Ermine

[Carp Commander]

Going to make an effort to catch some weasels this year. I have a Marten trip planned, just finished another dozen weasel boxes and I am taking them with me into the Cascades this November. I caught a few up north of Newport last year but I have never tried in the Cascades.

Any suggestions on habitat and bait?

[Bigshooter]

Can't help you with the ermine.  But have you ever caught any marten in the cascades?  Me and a buddy have been thinking about giving it a try this year.

[Carp Commander]

Can't help you with the ermine.  But have you ever caught any marten in the cascades?  Me and a buddy have been thinking about giving it a try this year.

No I haven't this is my maiden trip. I have reached out to WDFW biologist, researched old trapping harvest reports, read everything I could find on Martin habitat and and called every trapper I know that use to trap them. I will either be a hero or a zero but I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

I prepped twenty new 7x7x24 single doors today. Put burlap covers on them and tuned all the pans. I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the trip. Everything I have read suggests that catching them is not difficult as they will regularly enter cage traps. Finding them however can be very difficult.

[Bigshooter]

Can't help you with the ermine.  But have you ever caught any marten in the cascades?  Me and a buddy have been thinking about giving it a try this year.

No I haven't this is my maiden trip. I have reached out to WDFW biologist, researched old trapping harvest reports, read everything I could find on Martin habitat and and called every trapper I know that use to trap them. I will either be a hero or a zero but I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

I prepped twenty new 7x7x24 single doors today. Put burlap covers on them and tuned all the pans. I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the trip. Everything I have read suggests that catching them is not difficult as they will regularly enter cage traps. Finding them however can be very difficult.

From what I have been told and have seen they go into cages pretty easy.  Please let us know how you do.  I am very interested.

[UrbanTrapper]

Beartrap and I have trouble with ermine (both Long Tailed and Short Tailed Weasels) eating our beaver baits in our bobcat cages so we often co-locate weasel boxes with bobcat cages. When I was a guest on a trap line in BC they caught lots of ermine in their marten boxes which were often baited with grouse carcasses (they like bloody baits too but do you want to wash blood off that white fur?).  So we know ermine like the same habitat as bobcats and lynx and they like beaver and grouse carcass baits.  I had one weasel that set off the rat traps in my weasel boxes several times without getting caught and even set off my bobcat cage several times by trying to drag an entire beaver head out of the trap (the weight of him AND the beaver head on the pan fired the cage).  This 'angered' me (forum acceptable language) so I took him on as a personal challenge.  Eventually I thought to use one of those skunk tube traps.  I had him 12 hours later but by this time it was late March and he wasn't white anymore so the little Long-tailed basta'd had the last laugh! 

[Heredoggydoggy]

The only place I've seen Ermine is in Oregon when I was shooting Ground Squirrels.  Looked like he was having a hard time stalking Ground Squirrels when he was white and the fields and critters were brown...
Ermine get white in winter.  Weasels don't change color.  two different animals. 

[Bigshooter]

The only place I've seen Ermine is in Oregon when I was shooting Ground Squirrels.  Looked like he was having a hard time stalking Ground Squirrels when he was white and the fields and critters were brown...
Ermine get white in winter.  Weasels don't change color.  two different animals. 

Wrong. 

After a weasel turns white it is know as an ermine.  An expamle would be the shorttailed weasels.

[Humptulips]

No ermine here. They stay brown all winter. I did have a number of pictures of them working my cat sets and I use beaver for bait. They don't eat much so I don't really care. Used to catch them occasionally in civet sets but apparently their too light to set off a cage trap.

[KFhunter]

hey once you find a population of ermine, how many can you trap until you've depleted the area?
I know where some are already.



Are they pretty thick or sparse?  trap heavy in a small area or lightly in a big area?

[Carp Commander]

I can't give you a number relating to population density per square mile but they are a weasel and they are only social when it's time to breed. However, like a Mink the travel long distances.

The ones I have caught in Northeast Washington were scattered far and wide. I trapped just off the road along ditches, the more under brush the better. I never caught more than one or two in an area. From my very limited experience last year I concluded that a longer line was the key to consistent catches. This could also be because of the lack of a large population in that area.

[3nails]

 A "longer line".  Man I wish that were possible for me for all species. I keep trying to shorten my lines due to fuel costs. If gas were $1 per gallon I'm pretty sure I'd trap myself into an early grave! 

[Carp Commander]

Should have done the research before commenting on population density. Here is what some other web sites say;

"The ermine is largely solitary. The ermine is territorial and intolerant of others in its range, especially others of the same sex. Within its range, it typically uses several dens, often taken from prey species. It usually travels alone, except when it is mating or is a mother with older offspring."

"The size of the territory and the ranging behaviour of its occupants varies seasonally, depending on the abundance of food and mates. During the breeding season, the ranges of females remain unchanged, while males either become roamers, strayers or transients. Dominant older males have territories 50 times larger than those of younger, socially inferior males. Both sexes mark their territories with urine, faeces and two types of scent marks; anal drags are meant to convey territorial occupancy, and body rubbing is associated with agonistic encounters"

[Carp Commander]

A "longer line".  Man I wish that were possible for me for all species. I keep trying to shorten my lines due to fuel costs. If gas were $1 per gallon I'm pretty sure I'd trap myself into an early grave! 

I wish it was possible over here it seems like everything is 60 miles away! The alternative is to not trap and for me that is unacceptable!

[KFhunter]

I won't have to drive far, would like to just use the snowmobile and start from the house.

If it's a good snow year, might have to trailer the sled for a mile or two if not.

[Heredoggydoggy]

OK, so there are 3 kinds of weasels:  Long-tailed, Short-tailed, and Two-legged.   

[Jonathan_S]

To the OP, habitat ranges a lot.  However, all you have to do is locate an area and then you can continue to trap that for a good long time.  Similar to mink, they don't congregate and live together but they do live in areas together. 

Areas to consider are edges of forests near clearcuts.  I have a deer stand that requires me to walk through an 8-10 year old burn area with lots of young tamarack and fallen logs.  Tons of mice and weasels.  I've got a cool picture of one that ran up a tree and barked at me.

Also, I wouldn't be afraid to try and trap them around the Tri-Cities.  They are a very adaptable critter.  I trapped them in the grass draws between wheat fields and around ponds out in scabrock country.  Look for their track in the snow.  They look like four dime-sized prints in a rough v-shape.

Do you have any boxes with rat traps?  Don't be worried about getting blood on them, it'll clean right off in cold water.  Just be careful about extracting a dead weasel (or marten) from a trap because they can freeze to them.

[sirmissalot]

I didn't even know we had weasels here... until the other day I was up in the woods and this little thing was viciously attacking a rabbit in the road... thought it was a mink but a lady friend with me quickly corrected me that it was a weasel? I lost that bet. Mean little buggers that rabbit was easily 3 maybe 4 times its size and weight.

[fast60eddie]

 

OK, so there are 3 kinds of weasels:  Long-tailed, Short-tailed, and Two-legged.   

[Carp Commander]

To the OP, habitat ranges a lot.  However, all you have to do is locate an area and then you can continue to trap that for a good long time.  Similar to mink, they don't congregate and live together but they do live in areas together. 

Areas to consider are edges of forests near clearcuts.  I have a deer stand that requires me to walk through an 8-10 year old burn area with lots of young tamarack and fallen logs.  Tons of mice and weasels.  I've got a cool picture of one that ran up a tree and barked at me.

Also, I wouldn't be afraid to try and trap them around the Tri-Cities.  They are a very adaptable critter.  I trapped them in the grass draws between wheat fields and around ponds out in scabrock country.  Look for their track in the snow.  They look like four dime-sized prints in a rough v-shape.

Do you have any boxes with rat traps?  Don't be worried about getting blood on them, it'll clean right off in cold water.  Just be careful about extracting a dead weasel (or marten) from a trap because they can freeze to them.

Thanks for the info and yeah I have two dozen weasel boxes. Last year I caught them using chicken livers. Any suggestions on bait and/or lures.

I have seen them plenty of times around here but always in the summer when they are brown. I am not sure they turn white here.

[UrbanTrapper]

No ermine here. They stay brown all winter. I did have a number of pictures of them working my cat sets and I use beaver for bait. They don't eat much so I don't really care. Used to catch them occasionally in civet sets but apparently their too light to set off a cage trap.

They get white in Central and Eastern WA.

[CementFinisher]

tag

[Carp Commander]

So apparently we have long tail and short tail weasels in Washington State. The name Ermine is actually the name for the fur the short tail, long tail and in Europe the Stoat produces.

"The white fur also is known as "ermine," and even in regions where the animal is known as a "stoat," the animal with this winter coat may be referred to as ermine, or as being "in ermine."

Not much money in them but a fun species to trap.

[Carp Commander]

Also, I wouldn't be afraid to try and trap them around the Tri-Cities.  They are a very adaptable critter.  I trapped them in the grass draws between wheat fields and around ponds out in scabrock country.  Look for their track in the snow.  They look like four dime-sized prints in a rough v-shape.

We definitely have plenty of wheat fields around here. I would never have thought to find Weasels in the sage brush. Maybe I'll try catching some in the brush around the rivers here in the Tri-Cities. I am assuming the thick brush that holds rabbits would also hold Weasel.

Has anyone tried wiring or tacking the rat trap to a tree. I thought about trying to find a set that would work to avoid the shrew and mouse catches and avoid having to pack weasel boxes.

Doug