i'm noticing when the little spring by my workshop freezes,my shop weasel disappears.

Strange looking Alaska weasel you got there.

This one was a BMI 55 in a mink box.The 55 is the same height as a 120,but narrower.your guess is as good as mine,how it happened,Standard,BMI,bell trigger.

Joe,I have often wondered if the mouse caught was even the one that tripped the trigger.I hate to hear that about the 55's.They have been great on mink and spotted skunks in boxes and narrow places for blind sets,I've even caught striped skunks and muskrats in them.Victor makes a similar trap but I have never held one.

This may give a little insight as to when they "turn" here.Both these were taken in an irrigated,cut,alfalfa field at 4,700' elevation.They were within 30 yards of each other.The field is at the base of the mountain and is .5 mile by 1 mile in size.It does have weedy corners and rocks on one edge,

The one in transition was Nov 8th,The white one was Dec 1st.

They certainly are beautiful creatures! I don’t care what phase they’re in. It’s insulting that the transitional phase is worthless.

Actually with long tails there is quite a difference between east and west specimens.
You can on the touching the hide and feel the difference in texture with the easterns having a sand paper fealing vs smooth westerns.

Remember when measuring it is to where the bone of the tail is, not the hair length.

Female longtail's body length over lap short tail male's body length. Trust me I have several hundred museum specimens done.

Alberta at one time had it so longtails could not go into the auction, and they measured the tail length, anything over 4.5 inches was restricted ( there was a lot of pleated tails to get around this)

Brown weasels do go in the "native" craft and sometimes do good in the sales; section 3 ( especially if there is a movie going in production... or several years ago when the Washington natives needed Ceromonial regatta dress to hunt whales

Yes,same season.I had to cross the field to check coyote sets on the far edge.No snow.They looked like white pieces of pvc sticking straight out of the grass.I couldn't help my self and throat shot each with .22 solids at 35 yds.Both were males but the white one was smaller.Those irrigated fields are chock full of voles and in the Summer,ground squirrels.Squirrel hunters often have weasels show up to grab fresh shot ground squirrels.

I also caught a 3rd male long tail in a spotted skunk box with a BMI 55 on Dec 5th of that year.It was white as well.I didn't have any weasel sets out.

Both weaselshad exits the same as the entrances.They can be mounted.

Regarding the males,that one was close to female size, so not sure what to think on age and of course the big onehad been gone from his territory for some time.

I think there were at least 4 squirrel shooters that day and the had squirrels laing everywhere.They said this one weasel was bounding from squirrel to squirrel.I can't think he was eating meat as those squirrels are gray squirrel size.Could it have been drinking blood?I have no idea but wish I could have seen it.He evidently wasn't bothered by the shooting which was .22's and .17 HMR's and wide open country.

Thanks for those links,Joe.Lots of good information there.

so,my shop weasel has a girlfriend now and i am flat out amazed at how much they can eat.have a gut bucket that is usually about bones each morning and i can tell by tracks they are all that's eating in there.hopin to get back after beaver late this weekend and will be watchin for a couple more to see colors this time of year here.you have everybody weasel crazy and its good to have people interested in anything in this market.

LOL That's actually pretty cool.

I have a question about weasel fur. Is there a point during the season where weasel fur becomes not so great? Just like coyotes, although they're still in season I've been told that by around mid January/February timeframe that they become rubbed and aren't worth squat.

hope to tell ya later next week,we'll see.

Thanks Joe, I appreciate the information. I look forward to rereading this thread next fall in preperation of a weasel line next season.

they very well could be storin it somewhere,and i think they are drinking outta the dogs water.he runs the shop and its heated.i thought he'd been drinkin a whole lot more water than usual but i bet they are helpin him.also not sure there is only 2 but i know at least 2 by markings.

The common shrew is a name for a European species, you probably have a Short tailed shrew Blarina brevicauda

That long tail is a clue for the Rock shrew

Missed your post about the staining and when they turn off prime.
You can have yellow staining the first of November , every individual is different. By mid January most have stained their white fur.
At my latitude 50 degree north, the hides starts to turn a yellow hue when drying, meaning they are going past prime around 20 January and by 15 Feb some grey hairs are starting to show. Change over is early April when 75% is done

What I'm talking is the colour of the hide, even though it is a clear skin it gets a little yellow in colour.
Much like a racoon when it goes past prime the hides have a yellow hue from the white cream colour.

You know when the populations of short-tailed shrews are high, because you can smell them when you travel into the forest. They are like the otter in the mash to the water wolves of the deciduous forest.

Will these weasels attack chickens and ducks? I was talking to my farmer friend last evening and he said the chickens and ducks had bloody necks. Saturday morning while in bed he heard something in his bedroom scurrying around. He shined his flashlight around and saw a weasel running back and forth along the wall. lol he then grabbed his BB gun and shot it in the head. That’s the first one he ever saw