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GreatWhiteBuffalo

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4 hours ago, GreatWhiteBuffalo said:

Location is SW CO

I didn't think the Martins range came this far south

I was thinking it was a long tailed Weasel

I definitely agree but the San Juans is at (or close to) the farthest southern extent of their range. 

Appears to be a good sized critter who isn't too slender, and tail is bushy and darker than the rest of the body. 

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seems like your initial call for being a marten could be correct; from DOW web site.

The marten (often called the pine marten or American marten) is a weasel that lives in trees. Males are about two feet long, with an eight inch tail, and they weigh about 1 1/2 pounds. Females are 10 to 20 percent smaller than the males and weigh only half as much as males. Martens are brown, right to the tip of the tail, and a pale yellowish brown beneath. Martens are mostly nocturnal, but when they are hungry they are active day or night. As other weasels, martens are active year round. In the coldest weather they may den in a tree hole or chickadee nest

Of the eight members of the weasel family known in Colorado, only two actually are called weasels: the long-tailed weasel and the ermine, or short-tailed weasel. Both of these species have black-tipped tails, but they are readily distinguished from each other by size. The long-tailed weasel is 14 – 18 inches long, weighs about five ounces, with a tail about half the length of the body. Short-tailed weasels are eighteen ten inches long, weigh only 1 1/2 ounces with a tail less than one-third the length of their body. Typical of weasels, males are about 20 percent larger than females. Both species turn white in winter, except for the tip of the tail, and both species are brown in the summer; although the long-tailed weasel is yellowish to orange below, whereas the short-tailed weasel has a white belly.

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My money is on it being a Fisher given the location, around a dam on a river or big creek.  It's a classic scenario for a Fisher that I have seen many times in Montana.   Judging by the pic it could be either a marten or a fisher, but the scenario suggests a fisher.

Correction:  upon further consideration, I change my vote to agree that it is indeed a marten.  

The pictures are as if they are coming right from my conscious memory of very similar scenes with fishers.  In the end, its those prominent chihuahua like ears, tells me it's probably a marten.  Fishers ears are a little less prominent and less pointed.

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