Neighbor Caught a Fisher on Camera. Here’s What They Really Are.

My neighbor caught a fisher on his trail cam last night. We live in the Berkshires, so it is not a shock. A lot of folks still call them fisher cats. They are not cats. They are weasels. Same family as otters and mink.

They have a long dark body, short legs, and a thick bushy tail. A big male can stretch about three feet and weigh as much as a house cat or a small dog. All that winter fur makes them look bigger than they are.

They stay out all year. They do not sleep through winter. In summer they move more at night and around dawn and dusk. In winter you are more likely to see one in the daytime. They like woods with cover and stay off big open fields.

Do fishers really make that screech?

People swear they hear them scream in the dark. That is almost always a red fox. Fishers stay pretty quiet. They growl or make a little chuckle grunt. A real scream from one is rare and usually means it is scared or stuck.

So, I definitely heard some screeching last night - that must have been red fox

Are they dangerous? Not to you. They shy away from people. The few times one has gone after a person in Massachusetts, it was boxed in and defending itself. Outdoor cats, small dogs, rabbits, and chickens are a different story. A fisher will take those if it gets the chance. One old study of a thousand fisher stomachs found cat hair in only one of them, so it happens less than the stories say. Still, keep the cats in at night. Lock up the coop. Do not leave pet food or trash sitting out.