimens are nearly coal black in color, while others run to dark and gray. Quite often there are pelts containing more or less brown or reddish brown. Pelts vary a great deal in color. Back forty years ago, nearly all Maine woodsmen referred to it as a black-cat. Today, it is usually mentioned as fisher.
Fishers love to roam in the solitude of the timber covered mountains, but also do a great deal of hunting and traveling in the wooded low ground between mountains, where there is usually a greater variety of food items. They are very active and do a great deal of traveling and will hunt and travel many miles in a single day, crossing from one mountain to another. Many have their individual “beats” and the alert trapper will soon learn where, and in many cases when, to expect a certain fisher or pair of fisher to cross the trail when leaving one locality to enter into another. They all may not be the same in every detail of habit, but there are some which do not intend to deter one iota at certain crossing places. Following is the most outstanding example of this habit I have observed.
A Creature of Habit
When I go to my camp now I fly, but back in the days when I used my legs for that purpose, I covered many miles of trail before reaching my objective. Over one five mile stretch, I followed an old lumber road which in a few places ran close to the banks of a stream. It was probably around twelve years ago we first noticed a big fisher had a crossing place where the stream ran very close to the road. There was a set of rapids at the foot of which the stream flattened out, and fifty feet away water became quieter. This fisher always came from the east, reached the stream at the foot of the rapids, and swam across in quite fast water. It probably was doing this the year around, but tracks were visible only when snow was on the ground. Days later on his return from the west, he crossed the old road near the top of the long hill two miles away. When he swam the stream he came out onto the shore within inches of the same spot, year after year. Now here is the remarkable part of it. At times during the cold part of the winter the slow moving water freezes over solid, but the rapids seldom freeze over. That fisher would come to the same spot and hop into the water. I know he did it one morning when the temperatures was 21 below zero. He would swim across in the cold water, when by going down the shore twelve or fifteen feet, he could have crossed on solid ice and never wet a toe. If that was not establishing an unbreakable habit, then I do not know what would be required.
When I first became acquainted with this black-cat we were not having any open seasons, and of course I made no attempt to trap him. Another trapper who often used that road also learned about him, and after I quit traveling there, I would keep tabs on the situation through this friend of mine. I have not had the opportunity to check up for a couple of winters, but do know that as late as the winter of 1956, this temperamental old fellow was still swimming his same old “beat”. By this time he has probably passed on to fisher heaven where quill pigs are ever present.
There came times when there were open seasons in this section, but neither of us trappers made any attempt to trap this one. He was a source of study and amusement for us and whether he knew it or not, we were his friends. Probably he would have had to been trapped in a blind set at the crossing place which could have been done all right. Surely he was seeing plenty of bobcat and other sets, and knew what traps and sets were. Without doubt he had been pinched a couple of times in small traps and it is possible that in his younger days, some trapper had accidentally caught him in closed season and turned him loose.
Fisher Food
Probably the favorite food item of the black-cat is porcupine, sometimes called quill pigs. Anyone who has ever removed the pelt from a porcupine can understand what a delicate task it must be for another animal to kill and eat the meat out of one’s skin. The question is often asked, “How is the kill made?” I have never seen it done, so am forced to go along with what seems to be the common opinion among woodsmen. The fisher is lightning fast, let no one doubt this. With a flashing stroke of the paw he catches the porcupine, which is hugging close to the ground, under the chin and flips him on his back. The next instant the throat is slashed with sharp claws or teeth, and the victim is soon dead from loss of blood. This may or may not be the way it is done. Once several fisher get into a locality they cut down the porcupine population, and after several years there will be only now and then a big wise one left.
There are those who believe that if left to itself, the fisher would eventually exterminate the porcupines. Let’s apply a bit of common sense here. For centuries before the white man ever heard of this continent there were both fisher and quill pigs here, and neither one was exterminated. The few of either that Indians killed for their personal use would not be worth considering. Could there have been records kept I am sure they would have told us of periods of years in which there were many fisher and but few porcupines and then periods in which was a scarcity of fisher but plenty of quill pigs. Nature has a way of taking care of such things.
Black-cats are travelers, killers and heavy eaters. When they become plentiful enough to cut down the numbers of their food victims and create a food shortage, they must start looking elsewhere for food, even in what should not be their natural habitat. If trappers could keep their numbers down enough so there are never quite enough left to create a great scarcity in their natural food items, they are not likely to stray far from their natural habitats for any great length of time. Most of them will stay where nature intended, back in the big wilderness away from civilization.
Along with porcupine, fishers also go after squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, and if they can obtain it they are very fond of venison and beaver. There are many veteran woodsmen whom it would be hard to convince that fisher do not kill small deer. The outcome of a sudden meeting between a full grown black-cat and a few weeks’ old deer would likely result in the end of little Bambi in just a matter of seconds.
Fisher Biology
Some interesting information found in “Some Notes on the Fisher” written by our Maine Wildlife Research Unit, which was printed some months after the 1950 open season, reads as follows: “Thirteen of fifteen male and only one of 35 female carcasses were found to have porcupine quills projecting through the stomach, and in one case they had worked out of the stomach into the body cavity. In no instance could evidence of injury, inflammation or infection resulting from quills be detected.” Of further interest, “Mating takes place shortly after the birth of a litter. The fertilized egg develops slightly and then remains in a very immature state until later winter or early spring resulting in a gestation period of 355 days. Apparently the female is receptive for a few days during April. At fur farms the kits develop rapidly and attain full size by pelting time. However, under some fur farm conditions, the animals do not breed until they are two years old and then only 50 per cent of the females produce litters each year.”
Bad Behavior
Fishers are tough, hardy animals. The males are fast and probably fear no other animal their size. In fact, they are willing to concede a few pounds. A few years ago one of our Maine Fish & Game Wardens came upon the scene where a large fisher and big bobcat had met and decided to have it out. The story plainly written on the snow told of a long, terrific battle with plenty of blood and fur from both animals in evidence. The bobcat, which no doubt was much the larger of the two, had finally won out and left his adversary lying dead at the scene. In another encounter a fisher could have just as easily been crowned the victor.
Black-cat Confusion
The name black-cat, which was generally used back when I was a boy, could be confusing at times. For instance, I well remember a man who lived in our community and had reached the age and physical condition where he no longer was able to do the hard work he had been accustomed to doing. He had lived prudent and saved up a nest egg for a rainy day. He decided to put some of this cash to work for him. He obtained a fur buyer’s license, collected a pocket full of raw fur price lists, and was in business. He had never trapped and knew little or nothing about furs. He was cautious, however, and bought a few skunk, mink, muskrat and other furs and made a few dollars.
Way back in the woods on a lonely country road lived a wise old trapper. He heard about the new buyer and prepared for him. A long furred, black house cat was carefully skinned out and the pelt stretched. The day came when our new buyer knocked at the old trappers door, made himself known and asked if the trapper had any furs to sell. “By Gorries” replied the trapper, “I’m sorry but I cleaned out all my furs to another buyer ten days ago. However, I do have a black-cat I just pelted a few days ago”. The pelt was produced. The fur buyer measured it, blew into the fur and then consulted his many price lists. After considerable deliberation he ventured the offer of $20.00. The old trapper hummed and hawed and argued a bit but finally said, “I really expected more, but I am through trapping for the season and this is the last pelt I have. I’m going to let you have it.”
The buyer returned home and mailed his purchase to his favorite fur house. In due time he received returns and the grading sheet listed the pelt: 1 black house cat skin, value 20 cents. The old fellow retired from the fur buying business.
Fisher Trapping in the Mountains
I was around eleven when Dad finally gave in to my pleading and allowed me to go along on one of his trips back into the mountains. Reaching this camp through the wilderness and over mountains was an all day’s walk for even a rugged man, and then there was the food and other supplies to last a week which had to be carried on one’s back. I made it and carried my load, but admit I was about pooped when we reached camp that night. During that week I saw sets made for fisher and fisher tracks, but cannot remember if we really took one. Previous to this I had seen un-skinned fisher and pelts which Dad and my older brother had brought out. Even back in those days black-cat were not too plentiful, their numbers having been reduced by the wilderness trappers with a four and a half month open season. With no beaver trapping allowed at the time, this animal bore the brunt of the trappers’ efforts during the winter months. Dad had put in plenty of sets just in case any came through. These were mostly in the notches in or between mountains. He would take from one to three a season.
Bobcats were just starting to work into the locality and there was a small bounty on their tails. It was not long before Dad was picking up one now and then in fisher or bear sets. This, along with all other furs taken in the low ground area, including fox, mink, otter, raccoon, muskrat and weasel would constitute a total catch that made it a paying proposition.
For a few years after this first trip I made others, when convenient, with Dad. Our home was at the fringe of the big woods, through which one could travel in a northerly direction for 150 miles without coming in contact with any settlement. It was just solid woods, waters, bogs, etc. Naturally, I had my own trap line nearer home, and at fourteen had a trapping camp of my own. At thirteen I also started working the lumber woods, and some years took time out to trap or else worked in the woods and trapped what I could on the side.
During trips with Dad I aided in making fisher sets, which included the construction of heavy flip-poles which would lift the animal right up into the air, off the ground, as soon as it sprang the trap and pole. This prevented a fisher from pulling out of the trap, which is almost certain to happen if given time and opportunity. A caught fisher soon died after being lifted into the air. I really learned then the struggle it was to fight one’s way on snowshoes, up mountain sides, over boulders, across ice covered ledges with ice hidden by a few inches or more of snow and over blowdowns, always up and up, until finally we would reach one of the notches.
Never will I forget one occasion, after reaching our goal, we could stand in one place and see both sets and there hanging down from the end of each flip-pole was a dead, frozen black-cat. There had been a snow storm since they died and the neck and head of each was capped with a coupe inches of pearl white snow. To a leg weary trapper that was the very peak of all expectations. Two sets holding two of the most highly prized fur-bearers in the Maine wilderness. Dad’s face lit up as he exclaimed “Walter, we’ve struck it rich”.
In one way this taking of doubles in fisher trapping was not unusual. They often travel in pairs or more. I know Dad did it several times, and I remember my brother doing it once. He was so excited he came right back home that night, pulling in around midnight or later. Top price for fisher then was $25.00. These two were tops, and he received $50.00 for the pair. That may not sound like much today, but back at that time $25.00 would buy as much or more than $100.00 today (Author’s note: Adjusting for inflation, this would be worth nearly $900 in the year 2020!). About that time I was receiving $1.00 a day and board for a ten or eleven hour day. Board might have been considered at $2.50 a week.
A trapper might make a double catch of fisher and then not take another one for the entire season. That’s what happened to brother that year. It was also possible to go through a season and not take even one.
Fisher Decline and Recovery
Many an old time trapper of Maine can remember how the black-cat declined in numbers to nearly the point of extermination. With open seasons from October 16th or November 1st straight through to March 1st and the finest pelts having reached a top of $150.00, they were constantly being trapped, chased and shot. The last few survivors had to be smart, and probably knew what traps were for as well as the trappers who set them.
I think every wilderness trapper had wanted to see an annual closed season placed on this animal some years before the lawmakers went into action, consequently the closed season was probably accepted more whole heartedly by the rank and file of the woods trapper than any other protective trapping law ever enacted.
I was very active on the trap line in those days and was acquainted with many of the other woods trappers and know for a fact that nearly everyone went all out to keep from accidently taking one of these fur-bearers. We wanted them back on our lines again and then have a trapping season within reason which they could stand.
As fisher increased, it became more and more difficult to make bobcat and other sets in places where this animal was not likely to travel. I passed up many promising places to put in ‘cat sets and no doubt lost ‘cats by doing so. I know for a fact of many others who did likewise. The average black-cat is a tough customer to do business with, and letting one out of a trap is not kid’s play. As they became more plentiful more accidental catches were made, and more than one trapper who was not afraid of anything discovered he had his hands full in trying to release some of his catches.
I do not say there was no illegal trapping for fishers at the time. We would hear rumors of things going on around our Canadian border, also now and then it was believed some Maine trapper was trying to take fisher now and then. This of course goes with our fish, game bird, deer, moose and other wildlife laws. The rank and file of the Maine woods trappers were still doing their best to comply with the fisher law. Even after they became plentiful again, one trapper told me after releasing one alive “I’ll never try that again, I don’t want to catch them but if I do take more they will be konked on the heads and thrown into the woods”. Another trapper, who had had his experience, quit trying to release fisher and would kill them and then turn them over to the Fish & Game Dept. During one of his last seasons it was either six or seven he told me he had turned in.
Naturally, not too many trappers were in favor of trapping and then turning part of their catch over to the state. They felt that once this became a general policy it might not be too easy to get an open season on fisher, enabling the trapper to make some money too. This feeling may not have been justified but it was harbored by many. It was not entirely the fisher problem that created this feeling. There had been for some years a November open season on mink, and muskrat legal only during the spring. Any honest professional trapper could tell you, if he wished, what goes on under those conditions. Added to this general mix-up was an open trapping season on raccoon from October 16th through the fall. There were October ‘coon sets that looked very much like the same sets made for mink in November. We who did not like it had a stiff battle, but finally got part of this dastardly situation broken up, though before we did our mink and muskrat were nearly exterminated. Maybe now the reader can understand why, as the fisher increased and became plentiful, honest trappers were becoming well fed up with this detestable situation. If the laws were complied with the trapper in some instances would turn a third of his catch over to the state. I am sure our Fish and Game Dept. does not like such set-ups either. I have spent many hours walking corridors of our state capitol, talking with representatives, attending hearings as well as sessions of legislative bodies, enough so I know our Fish & Game Dept. does not always get what it would like.
The black-cat is a hardy animal and has few if any four footed enemies. It was not many years before they had staged a real comeback. A person could travel on snow in the big woods most anywhere, mountains or low ground, and find plenty of sign – not just single tracks, but often real trails in their established crossing places.
A Fisher Season
Those of us who were spending much time in the woods observed that fishers were cutting down their natural food supplies and realized something should have to happen before long. We felt it was time for an open season, not a four month one, but a short one which would enable us to thin down their numbers and ease up on the death rate of their favorite food items and sort of balance the situation.
We went after a one month open season. Holy cats, did we stir up a hornet’s nest! I think it was during this display of fireworks that it was driven home to me that conservation swings like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. Conservation gets to swinging in one direction and continues on until a certain species is nearly wiped out, then enough people wake up to enact protective measures and the swing starts its journey back. In many instances it’s allowed to swing back so far that in the end it is just as detrimental as the forward swing. For example, the conservation departments of many states have had and still have their deer problems. Back around 1938 a member of the conservation department of a certain state told me their deer herd had increased to the point where in a year or two there was almost certain to be a tremendous loss in a certain part of the state because there were becoming more deer than there was food to get them through a hard winter. They had suggested a short season on does and the sportsmen of that state had nearly jumped down their throats. There have been heavy losses in deer herds for this reason, and today we read about open season on does to prevent it. Today, more people have come to realize that if we have a perpetual supply of any one species we must control its numbers to correspond with its food supply. In the end, it’s far better for the animals and it’s better for us.
In our first attempt to get a short open season on the black-cat we stirred things up all right, but in the end found that we had arrived at exactly nowhere. At the next session of the legislature, two years later, we shed our parkas and went at it again. We ran into about the same opposition. I never realized before there were so many would-be wildlife experts, and most of them were exclaiming “the fisher will be exterminated”. Do not misunderstand me. Our real Wildlife Research Unit, whom we pay to seek out facts, did not feel that way. What I mean is this. Throughout the country there are many honest, well meaning people who have sometimes gotten into the woods on a two week’s hunting, fishing or camping trip, maybe quite a few of such trips, and from this experience consider themselves experts on every branch of our wildlife work. Many are well educated and successful in their own business or profession and often well known, sometimes statewide. They are usually smart and know how to contact legislators, know the right ones to contact, or are members of the legislature themselves. These folks can make a lot more noise in the right places than the backwoods trapper, who as a rule believes in attending to his own business and allowing other people to attend to theirs.
This extermination opinion was not held by our older Fish and Game wardens who were patrolling the real fisher habitat in the wilderness, neither was it held by our Wildlife Research Unit who had done some research work themselves, or by the wilderness trappers who were brought up with fisher and should know something about this animal. As could be expected in this state, the brunt of the battle fell upon the shoulders of the trappers. Our wardens were trying to enforce the laws passed down to them and were not mixing into legislative arguments. Our Wildlife Research Unit was paid to seek out information on various subjects and its staff, I am sure, has always been willing to impart this information if anyone asked for it but in those days I never saw evidence of any of its members forcing themselves into legislative activities. Now if I am wrong I will stand correction on the following statement. Back at that time, never to my knowledge did any legislative committee ask any Wildlife Research Worker to appear before them and divulge any of their findings on the fisher subject, and I feel quite safe to include, any other important wildlife matter. Today is some different, people are listening more to what these workers, whom we are paying good salaries, have found out.
To us trappers who have been through the mill, the extermination argument was just plain crazy. We reasoned that if back in the last open seasons when fisher brought as high as $150.00 and the woods were filled with professional trappers who had four and a half months open season and everyone was trying for this animal, the fisher were not completely wiped out, then most certainly half that number of trappers, many now knowing nothing about fisher trapping, were not going to do a great deal of damage in one month’s time, especially when the majority of the trappers were now beaver minded.
Time, the trapper’s arch enemy, is a most important element in trapping. There are only so many minutes in a day and when they are used up, that day has ended. Beaver trapping consumes time like no other type of trapping, with much traveling, hard work putting in sets, and the time consuming task of fleshing and stretching pelts. Around 1950, woods trappers were after beaver. Many would never set a fisher trap because they would never have time left for it.
Another argument we ran into was that fisher were down in price and there should not be an open season with pelts running at a third or half of the former peak. What a flimsy excuse that was. One old bur buyer put that up to me and I came back with, “If we are going to govern our trapping laws by fur prices then the first thing to do is to clamp an annual closed season onto fox. Our Maine red fox used to bring as high as $35.00 but if I had 50 or 100 average fox pelts today you would not pay me 50 cents each for them.” Beaver were not bringing half their former peak. Bobcat pelts that once brought $10.00 were even as high as $13.00 were now nearly worthless. All of our Maine wild furs were running from half their former peak to almost worthless. Fisher, if legal, would still be the highest priced Maine pelt.
Before that session of legislature finally adjourned, an open season in six counties for the month of January 1950 was approved. We heard predictions that our fisher were doomed. My belief is that conservation’s greatest enemy is fear. Fear to go ahead in a sensible manner and try things out and learn what is what. The irony of what followed in my case, was that I never did get to trap my own line that winter. Stan Howland, another old Maine trapper and I prospected out a beaver locality 75 miles to the northwest and spent the season there. Of course there were blackcat there too as they could now be found all through that big hunk of wilderness.
Many of us had favored a tagging setup so no fisher pelts could be sold until tagged. This would give us records of the catch and where they were taken. This was written into the law. Our Wildlife Research Unit wanted fisher carcasses to study, and trappers were notified of this.
It turned out just about as we woods trappers had expected. Very few had time to bother much with fisher. Stan and I were too busy with our beaver colonies scattered over two or more townships. Now and then we took out time and simply threw in fisher sets. I don’t think we had over six sets. We never did have time to construct flip-poles. We picked up three and lost two more. That country would have been a lot better off had we taken a dozen. As we learned later, some of the trappers never went to the trouble of making one set. The total catch was 124 fisher, and out of that number the Wildlife Research Unit received 50 carcasses. Stan and I managed to furnish two intact to them. Considering the effort involved, this alone was ample proof that the rank and file of the trappers were honest in their desire for sensible fisher laws and more information regarding these animals.
We heard that some Maine fur buyers seemed to be afraid of fisher. We did some checking with other trappers, and Canadian buyers came into the state. Two of our fisher were big bucks, one a very big, thick pelted skin, the kind that we used to sell for $25.00 to $30.00 at their peak. We received $10.00 for that pelt. I’m not sure but think it was $15.00 for the next one, and then a female brought us $30.00. We had no small pelts. A friend of mine did have two small dark skins and received an even $100.00 for the two. The Canadian buyers told us they wanted all the fisher they could get. I watched reports of the Canadian fur sales for sometimes after this and found those sales reflected prices to correspond with the prices those buyers were paying us trappers.
After the trapping season was over, the Fish and Wildlife Unit sent their men into the woods and onto the trapping grounds where they spent much time checking up on the number of fisher left. The pamphlet I have here covers many subjects, some I have already quoted. The part that deals with recommendations for the future follows: “It looks as though we can have more fisher trapping, but let’s be cautious about it. Trappers should help to see to it that seasons are not too lengthy and should keep close watch on the catches and fisher conditions in their areas. None of us want to see the days of the thirties when it was possible to catch only a dozen or so in the entire state.”
It was 1955 before we were able to obtain another open season from the legislature. This time it ran from November 16th to December 15th for a period of two years in the northern half of the state. This was during part of the regular trapping season for mink, muskrat, otter, etc. Again the old law of so many minutes in a day prevailed. Few trappers specialized on fisher. In regards to the catch during those two years I will quote from a letter from our chief warden in Augusta:
“In 1955 there were 134 fisher tagged and in 1956 there were 55. Wardens report an increase in the numbers of fisher and they are definitely spreading to central and southern Maine. The small kill, of course, does not indicate a lack of fisher but rather a lack of interest because of the low price for pelts.”
Concerning the low price for pelts, low prices on all raw fur today is just about the whole reason for the lack of interest in trapping. Take for instance the big woods in the northern half of the state. Back in the thirties there were trapper cabins all through those woods, and sporting camp owners who trapped from their own camps. Nearly the whole wilderness was covered by trappers and had been for many years. Today there is scarcely a trapper’s camp to be found and very few sporting camp owners who trap. A handful of airplane trappers cover some of the easy places to get at, and that is it. Why did they leave? They left because there has to be something in it besides the love to trap. There has to be money in it as trappers must eat, live and pay bills like anyone else. Big money days for the average trapper is a memory of the past.
Another line in this report “They are definitely spreading to central and southern Maine” is interesting to me because I have always felt that animals should be controlled, if possible, so they never overcome their food supply and destroy it. That is the idea in mind in most of the deer hunting states. I have felt this way for fisher and when we first tried for an open season, we who were in the natural habitat of the fisher, realized they had increased to the point where their natural food supply was fast diminishing.
Natural Population Control
Back in 1950, right on the township where my camp is located, there were fisher everywhere, but rabbits, porcupines and even game birds were losing ground. I did not trap the fisher there that winter and they were still there the next year, then they started to disappear. During the winter of 1957, I spent a week traveling over the mountains and through the low ground, and the fisher were gone. There was scarcely a rabbit left, and only a few porcupine. In the winter of 1958, I was up again and spent a week. I saw no fisher sign, but I think there was a slight increase in rabbit sign and also a few more porcupine tracks. This past fall I went up on three trips with hunter friends and we all saw more partridge than any fall for sometime. In one thicket we also saw a slight increase in rabbits. In a couple of weeks from this writing, I expect to go up on my usual week’s winter trip and do some more cruising. If I run onto one fisher track I will be surprised.
I believe there are many other sections of that wilderness, the natural habitat of the fisher, where if a close watch had been maintained down thru the years, the results would have been the same as the locality just mentioned. There is no question about it, they are appearing out in the more open country where there are farms and woods. Even down here, twelve miles from Portland, Maine, I have seen fisher tracks in our wood lot.
Nature has its way of not allowing any wild animal to dominate and keep subdued any other wild animal for any great length of time. I have no idea how the fisher cycle works and can offer no suggestions. One thing I do feel certain about is that they have over-multiplied. They are leaving their natural habitats, which to me is not a good sign. What the final outcome will be I do not know, but I am not one who believes that this animal will just keep on increasing in numbers and fill the state so full that a person can stand anywhere and see a fisher in any direction. Of course, that is what would happen if they continued to increase. I can be wrong, but I think something is going to happen and that something has already started.
When animals start appearing in considerable numbers out of their natural habitat there is usually something not right taking place. For instance, I believe it was four winters ago that during the fall there were a great many muskrat in this locality, then the winter came in and during the coldest part muskrat were being killed in the roads by cars, not just one but many; they came into barns, one farmer had five or six raiding his grain bin at a time. A friend of mine had out a couple fox sets and caught two muskrat in those sets in sub zero weather and those sets were a long distance from the water. Even right here with the temperature around 15 or 20 below zero our dog killed a muskrat at the side of our barn one night and we are probably one half mile from the very nearest muskrat water. The next trapping season there was scarcely a ‘rat to be found by the fellows trapping and there has been a scarcity of them in this immediate locality ever since until this last fall when the boys started finding quite a few signs again.
At this writing, it is too early to obtain a report of the 1958 fisher catch and somehow I have not picked one up of the 1957 catch. The season is now statewide, and it is probable that the catch is running some higher, but I doubt if it has averaged six or eight hundred a year and I am not sure but what it is too late for that to have done any good. My opinion is that they have reached the peak of their cycle and nature has stepped in to make adjustments in whatever manner it is she uses in this case.
From now on it is not going to be easy to properly control the numbers of the general run of furbearers through the use of professional trappers. By that I mean trappers who have to make a living and support their families and do so on the pelt value of the furbearers they trap. (Bounty trapping is a different matter.) There are very few who are doing it any more. I would venture to estimate that fifteen years ago, over half the trapping licenses sold were to trappers who were quite sure they could make a living and pay all their bills while trapping. Maybe three fourths of them did this. Today there are many licenses sold here in Maine but very few to trappers who have good reasons to believe they can live on their trapping income. There are some, but not many. I honestly believe that today, three fourths of the licenses are sold to those who can afford to trap and do so because they love it. Some are boys who already are being taken care of by parents and have no families to support themselves. They trap to pick up what extra cash they can for spending money, and also because they like to be outdoors and find trapping very interesting. During the last twenty years, there have been little booms now and then on some one or more items, but taken on the whole, the market for wild, raw furs has been slowly fading away. I well remember the days when I or any of the other trappers were back in the woods on a two weeks’ or a month’s trapping trip and the exact date was known when we planned to return, there would be from one to three fur buyers waiting for us, even right in our house, in order to get the first bid on the trip’s catch. Today it is a case of piling the furs into a car and trying to find a buyer someplace that will take the stuff off of your hands at any old price.
Had we started with an open season on fisher in 1947 and had one every year thereafter, I believe that for a few years there would have been a sufficient number of interested trappers to have kept the wilderness population of our fisher in check. Furthermore, those trappers who went all out and even made sacrifices to aid in bringing back the fisher should have had the opportunity to receive some little reward for their honest efforts. Today it doesn’t matter. Those woods could be filled with fisher and an open season of three months declared. I do not believe that or any other law would induce the professional trappers to come back in numbers. I think our fisher program has been a case of wasted natural resources, and wasted natural resources benefit no one.