Fishers thrive in PA, much to trappers’ delight
Fishers thrive in PA, much to trappers’ delight
By Tyler Frantz
Fishers are one of the most elusive critters in Pennsylvania. Described as a housecat-sized weasel preferring mature stands of coniferous forests, this agile predator has seemingly adapted well to the mixed habitat of Penn’s Woods. But they are still very reclusive by nature.
“Wildlife experts probably know less about the social interactions of fishers than any other mammal in the northeast,” PA Game Commission wildlife biologist Matt Lovallo said. “There’s a lot we still don’t know about them.” What the experts do know, however, is that their populations are holding steady, growing, or expanding throughout most of the state.
“Fishers once extended as far south as West Virginia, but declined drastically during the deforestation of our region in the 1800s,” Lovallo explained. “They were extirpated from our state when the last confirmed fisher was trapped in Lancaster County in 1921.”
Reintroduction efforts in West Virginia and New York led to natural fisher expansion across Pennsylvania’s southwestern and northern borders in the 1980s, but the population really took hold when the PGC released 190 wild fishers transplanted from New Hampshire and New York into the north-central region of our state in 1994.
Fishers began to thrive likely as a result of their adaptability to new terrain, especially in areas with woody debris and dense forest floor habitat creating prime feeding grounds. Fishers predate on a wide variety of forest species including porcupines, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, reptiles and insects.
Unsolicited reports of fisher observations have climbed from less than a hundred sightings in 1997 to well over eight hundred reports every year since 2011. The number of incidentally caught and released fishers reported by trappers targeting other species is even higher.
Though the statewide population is unknown, Lovallo says the Commission’s monitoring efforts reflect a stable to increasing status in most areas of the state, including Lebanon County, where trappers cannot specifically target them.
Fishers are considered the holy grail of furbearers in areas where they can be legally pursued- primarily in Pennsylvania’s northern counties. The PGC authorized the first fisher-trapping season in 2010 with special restrictions.
“Pennsylvania has the most conservative fisher trapping season in the country,” Lovallo said. “The controlled season is only open in thirteen Wildlife Management Units, it requires a furtaker’s license, fisher trapping permit, and successful harvests must be reported with 48-hours.”
This year’s Pennsylvania fisher trapping season runs twelve days, from December 17ththrough the 28th, in WMUs 1B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4D and 4E only.
Just because fishers are doing well and have an open season doesn’t mean it’s easy to catch the large carnivorous mustelid. In 2015, only 401 of the 6,564 issued permit-holders reported a successful harvest.
But two individuals seem to have it figured out pretty well. Lifelong trappers, Ralph Scherder and Rich Faler, literally wrote the book on fisher trapping in the Keystone State. Their newly released “Fisher Trapping - Pennsylvania Foothold Methods” is a must for anyone considering the quest of trapping a prized fisher.
Both Pennsylvania natives and nationally acclaimed outdoor writers, Scherder and Faler chronicled their annual pursuit of fishers ever since the first PA season opened. The two have successfully caught multiple fishers utilizing sound ground set practices, and they share their priceless knowledge and expertise with readers in the 96-page softbound book.
“Fisher Trapping” offers a history lesson on fishers in our state, their hunting methods and habitat preferences, extensive advice on set locations, lures and baits, trap selection and placement, bedding and weatherproofing techniques, as well as fur handling guidelines. It really is an all-inclusive guide to targeting fishers and how to make the most of a short Pennsylvania season. Detailed photographs add even more insight to the text, as they accompany the full-color book with every turn of the page.
“This book was written with one goal in mind- to share with others the fantastic journey of becoming a fisher trapper,” the authors state in the book’s preface. “It is our intent to both entertain and educate, to show how our days in the winter Appalachian Mountains unfolded and what the fox-sized fisher taught us.”
“This is the book we would have wanted when we first began to pursue this furbearer,” they added. “If you love the wilds of the mountains, the hiss of snow against hemlock needles, and the stiff December breezes that snake around the high ridges, then you’ll love the pursuit for fisher.”
A copy of “Fisher Trapping – Pennsylvania Foothold Methods” can be obtained for $14.95 plus PA sales tax through several trapping suppliers, online via www.Amazon.com and www.RichFaler.com, or directly from Beaver Pond Publishing at P.O. Box 224, Greenville, PA 16125.
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