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Great pics Joe.

Cool little critters

I hear they are pretty nasty. Like a coon. I've never seen 1.

Sorry to correct you but that is not a long tail weasel. It is a short tail. The identifying features are:

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) without a black tip.

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

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.

I believe the tail lengths vary,BC.I don't think you are ever going to see a female short tail that is 16" long.For that matter,I don't believe male short tails generally get that big.I think Joe is correct.

The body length is only 11 inches which is not unusual for a large short tail weasel.

My experience,records,carcass tracings of weasels that I have measured and mounted show that most large,male long tails are about 11" long,nose to base of tail.The largest I have ever handled was 12",nose to base of tail.I will have to look in my records for short tail measurements but they are noticeably smaller and keep in mind that Joe says his is a female.

2 of the 4 i caught this year in fisher sets.

Congrats Joe, they certainly are beautiful animals.

PC2, you say that you caught them in fisher sets. Then I guess that means that you caught them in the middle of the woods? I have absolutely no experience with this animal and I guess always assumed that you'd catch them along streams such as mink. I wouldn't even have a clue on how to go about targeting one, although I'd love to and then have it mounted. They certainly are beautiful.

all mine came from old growth hemlock with really rocky areas nearby.honestly i'm finding the weasel are about everywhere the fisher are.have a dozen ready to set for them for fun while i putter with fox and beaver.

on weasel strength-the biggest i caught was in a 4 coiled 2 bridger,which they were all caught in,and he was draggin it around tryin to get a piece of me.i was dumbfounded not that it takes much.

For it being my first bit of weasel information, I thank you. I had no clue. That's hilarious about pulling the trap around wanting a piece of you. I was guessing that you'd use a 1.5 CS tight against a rock face in that old growth. Again, no experience so I'm just thinking common sense in my mind. I'm going to message you. I feel bad and like I'm hijacking this thread.

Again Joe, congrats Brother! Thank you for putting this animal/thought/desire to trap into my mind.

I'm going to have to agree with bctomcat as well. The longtail weaselsshould have a significantly longer tail.

Least. Short tail. Longtail.


Short tail. Longtail. (both males)

Ps. I'm no expert so feel free to try and prove me wring

Another indication is body size with adults generally:

Short Tail body length = 13"
Long Tail body length = 16"

I also agree with Tomcat.The length of the tail on a longtail is strikingly long compared to the body.

Can anyone id this one for me I thought it was a long tail now thinking short tail .also caught in a fisher set

The tail is less than 1/2 the combined head and body length as far as I can tell from the picture thus, it's a short tail.

You are welcome Joe. I enjoy your posts.

same here,been a good post.i will be setting for them now as i see sign,except the one that lives around my furshed/shop.he's been there 3 yrs and i haven't saw a chipmunk,mouse or anything like that since i started seein him.heck the look on peoples faces when you are sitting there talking and he walks by like he owns the place is worth havin him around.will take some pics of places and sets as i play with them more.

Tail >6" body <11"



Shorties

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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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

That headless squirrel... I've come across a few headless hare during my time in the ADK. Do you think that's the work of a long tail? At the time I just said "weasel" and moved on. Never considered the different species.

There was one instance where I actually watched a weasel chasing a showshoe hare up and over a hill through a maple stand... not sure what the outcome was but he was gaining on that bunny. Looking back, the size of that critter would suggest it was a long tail.

Joe,are you sure the squirrel is headless?In the picture it looks like the head is inverted in the neck skin and the severed neck vertebrae are exposed.I wasn't there but that is what it looks like.Just asking.

I would think the same thing of raptors.I can't imagine them leaving that behind uless they got interrupted.I also can't picture a larger predator leaving it behind.I'd be afraid to guess.