Pine Martin

I am settled in cabin 7 for a couple of weeks until Peg and Mike come up and we get the heat running in the lodge and the water on. I have my office set up on the dining room table. Yesterday when I was sitting here just merrily typing away on my PC, a beautiful, golden colored, pine martin came right up to the door to look in the cabin. I wasn't swift enough with my camera to get a picture before he scampered off but I think he is holed up under the deck of the cabin for the winter. I have been putting food out for him each night and it is gone in the morning. I have my camera ready in case he comes back during the day.

The American Pine Martin is a meat eater that belongs to the weasel family. They are a small predator about 24 inches from nose to tail and golden brown fur with a yellow chest. He has a small body with rounded ears that makes him one of our 'cutest' predators. That is he is very cute until he decides to bare his teeth and then you know he is a predator!

Martins eat mice, chipmunks, squirrels and insects. In the summer months he will eat seeds and berries. Mine likes chicken bones and steak bones I found. Hopefully I can get a photo of him soon.

Bob and Marti told us the story that once they had a pine martin the basement of the lodge. They set up the live trap to catch him, but left the live trap in the kitchen and forgot to move it to the basement of the lodge. The next morning, yes you guessed it, there was a pine martin in the trap in the kitchen hissing and splitting. I prefer to enjoy mine through a solid door and not quite that up close. We also make sure that those basement doors are secure so any visitors to the old cellar don't make it into the kitchen.