of the Keeler Creek drainage in the 40 's. Another trapper 

 who worked the Bull River Valley noted wolf tracks near one 

 of his bobcat sets in the early 70 's, and felt that an occa- 

 sional wolf still occurred in the Cabinet Moiantains Wilder- 

 ness Area (D. Cloin, pers . comin. ) . 



The raccoon (Prooyon lotov ) is classified as a nongame 

 species and although raccoon or raccoon sign were not observed 

 by the investigator, trappers indicated that they are pres- 

 ent but rare. 



Observations or sign of mammals observed on the study 

 area which belong to the weasel family included: marten 

 (Figure 19), mink, long-tailed weasel and striped skunk. 

 Hoffman and Pattie (196 8) indicate that other species which 

 belong to this family and which occur in this region of the 

 state include fisher ( Martes pennanti) , river otter ( Lutva 

 canadensis ) , wolverine ( Gulo luseus ) and badger ( Taxidea taxus ) . 



Cover type and habitat types in which these mammals 

 were observed are given in Table 6. Locations of furbearer 

 and predator sign and observations are shown in Figure 18. 



According to local trappers weasel and skunk are abun- 

 dant, the marten population is steady and fisher or fisher 

 sign had not been observed on the area. One trapper had 

 caught two river otter in Lake Creek several years ago and 

 had seen otter sign within the last two years along this 

 drainage. Neither trapper had trapped wolverine but both 

 believed they were present and both reported that badger 

 occur along the Bull Lake-Lake Creek flats. The long- tailed 

 weasel and the striped skunk are classified as predators 

 and the marten, fisher, mink, river otter and wolverine 

 are classified as furbearers in Montana. The badger is a 

 nongame species. 



Bobcat and lynx are classified as furbearers. One bob- 

 cat was observed running across the Copper Creek road. 

 Eight instances of bobcat sign (tracks) were noted in the 

 TSHE/CLUN habitat type from December 1977 to July 1978 

 (Table 6) . Although no confirmed lynx observations were 

 made during this study by the investigator, a local hounds- 

 man (E. Vance, pers. comm. ) had noted lynx tracks in the 

 area during 1977 and Hoffman and Pattie (1968) indicate that 

 lynx do occur in this portion of the state. 



Small Mammals 



Table 7 includes observations or sign of 14 small mam- 

 mal species noted on the study area. Most observations were 

 collected incidental to other activities although 5 

 species were captured using 13 snap-trap trap lines. 



44 



