30 October 2009

Black-Footed Ferrets – Arizona?

I read a post by Curtis Hart on Lonely Planet in which he reported seeing a black-footed ferret on a ranch in Arizona. I didn’t even know black-footed ferrets could be found there. Is this ranch open to the public? Any other good ferret watching spots?

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6 Comments

  • 30 October 2009
    Tai Haku

    Apparently the Aubrey Valley in NW Az was a release site in the late 90’s. Alternatively are any of the Turner ranches in Arizona?

  • 1 November 2009
    Curtis Hart

    I’m on the road for work, so I don’t have my map with it marked off, but I think it’s north of Seligman, AZ. You can check out AZ fish and game’s website to volunteer for spring and maybe fall ferret spotting/trapping.
    The ranch is open to the public for camping and hunting. I couldn’t make it to the volunteer time, so I went a bit later. You just go in to a check in spot, fill out minimal paper work, and head on in. It is free.
    We got in around 5 pm, killed a couple hours and started spotlighting at dusk. We found a ferret on the run in a few minutes. After a few photos we continued on in search of a Badger, which took us another 3 hours to get. We also saw 6 Coyotes, Ord’s Kangaroo Rat, Gray Fox, Striped Skunk, Elk, a couple deer (I forget which species), and a couple species of rabbits. With a couple species on the way up from Organ Pipe that morning we had 14 species that day, my best in North America.
    I did have someone with me who had been at the volunteer event and knew where to look on the ranch. I think that made a big difference.
    [IMG]http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t124/cmatthewh/AZ028.jpg[/IMG]

  • 1 November 2009
    Curtis Hart

    Feel free to contact me at curtisfrommichigan@yahoo.com

  • 1 November 2009
    Jon Hall

    Hi Jon,

    The best place I’ve read of is near the Badlands National Park near Wall South Dakota. You may also want to contact a USA based natural history tour operator such as “Off The Beaten Path”. They used to have a night tour on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation for swift fox and I think ferret.

    Regards,

    Bob Berghaier

  • 3 November 2009
    Curtis Hart

    Check out this as well. I haven’t been out that way since I saw this post.

    http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11445&hilit=ferret

  • 4 November 2009
    Matt Miller

    Thanks for all this information. Great stuff.

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