Wolverine? Or marten?

“We are one week back from Boundary Waters. Saw an amazing sight there. Well, TWO amazing sights, but will save one for when I do a trip report. ;-)

We were on Little Bass Lake, just putzing in the canoe along its shores. Dryfoot was doing a little fishing (and having great luck, might I add!)

All of a sudden we heard this "thud, thud, thud, thud." Really a loud sound. I expected to see a moose come into view.

But, no. There were two long, low-to-the-ground, brown animals with tails on the wooded shoreline, running toward us.

The noise they made was just huge! I could see they had huge paws to match. One was following the other, a few feet back, as they ran.

I knew I couldn't get my camera out of the dry box to get a shot in time, so I just watched and committed the sight to memory. It was amazing... and the noise they made.... !!!

So, I've been trying to figure out what we saw. Dryfoot was guessing them at a foot and a half in length each.

I was thinking marten, although I tried to watch a few YouTube videos on them... and am not convinced.

Then I found this photo, which I must say looks a lot like what we saw, almost the same type situation, too:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature3/images/zm_zoomin.3.1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature3/zoom1.html&h=370&w=545&sz=26&hl=en&start=10&um=1&tbnid=4RnozKs_k50ydM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwolverines%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

WHEN YOU GET TO THIS PAGE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE THIRD PHOTO DOWN FROM THE TOP ON THE LEFTHAND SIDE. THAT IS LIKE WHAT WE SAW, RUNNING ALONG THE SHORELINE.

But I am not sure if there are wolverines in the Boundary Waters forests?

Any ideas?????
last edited: 9/08/07 9:16:15 AM”

“Wolverines are definitely the badasses of the Weasel family.  I always thought of them as being somewhat larger than you describe.... Maybe those were juveniles?”

“If they were crying over their opening game loss, definitely a Wolverine!”

“I don't know if wolverines live in that area, but maybe the Minnesota game commission website has some information about where they live.”

“Wolverine
The wolverine is a heavily-built, powerful animal, whose ferocity and devilishness are legendary. The wolverine will indeed poach trap lines, ripping apart trappers' valuable furs and plundering food caches. But just how many of the wolverine's exploits are fact and how many are fiction is debatable.

A relentless hunter, the wolverine may doggedly pursue its prey for many hours. Or, it may climb a tree to wait for an unsuspecting animal.

Nearly four feet long and weighing up to 50 pounds, the wolverine is the largest member of the weasel family. It wears a dense brown coat with two broad yellowish stripes extending along its sides from the shoulder to the base of the tail.

The wolverine was never common in Minnesota. Records of pelts taken by early fur trappers indicate it may have ranged throughout northern forests. In recent years it has been occasionally reported along the Canadian border, with some animals penetrating the state even farther south. The wolverine is protected by law.




http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/wolverine/index.html

or martens....which seem more common

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snapshots/mammals/americanmarten.html
last edited: 9/08/07 3:14:55 PM”

“may have been just a couple of skunks out for a stroll, or even beavers”

“I did some googling and also came up with something called a fisher. But there's not a lot of info on it. Apparently bigger than a marten.”

“I had thought fishers and martens were the same?”

“As I understand it, wolverines are broad and stocky and can be quite large. Any martens I have seen are sleek and thin. At least if I remember correctly. What about an otter> Could you have seen a couple of them? Bigger than a marten, thinner than a wolverine.”

“GORP had this list of animals on their site...

Within its domain, you will find the timber wolf and the black bear, the Canadian lynx and the wolverine, bald eagles and great blue heron, a dense population of moose and beaver, and a panoply of fish, including walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and lake trout.

What part of the BWCA did you go to? I'm doing the Numbers Chain up into Insula Lake and Alice with my dad week after this coming.”

“Ask over on these boards lizs.

They are great fro info. Lorax hangs out over there too. I'm PortagePounder.”

“Martens have much larger ears.”

“At least Marten Lawrence does.”

“They released some fishers into Pennsylvania a few years ago. I'm not sure how they are doing. I hope they are doing okay and it would be nice to see one out in the woods.”

“You don't want them. The Wisconsin DNR reintroduced them here some years ago. They raise havoc with everything and have no natural predators.”

“Makes me wonder if they looked into that before they released them. What are they doing raiding crops?”

“They seem to be "natural born killers" and not always for food. Dogs, cats, and all manner of wildlife.”

“I see, I'm sure hunters don't like them because they'd kill small game animals.”

“A return to more indigenous species.... Bad for Spot and Puff.”

“i remember an article in a alminaic about fishers....a fisher tore through a screen to get at a cat....the lady heard the commotion, but since she knew her cat was inside she didnt worry....woke up to bits of fur all over her kitchen...made me feel bad for the kitty.....i know we have a problem with coyotes in my area....lots of little kids and pets.....”

“I read that maybe it was fishers that were reintroduced (my head is spinning from googling fisher, marten, wolverine and otter) to help keep porcupines in check. It said they (if I am right that is was the fisher) are the only creature that can kill them, getting them by coming up UNDER the neck where there are no quills.

As I recall, these two furry creatures had huge paws and strong, wide legs In reading up on otters, it said that otters are playful and will run along (I think, as noted, am swooning from google overload). There was one following the other. But from photos I saw, I didn't think the feet looked right.

Then again, in looking really closely at the wolverine photo, the tail didn't look right, while the paws and forelegs did seem to be what I remembered.

I need to find a better photo of a fisher.

And a mink? I think it was bigger than a mink (forgot to mention I googled mink, also, and found a nasty video on youtube of a mink after a red squirrel in a cage)

Also, for the mink and/or fisher, it said they were solitary animals unless it's the mating season, which is in the spring....
last edited: 9/09/07 9:57:02 AM”

“fishers will go after the porcupines nose.”

“Yep.  Mink don't play either.

Hey if you were a mink you'd be pissed too --  LOL”

“Fishers were re-introduced to Vermont to whack porcuipines.

They girdle trees and can destroy tree plantations that take 50 or more years to mature.”

“Domesticated trees at risk also.... weirdness.”

“Given a choice between a porky and some other more user friendly critter like a cat... which would you choose to kill?”

“Depends.  Feral cats have committed all sorts of mayhem on native species in Hawaii, and they need to be rubbed out.

Not exactly 'user friendly,' I know....”

“hmm... I guess I was looking at it from the fishers point of view. I can really understand them going after cats and dogs rather than porkys”