Fisher

My brother-in-law and I were on a fishing trip Saturday, April 2, 2011.  Had it been a day earlier I might have wondered if it were some sort of prank, but it was not April Fool’s Day.

As we drove along Route 458, a couple of miles before getting to St. Regis Falls, a black animal crossed the road.  It was perfect sight conditions about mid-morning, and we both saw it for several seconds.  We came over a small rise and it appeared right in the center of the road.  It moved off of the road going from right to left, but not running hard.

Neither of us was quite sure what we had seen, but in no way questioned our sanity.  It was more of a, “What was that thing?”  It was too fast an event to get a camera in action, yet we each got a good sighting of it.

I spent some time today searching for photos and information that matched what we had seen, and there is no doubt in my mind now that we saw a Fisher, or Fisher Cat as they are sometimes known.  I would estimate that the entire animal was about 3 feet long, and a foot and a half tall.  About one third of that total length was the tail.  Although there may have been other colors on it in small amounts, I saw nothing but black, or possibly an extremely dark brown.

To the best of my recollection this is the only one I’ve ever seen in most of a lifetime.  The photo is merely representative, as we had no chance of photography.