No I do not have a photo of a long tail but have caught a few over the years. They are not to common in the north, but do exist in central and southern BC. For info from the experts just google "weasel indentification"

I have enjoyed the thread as well.Lots of good information and photos.Good discussion as well.

One point I forgot to bring up was on the subject of body lengths.BCtomcat posted body lengths for short tails and long tails.What you have to be aware of,is that field guides and technical literature are talking about total body,including tail but that is what they call "body length".I find that confusing as I bet others do.After that,they give the tail length so you have to subtract the tail length from the so called "body length" if you want to know how long it is,nose to base of tail.

This is where The Audubon Society's field guide explains their measurement system.Other fields guides I've looked at recently,seem to be the same though measurements vary a little.


So the 13" body length that most guides give as the high end for short tail weasels,is the total,overall length including the tail.That jives with my experience.

You mentioned that a female longtail has different preportions than a male and that could be. But here is a pic of a 24 inch longtail from tip to tip. I've never caught a female longtail that I'm aware of.

Here is one of those articles from the search you suggested,BC.In THIS one,they refer to "total body length" which makes it much less confusing.It's a good article.

https://www.nrri.umn.edu/carnivores-minnesota/species/longtailedweasel

You probably know that we have been talking about real carcass measurements which don't correlate to a green skin,off the carcass.A 32" male bobcat will go 42" on the stretcher without undue pulling.That's why taxidermists go by carcass measurements whenever possible.That bobcat will not go on a 42" manikin but has to go on a 32" one.(I'm not including tail measurement here).

Yes I get it, total length includes the tail; tip of nose to tip of tail. To eliminate the confusion the ID of species by tail size refers to the actual tail length compared to the actual body length from nose to base of the tail, ie:

Least: Smallest of the weasels, little more than mouse size. Has a very short tail (less than one quarter the combined head and body length nose to base of tail. Tail has no black tip.

Short Tail: Best identified by its black tipped tail that is less than half the combined length of the head and body length nose to base of tail.

Long Tail: The largest weasel. Tail is also black tipped, but is more than half the length of the combination of the head and body nose to base of tail.

And I get what you are saying but you must not have read my link.

Female long tails averaged 14",total length with an average tail length of 4.2",well under 1/2 the body length.Joe Penannty mentioned this and it is the same proportional thing that you see in mink,male vs female tail length.

Joe's female is huge at 16",way bigger than the biggest male short tail weasel."Over half the body length does not apply to female long tails.

[quote=Taximan]And I get what you are saying but you must not have read my link. [quote] Yes I read your article and it quotes "Long-tailed weasels have a tail longer than half their body length with a black tip, ermine have a tail length around a third of their body length with a black tip, and least weasels have a tail length around a quarter of their body length and lack a black tip." Yes that specific female of Joe Penannty's may have a shorter tail than most but, freaks do happen in any species. In that report when they talk about specifics I take it that total length is body and tail not head and body. Thus the tail of his female weasel is just sightly short for a long tail. But, the GENERAL ID factor for determination of weasel species is length of tail compared to combined head and body length to base of tail/butt is generally correct.

You are correct.They are talking about total length,including tail but read again,the female that measured 14",including tail,had a 4.2" tail.

14 minus 4 equals 10".The 4.2" tail is less than half the 10" head and body length (in females).This mirrors the proportions of Joe's female longtail weasel.

Yes I agree and believe I stated that freaks, or pardon me , exceptions do occasionally happen!
In any event the general rule applies in most every situations IMHO! The only thing that would confirm that it is a long tail, is that if it had turned totally white, head, body and tail its feet would remain brown!

I'm not sure what you mean about the brown feet.Longtail,s feet turn white,just like other weasels and it happens before they are fully white.Refer back to pictures in this thread to see that.

Bottom of the feet.

Nice Joe. Thanks for sharing.

Great write up Joe! I enjoyed reading it. I like your setup with the can. After reading your initial post it got me hooked on trying to trap some weasel. So I have you to thank for getting me excited to do so.

One question, what's in the can for bait? Is that a squirrel that was caught? It also looks like it could be a weasel but I don't think that you'd do that.

Joe, another quick question, what size trap is that please?

Chad

Love the write up Joe. great pics too. Glad you are having a good session. Bob

I have enjoyed it as well.You really did your home work and leg work.I admire the way you went after it and I've learned a good bit that I think will help me the next time I go after long tails.I hope to see more pictures before you have to shut it down.Great work!

Holy cow! You're the weasel master Joe!

What do you mean by this?: "Weasel boxes, rat snap-traps, culverts... that's not Long-tailed trapping." I was thinking of messing around a bit to see if I could catch a few weasels and made a 1/2 dozen boxes and bought some rat traps. You saying this won't work for the Longtails? Maybe they're too big for the rat traps or...?

Appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

slowin down and will start pokin around for them.

Thanks for the explanation Joe, I appreciate it. I know that it may sound silly but I couldn’t tell if those were paint cans or just regular veg/fruit cans with the closeup of the picture.

I’m going to get things ready for next season and while I’m out trapping other animals place these about every 100 yards.

Keep going, I’m still watching and learning

Oh, and it hit me yesterday as I saw a squirrel go across my front porch. I’ll be practicing my skinning skills on him and his family while simultaneously enjoying some squirrel and dumplings.

Joe,I will try to work on the long tails as time allows.We have quite a few.I have actually had 3 of them jump out right near my feet and have seen several others.Right now I'm not sure I can check often enough to make it practical but I will keep you posted as I go.We have a real mouse problem here as well.If I put half a muskrat carcass in a mink box,mice will devour it in a week.
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