Down by the old fisher tracks

I’d been seeing fisher tracks on the trail and, at about that time, I saw a Facebook post by an Ontario nature guide asking if anyone had been seeing fishers. I replied that I had seen lots of tracks crossing our trail to the DUC wetland project.

The guide said he had a client who had seen every member of the marten family except the fisher (now considered a different genus). He asked for some details on what I’d seen, then asked if I’d be open to him bringing his client to see if they could get a look. My wife, Linda, and I agreed that it would be fine.

Shortly after, the guide conveyed that his client was arranging his air ticket.

“Air ticket?”

“He’s coming from Wales,” replied the guide.

I then found out that the client was in his mid-80s. Yikes! I knew they’d have to take our access trail a kilometre or so into the woods, then sit in the snowy cold hoping to get a look. I got busy and borrowed a tent-style “hide” and a side-by-side four wheeler for them before they arrived.

Over a few days, they spent 10 hours in the “hide” amid the old fisher tracks. No luck. On the final day, as they began a retreat at the start of a snowstorm, they spotted a large male fisher! It bolted to a burrow under some rocks, staying to watch the two men for several minutes.

According to the guide, they got “knee-buckling, mind-bending views” of the fisher for several minutes. What a great feeling to have helped this senior global nature-lover put a check mark on his list!