You never heard of a ERMINE before? Trappers sure have, because their very soft and quality fur is highly sought after, making their pelts expensive. Ermines, also known as a short tail-weasel are the most abundant weasel in Wisconsin and can be harvested year-round, but Ermines can be very hard to view in the Northwoods for a few reasons. 1) they are mostly active at night and 2) very difficult to see in the winter, because they turn white. Yes, in the summer, Ermines are dark brown with a black tip tail, but come winter their coat turns all white, except the tip of their tail stays black. This white coat helps them blend into the winter environment to elude predators.

Now since you know what an Ermine is, here are a few more facts.
* Ermines are related to Mink, Martens, Fisher and even a distant relative of Badgers.
* They are 7 to 14 inches long, weigh 3 to 15 ounces, males are 40 to 50% bigger than females.
* Have been known to survive 7 years in the wild, but usually only live 1 or 2 years.
* They mate mid-summer and come springtime, can have up to 12 little weasels, but usually its 4 to 8.

Even though they are known as great mousers, ounce for ounce, Ermines are the best hunters in the Northwoods and will attack animals much larger. Besides mice, they will eat chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits (A 4 OUNCE ERMINE CAN KILL A 3 TO 4 POUND RABBIT) frogs, snakes and even though they are not good swimmers, will go after prey in the water and will occasionally eat fish. Ermines are active year-round and can den in hollow logs, roots of trees and rock piles. They run around in summer and during the winter, will run or bounce (UP TO 20 INCHES EACH JUMP) on top of hard snow, but can tunnel through soft snow popping its head up above the surface now and then. That is all I have on Ermines, so if you are lucky enough and see something white, running or bouncing across the snow or a little white head peeking out of the snow, it could be an ERMINE in the winter or what is called a SHORT TAIL WEASEL come summer.