Fisher Cats in W Mass?

[BTHG]

Getting ready for work yesterday and wife starts screaming like crazy. She just watched our dog fly around the house chasing something up our back hill at high rate of speed. They standoff face to face for a bit and this thing bolts up into the pine trees. By the time I get there you cannot see anything but eventually you see branches bending as it comes down and takes off. Lab mutt is 40 lbs. Animal was brownish and smaller. Usually see fox and raccoons but neither makes sense. This dog flies and raccoons are too slow. Are fisher cats fast? Sounds like they only get up to 14 lbs or so? Are they territorial? I'm going out with her all the time for now but isn't it unlikely it would attack something so much bigger? Not sure what else fits my wife's description. Supposedly they are more common out here over last few years.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[jimmib]

I googled it and they are native to your area...be interesting if you could get a pic

 

[BTHG]

I googled it and they are native to your area...be interesting if you could get a pic

I'm trying to find someone with a game camera but no luck so far.

 

[BearBio]

Sounds possible==marten maybe? I'm not up on arboreal (tree) weasels.

 

[arjay]

Like this? (Marten)

 

[Jst1mr]

Fisher cats are quite quick and nimble, and like most weasel-family members, fearless. They can and will attack bigger prey, but are notorious around here for picking off pet cats. Also one of the few predators that will take on a porcupine.

 

[BrianE]

They're definitely around western ma and will take out your small dog or cat. One was in my backyard in the fall....

 

[mc5aw]

Chupacabra?

 

[Sebago Son]

Fishers are fast and nimble enough to catch Red Squirrels on the ground and in the trees. 14 pounds would not be a particularly big one. Mature males will stand down a single coyote. If faced with more than one yodel dog they will take to the trees. Around here we experienced an explosion in the local fisher population when the western shore of the lake got a little built up. Fishers LOVE housecats.

 

[Texas Star]

The Fisher is NOT a "cat." It's a mustelid. Bear Bio has it right: they're sort of arboreal weasels.

I think they average bigger than Martens, but are smaller than Wolverines. Wolverines are sort of the N. American equivalent to the African and Asian Honey Badger.

In S. America, animals like the Eyra replace them. All will bite a chunk out've you. Be careful. Your dog may be sorry if it catches one.

 

[bummer]

Thought you were talking about the baseball team

 

[weatherby]

Plenty of Fisher cats here in W Mass. and have been for decades.

 

[walkin jack]

Hmmm, for a minute there I was thinkin' maybe a chupa cabras (the infamous "goat sucker") or Texas jackalope. But they don't range quite that far north....

 

[sgt.207]

We trap them in Columbia County NY, right on the Mass border. There seem to be more of them in recent years.

 

[pownal55]

I've seen one on my deer stand first day the last two years as it got light and watched it climb a tree into what looks like a squirrel's nest. Apparently doesn't care for my company because I never see it after the first day.
I read "they will eat anything that doesn't eat them first". So, watch the dog , he won't get eaten but could get ripped up pretty good.