- Joined
- Sep 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,262
Yesterday, I was hunting for deer. Around 7:30 in the morning, I heard something running very fast toward me in the woods. I was sitting on the side of a small hill in the middle of the forest. A black animal, I identified as a fisher, was heading directly up the hill at me. I shifted my position to bring my shotgun in line with this creature. Sensing my movement, the fisher jumped about five feet up the side of a large oak tree. Keeping itself behind the tree trunk, it peered its head sinisterly around the tree to gaze at me. It decided to abandon its course, and ran in another direction, away from me. My concern is after reading several reports of fisher attacks in New England and elsewhere, I am not sure if I could have shot this extremely fast moving beast. I would have had to resort to my Dozier Professional Guide knife to defend myself. If that monster, that I estimate to have weighed at least 15 to 20 pounds, had jumped on me while I sat on the hillside, I wouldn't have been able to use my shotgun. The animal would have been in to close for a long gun to be effective. A good stabbing would have been in order. The Dozier is a shaving sharp D2 bladed knife, with a nice stout 4 1/2 "blade length. When I came in later that day I found out the fisher hunting season starts on December 1 until January 31. If I had shot this brazen canivore, I could have been in trouble. With these viscous animals roaming the woodlands I think it is prudent to carry at the least, a good sized knife and preferably a handgun. Last week I saw a very large coyote that some of the other hunters had seen nearbye. He was 60 to 70 lbs. I guess he is well fed on neighborhood cats. Between fisher cats and coyotes, there seems to be plenty of danger close bye. And we're not in big woods like up north. JUst goes to show that anyplace can be unsafe for people. A good knife sure is comforting.
