The Furbearer Conservation project is proud to support the efforts of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and other conservation-minded partners in encouraging individuals and families to enjoy the outdoors while practicing #ResponsibleRecreation. Conservation funding streams and associated economic benefits are immensely dependent on the public’s willingness and ability to use recreational resources in a responsible manner to ensure these resources are preserved and available in the future.

How are abundant and urbanized wildlife adapting to shifts in human presence? Some species feel the strain while others thrive.

Amid the controversy of half-time Super Bowl dazzle and speech-tearing political pandering plaguing the ‘net this week, an unlikely pair of furbearers are the most recent internet celebrities thanks to their upbeat behest to accompany each other on a suburban hunt for a meal.

Multiple animal-related bills will be reviewed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives this week, erupting concern and contempt from a wide range of the state’s citizenry, including hunters, farmers, and domestic pet owners. Lawmakers have filed dozens of bills this session focused on wildlife or domesticated animals, ranging from measures to ban the docking of dog tails, to eviscerating the N.H. Fish & Game Department’s hunting policy Commission and targeting hunting contests for deer and coyote.

Police in Kensington, New Hampshire, took to social media to advise the public on keeping pets and children indoors after they say a coyote attacked a 62-year-old woman and her dog Monday morning. The same coyote is suspected of attacking a car in Hampton Falls earlier this morning.

Both members of the weasel family, fisher and marten tend to inhabit similar areas within their habitat range while competing with one another over valuable resources and food within that habitat. However, while the larger Fisher has managed to adapt immensely well to agricultural, suburban, and slightly more southern expanses of its home range, the marten is far more fickle with regard to altered habitat impact.

Amid the technology age of satellite mapping and swelling popularity of trail cameras, wildlife experts are still tapping the fur trappers’ knowledge to seek out important data on elusive predators. In Alberta, for example, biologists are looking to gain a better understanding of wolverine distribution across the Canadian province, and reaching back through decades of trapper reports and observations to do it.

Twenty-one trappers have participated in the fisher relocation program, applying their traditional knowledge & skills to assist with the project. Local experienced trappers are often recognized as the fulcrum for conservation projects, especially those involving furbearers such as the Fisher.

When thinking about the parameters of a typical wolf diet, a common conjuring of likely candidates resembles common prey species such as wild ungulates and ranched livestock. However, as the Voyageurs Wolf Project of Minnesota highlights in a recent social media post, skilled predators like wolves can sometimes leave us all surprised with what they fancy for a meal.

A newly released study aims to utilize DNA extraction from saliva at prey kill sites to help identify predator species. Of an acquired 53 recent hare kills, researchers managed to get positive IDs on 31 of them. Laurel Peelle’s research is published in the September 2019 Wildlife Society Bulletin.

After successful fundraising efforts from a dedicated group of local hunters, the NH Wildlife Heritage Foundation secured funding for a comprehensive study to investigate distemper (CDV) impacts on New Hampshire’s furbearers last year. The department initially requested turn-in of carcasses from grey foxes hunted or trapped during the legal hunting and trapping seasons. This year, that study has now expanded to include a desire for carcasses from both Red and Grey Fox, as well as Fisher.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is asking for the public’s help in gathering information on the eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius). Anyone who sees the unique species is asked to report the sighting to LDWF. The sightings can be from roadkill, game cameras or inadvertent catch from fur trapping, according to the agency’s press release.

Staff members with the Bald Head Island Conservancy worked through the summer to ward off hungry coyotes on sea turtle nests with non-lethal hazing techniques unsuccessfully. The Conservancy now turns to trappers to assist with managing abundant predator populations to conserve endangered species.

When it came to the embodiment of the rural New England yankee persona - ol’ Harris Ilsley, of Weare, New Hampshire, was pure quill. Given that he rarely ventured far from the family property, Harris managed many accomplishments around his fur handling and local lore.