Minnesota's elusive pine martens are on the hunt in snowy woods

Sweet-faced and inquisitive, northern Minnesota's pine martens (also known as American martens) rank among the state's more elusive mammals.

With fresh snowfalls, though, you might catch sight of their tracks or see where they dove into drifts and tunneled through on the hunt for winter meals such as deer mice. The capable hunters also prey upon red squirrels and snowshoe hares as they fuel up before the next generation of babies is born between March and May.

These bushy-tailed members of the mustelid family (which includes otters, weasels and badgers) can be 24 to 30 inches long and weigh 1 to 3 pounds. They're active mostly at dusk and after dark. Curled claws and an agile, slinky body help them disappear quickly under logs and tree roots. They can also climb trees to tuck into crevices, abandoned squirrel nests and woodpecker holes.

Due to logging, trapping and a market for their brown fur tinted with gold and light yellow, Minnesota's pine martens were thought to be extinct in the 1950s. They recovered enough that limited trapping was allowed by 1985, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. They're also prey to fishers, bobcats, coyotes, hawks, eagles and owls.

Females will make dens in bushes, trees, hollow logs and rock crevices and have litters of two to five kits. As they grow, they'll eat summer berries, nuts, insects, eggs, amphibians and practice their hunting skills on smaller creatures, such as chipmunks.

The kits leave their families and their dens within two to three months. Except for mating season, martens live in solitude, marking their territory with scent glands and quietly patrolling the forest.

Lisa Meyers McClintick has freelanced for the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2001 and volunteers as a Minnesota Master Naturalist.