naturegirl Report post Posted July 16, 2014 I was out in 6A for a couple days checking cameras and taking pictures. I sat for lunch on a rocky knoll and this yellow ferret/weasel came out. Even though my camera was sitting right next to me, I was not fast enough to get a picture. So, I repositioned and waited. Same thing happens again. It darts out, stands up, and darts back into the rocks. Again, no picture. So after coming back four different times to the spot trying to get a picture I decided to leave my last game camera there and let it do it's job. I've done on-line research and I'm not finding what I saw. I find information on the black footed ferret and it could very well be one, but I do not recall a black mask. This had the body of a ferret. Yellow is the best color description I have. It had dark brown feet and a dark tip of the tail. It was a couple pounds at most and about 12 inches long. I do not recall seeing a dark mask on the face, but the outline of it's lips were dark brown and the little line that goes under the nose dark brown. What I do know is I've told people about it and I can guarantee you it is NOT a fox, raccoon, ring tailed cat, squirrel, chipmunk, or anything else that I've ever seen here in Az . I read up on the black footed ferret and it was reintroduced years ago up by Seligman, but I was not near there. I was about a 100 miles away in 6a and I was not near any towns, etc. Anyone know anything about this little creature? A couple years ago I had a white cockatoo that was visiting camp during a deer hunt and now a yellow ferret in the woods. Go figure 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
singleshot Report post Posted July 16, 2014 A friend returned to elk camp in 1989 in unit 27 and swore to have seen a ferret that morning and he was able to watch it for quite awhile. We razzed him about it for several days until one day a crusty old mountain man visited our camp and after talking for awhile said " I have been in these mountains my whole life and today I saw something that I have never seen before...... an ERMINE... they look just like a small ferret." Good chance that is what you also saw. The maps don't show them ranging this far out of Colorado but creatures do what creatures do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MULEPACKHUNTER Report post Posted July 16, 2014 Thats the tag fairy everyone knows that, means your getting an elk tag 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edge Report post Posted July 16, 2014 In the mid eighties, me and a friend were hiking north of Lake Pleasant and got to within a few yards of a ferret. It had a mask like a raccoon, but it was a ferret. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZkiller Report post Posted July 16, 2014 are you sure it was not an albino ringtail? there's lots of those in 6a. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturegirl Report post Posted July 16, 2014 An ermine fits the bill more than anything else I've seen so far. This picture is very similar to what I saw but more yellow color than white, but it had the dark brown on the lower half of all four legs and the tail (just like the tail in this picture). I'm sure hoping my trail cam gets a pic. My husband just laughed at me. I'm hunting pictures of ferrets with the trail camera, which isn't exactly what it's intended use was...lol PS - It was not an albino ringtail. ermine.pdf 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MT_Sourdough Report post Posted July 16, 2014 You'all hear about Pine Martens? I don't know if they live this far south, but they turn a sort of orange-gold color. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DesertBull Report post Posted July 16, 2014 Someone found the Peyote patch 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SWDesertRat Report post Posted July 16, 2014 What a cool find, hope your cam gets some pics. Sounds like a long-tailed weasel to me, their pelage (hair) varies, yellow with black tip tail sounds spot on though. I usually associate ermines with northern longitudes. Post some pics when you pull your cam. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MT_Sourdough Report post Posted July 16, 2014 Look anything like this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRDATR Report post Posted July 16, 2014 What a cool find, hope your cam gets some pics. Sounds like a long-tailed weasel to me, their pelage (hair) varies, yellow with black tip tail sounds spot on though. I usually associate ermines with northern longitudes. Post some pics when you pull your cam. Agreed, I have seen them up near Long Lake and Drift Fence Lake. Both were a light brown almost Cinnamon in color. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hyperwrx Report post Posted July 16, 2014 We have no indigenous Pine Martins or Ermines in AZ. We have 150 hardcore trappers in Arizona who have trapped everywhere and nobody has ever caught one nor heard of anyone catching one. More than likely it is an old color-phase black footed ferret or a domesticated common ferret someone has let loose in the wild. Trail cam pictures should be interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturegirl Report post Posted July 16, 2014 Look anything like this? The body is very very similar, but not the colors at all. The ENTIRE body was yellow all but it's feet (below the knee) and end of tail. It had no brown on it's back, sides, or head that I recall. It's funny. I definitely know why I could never have been a police officer. I keep asking myself could it of had this or that (After the fact and after looking at many many pictures online), but I'm going back to my initial memory and I have yet to see an exact picture of what this critter looked like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SWDesertRat Report post Posted July 16, 2014 Black footed ferrets rarely live in locations without prairie dogs, or outside of grasslands. I am confident that it was an Arizona weasel, a subspecies variation of the long-tailed weasel. The picture below was pulled off the internet and I take no credit for it. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted July 16, 2014 I saw something similar in Unit 27 during an elk hunt in 2009. It came out of a hollow log and looked at me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
