Henry Braithwaite’s Tales of the Forest 
The Fisher Is One of the Most Elusive of Woodlate Creatures. 
Here Is an Interesting Chapter on His Life eerie | 
the martens. How it came to get 
the name of fisher I have never 
been able to find out. It is known as 
the Black Cat in this country and is 
now one of the highest priced furs we 
catch, excepting silver fox, and it com- 
petes with him as a good second. I 
have never had any evidence 
that it ever goes fishing, al- 
though it is very fond of fish, 
and trout particularly, which is 
one of the best baits I know of 
to catch him with. 
The fisher is a determined 
fighter, but the only animal I 
know of that he will deliberately 
attack is the porcupine. He will 
kill and eat them whenever he 
finds them. I have seen some 
fishers with skins nearly worth- 
less from being full of quills, 
and the most singular thing 
about it is, the quills only go 
through the skin, then turn and 
run along between the skin and 
the flesh until they work out. 
Fishers are great climbers and 
jump from one tree to another 
when pursued. They feed on all 
kinds of berries in summer and 
beechnuts and mountain ash 
berries in winter. 
(igs fisher is one of the largest of 
I had an adventure with one 
once that showed me his fighting 
propensity... I started out from 
camp one morning with three 
dogs a man had left in my care 
until his return. The dogs had 
the reputation of being good 
hunters; one was a bull terrier, 
one a fox hound and one a New- 
foundland. It was good snow- 
shoeing and good traveling for 
the dogs. A short distance from 
camp we crossed a fresh Black 
Cat track. As soon as the fox 
hound struck it he started on, 
and the other two followed. There 
was nothing left for me to do but go 
and see what happened. 
Must have gone nearly two miles 
when I came to a hollow pine tree 
which had blown down a short time 
before. The Black Cat had taken re- 
fuge in it and the dogs were barking 
and howling and trying to tear their 
way in. The only trouble then was, if 
they drove him out, they would tear him 
to pieces and spoil his hide. I started 
to cut a notch in the tree and find out 
348 
where the black cat was and kill him 
in the tree, but I had only struck a few 
blows when he came out. He stepped 
from one dog.to another. and bunches. 
of hair flew at every step. Finally they 
-all got into a pile, but the fisher came 
walking out of it, and when a dog came. 
too close he wheeled around and hit. 

Henry Braithwaite, with pack and axe, following 
a woodland trail, 
him a slap and the dog would roll over 
and yell. I rushed as quick as I could 
for my gun which was standing against 
a tree, but I couldn’t use it for fear of 
shooting the dogs, which if they had 
been mine I would have done.. I fol- 
lowed for a quarter of a mile hoping 
the cat would climb, but he simply went 
on, taking his time, and the dogs kept 
at a respectable distance behind. I soon 
got out of wind and turning back reached 
camp a little after dark, hungry, tired, 
and not in a very good humor. The dog's 
got back some time in the night and 
“caught, about’ the “year 1854. 
















































had the pleasure _ “of staying out of 
doors. ~ 
I well remember the first fisher I ever 
I re- 
member the date because it was about 
the time of the Crimean-War. I didn’t 
know what it was and thought at first 
it was some kind of a fox. None of the 
neighbors knew what it was and 
. finally-I.found two men, one of 
- whom told me it was a Black 
-. eet wand the other called it a 
““picklunk.?’ I skinned and 
cleaned. it ‘the same as a fox, 
took it to Fredericton and got 
--- nine..-shillings: for it, which I 
_- thought was beanee price as 
foxes were on!y worth three to 
five shillings; we counted ovr 
money then in pounds, shillings 
~ and pence.” ° 
nek are very easy ani- 
mals to eatch. I used to 
catch them in traps built the 
Same as marten traps, only 
larger. They were fooled so 
much by traps being too small 
that they got shy of them. In 
setting steel traps for them, 
they are likely to take a foot off. 
Some -set traps with a spring 
pole, but it is a cruel way to 
kill animals. A better way is to 
set the trap along the side of a 
large tree and drive a nail up 
as far as the trap chain will 
reach; leave no brush or any- 
thing round it or the chain will 
get fast in it. See that the tree 
is large enough, so the fisher 
can’t go round and get the chain 
hooked around the trap or him- 
self. I have never lost one with 
a trap set that way. 
I had an old Indian hunter 
with me one winter, and coming 
to camp one night we saw a 
fresh Black Cat track. The Indian 
was carrying a trap we hadn’t set that 
day and says, “set um trap here and 
catch um to-night.” ‘He cut off a little 
fir tree, leaving the stump about two 
feet high, slipped the ring in the chain 
over it, dropped it down and drove. 
wedge in it. He hung a piece of par- 
tridge up for bait and the next morning, 
when we came back on the trail, we 
found that the Black Cat had struck 
our track and followed it to the trap 
and got in; then he had deliberately 
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