Bizarre Trail Cam Photo: What Animal is This?

[Ben Sobieck]

A friend of D&DH Editor Dan Schmidt sent in this trail camera photo the other day. It was taken on property in northern Wisconsin. What's that animal?

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Here's what Dan had to say:

"OK, this one is bizarre. Does anyone have an idea what it is? I say it is a nutria (large rodent that is bred for fur in the U.S.). A friend captured this image on his trail camera in northern Wisconsin last weekend. If that's not what it is, this one has us stumped!"

Here's a close-up of the critter:

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And here's a nutria for comparison:

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What do you think?

Speaking of cameras, have you ever used a helmet cam? They're a lot fun to use when filming your hunt. Click here to check one out.

[charlie 01]

Looks like a beaver to me.

[Journey Raven]

I'd say it's a fisher. Never heard of nutria ever being in WI. I believe they (nutria) are native to South America and were brought to the southern U.S. in the Louisiana, Mississippi area. Fishers were extinct in WI but reintroduced back in the 80's & 90's if I remember correctly. A friend of mine has trapped a few in N. WI.

[MuzzleHeadWayne]

Kinda looks like a hog with a spinal deformation.

[FurTrapper]

To me it looks like a beaver, or it could possibly be a fisher crouched or standing in an odd position. I've never heard of nutria being found in Wisconsin but I guess it could be possible.

By the way the photo you provided as a "nutria" is actually a Wombat (native to Australia, so, way off on that one!) This site has good pictures of Nutria so you can see what they actually look like: http://www.nutria.com/site.php

[Huntin Farmland]

Not sure about that animal-nothing I have seen in the woods. Is there another black animal to the left near that tree (or is it a stump)?? Looks like the other could possibly be a black bear cub giving the other a chance at being a deformed bear.

[dreamhunter65]

Fisher, we have enough of them in Rusk and Taylor county. See them bowhunting quite a bit though this seems like a awful large one. Biggest I seen was about 30 pounds, but he may fed good on birds,squirrel and porkies.

[peevedog]

Did it leave any tracks?

[williecmo]

It's a beaver. If the tail wasn't hidden, would be no question.

[44magnum]

I'm leaning towards a black bear cub on this one. There seems to be some distortion in the photo around the shoulder and head possibly due to the animals movement or debris on the camera lens. The sun's not out and the digital "shutter speed" could be slow enough to cause some blurring and distort the shape of the head and muzzle. It happens on several of my cameras when the sun's not out. It looks like it's been raining and has mottled the fur on the animal's back. If you zoom in the fur looks too thick to be a beaver. And the dark shape to the back and left in the bushes could be another animal. I'd really like to see the frame just before and after this one to help determine what that is.