Author Topic: help in identifying this critter (Read 5575 times)

kenzmad · « **on:** December 06, 2009, 09:30:16 PM »

please help me identify this animal. small squirrel like 12-16 inches in length,2 inches high at the back, legs are set way out on the corners like an indy car or salamander, rounded head the size of a baseball, had a mouthfull of fur or moss for nesting or whatnot, all tan but the tip of the tail was black or dark brown. sorry no pics cuz camera was buried in the pack. saw this critter in the coweeman gmu550 unit saturday evening. please help cuz this is buggin me.

kenzmad

bobcat · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2009, 09:34:27 PM »

Maybe a mountain beaver?

ICEMAN · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2009, 09:36:21 PM »

Like this...? An ermine?

littlebuf · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2009, 09:39:09 PM »

no i think bobcat may have hit it. was it real real ugly? if so mountain beaver, go back and call for bobcats

kenzmad · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2009, 09:44:53 PM »

the ermine looks kinda close but this on did not have a white bell and its head was more rounded like a squirrel

kenzmad

littlebuf · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:03:32 PM »

right of fish and games web site

kenzmad · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:08:13 PM »

it was not a mountain beaver. this critter was long and skinny. very low to the ground with a longish tail. the guy looked like a squirrel kindof but not really. didn't really jump when it ran but did not just run smoothly just not the jerky start stop of a squirrel. thanks for the help on this as it is puzzling

kenzmad

boneaddict · « **Reply #7 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:09:39 PM »

Pine Marten.

Gutpile · « **Reply #8 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:10:31 PM »

Chupacabra!!!

boneaddict · « **Reply #9 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:10:37 PM »

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pine+marten&FORM=IGRE#

boneaddict · « **Reply #10 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:13:10 PM »

Mink would be the next guess, but they tend to be with water. They also tend to be more chocolate or darker color.
Our Martens tend to be more tan with a peach breast patch

longrange7mm · « **Reply #11 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:23:22 PM »

heres a mink pic off the net was this it

turkey buster · « **Reply #12 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:40:49 PM »

don,t weasels have a black tip on their tail

Kain · « **Reply #13 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:14:30 AM »

Long tailed weasel?

http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/maps/wa/mammals/WA_long-tailed_weasel.html

Or maybe it was a marmot
http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/maps/wa/mammals/WA_yellow-bellied_marmot.html

Curly · « **Reply #14 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:33:57 AM »

You should have shot it........would be easier to identify with it up close; also, you'd then have time to grab the camera for a pick

(Just joking).

Woodchuck · « **Reply #15 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:40:25 AM »

sounds like what we call "packrats" or "packies" bout the tent and sleepin bag eatinest little vermin on the mountain. kind of a flat tail, not very bushy, big eyes?

Gutpile · « **Reply #16 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:45:30 AM »

Quote from: bobcat on December 06, 2009, 09:34:27 PM

Maybe a mountain beaver?

Thats my favorite kind.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:46:40 AM »

Quote from: Gutpile on December 06, 2009, 10:10:31 PM

Chupacabra!!!

I hate Chupacabras. I heard a new pack just moved into the Blues...

boneaddict · « **Reply #18 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:51:04 AM »

Quote

little vermin on the mountain. kind of a flat tail, not very bushy, big eyes?

That sounds like either Littlebuf or Rasbo.

Woodchuck · « **Reply #19 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:54:33 AM »

i forgot about them, i bet your right

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 07, 2009, 11:58:57 AM »

Quote from: JIMKD8 on December 07, 2009, 11:54:33 AM

i forgot about them, i bet your right

Yeah, they're really playing hell on our Musk Ox herd here in the Blues. They swoop down and pick them right off the mountainside... When was the last time you saw a mature Musk Ox?

Woodchuck · « **Reply #21 on:** December 07, 2009, 12:05:24 PM »

oh geez, they are all over, seen three last week, while i was up around Godman sasquatch hunting

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 07, 2009, 12:31:31 PM »

Quote from: JIMKD8 on December 07, 2009, 12:05:24 PM

oh geez, they are all over, seen three last week, while i was up around Godman sasquatch hunting

Well, thanks for not posting the pictures here on the site. The Chupacabra is known to cruise the internet, looking for secret Musk Ox (and Sasquatch) hunting spots, and he would have undoubtably ruined your honey-hole in a 3 day weekend.

By the way, speaking of "ruined", I think this icon is about 3 postes overdue...

Axle · « **Reply #23 on:** December 07, 2009, 01:00:02 PM »

Weasel. Mouth full of fur might have been a mouse. They are great mousers.

kenzmad · « **Reply #24 on:** December 07, 2009, 01:34:24 PM »

dont think it was a weasel as when it ran it did not do the inchworm thin with its back. appears that pine martins do the inchworm thing as well. this guy was very low to the ground and flat is all I can describe it. it ran kinda like a crocodile walks, you know legs out to the sides not underneath the body. this is very puzzling cuz not only have I never seen it before, seems nobody has. we were joking in camp that maybe it was an infant bigfoot. I have no clue but thanks for all the input. the ermine sure looks close but it is too tall at the back and appears to walk with legs under the body. Ya I shoulda shot it but Im afraid there wouldnt have been much left using the 50cal muzzy. besides, what tag do you put on it?

kenzmad

Kain · « **Reply #25 on:** December 07, 2009, 01:45:20 PM »

Where did you see it. It might help narrow it down.

kenzmad · « **Reply #26 on:** December 07, 2009, 02:06:46 PM »

I was in the coweeman gmu550 unit hunting elk. I was sitting on a stump in an active logging area next to the new road. They had been cutting on friday and I saw it on saturday. it came down out of the reprod that bordered this new cut. this was on top of the hill on road 4700. if anyone is up there, the road has what appears to be a roll cage of a gocart at the beginning. the loggers are using the rollcage for a stand for their signs to warn us of the logging operations.

kenzmad

Kain · « **Reply #27 on:** December 07, 2009, 02:21:30 PM »

Maybe it was a gravid female remaking her nest. Might have been displaced by the logging.

Might explain why it looks weasel like but doesnt move like one.

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