Otters!
Contributors to this thread:Community
From: MNRazorhead
18-Apr-17
Got a picture of a river otter out at one of my hunting spots just outside of the Minn/St. Paul metro area. Seem pretty rare in this area as I have been living and hunting here for 32 years and have never seen a wild one. Anyone else have any pictures of one? This pic is a bit deceiving regarding how big this guy is. It is a night IR shot with less detail and is coming from a camera placed high up in a tree looking slightly down. I estimate it is about 3+ feet long.
From: WV Mountaineer
18-Apr-17
Otters are so cool. Their numbers are on the rise as the beaver comes back country wide. God Bless men
From: Shuteye
18-Apr-17
I took a picture a couple days ago while I was fishing. Normally I have my camera with telephoto but had my other camera so I didn't get a close up. They are fairly common in my area. You want to see something cool, try watching a bunch of baby otters playing on an otter slide. Been a while since I have seen it though since I don't have a boat now.
From: Bake
18-Apr-17
We have a significant number where I live, but you rarely see them. While deer hunting, I've had some recent opportunities to watch them. The farm I hunt has a large rock-bottom creek running through it. They are evident in the creek, but I'd never seen one there until the last couple years.
On one occasion I was sitting in a tree right by the creek, and watched one play behind me for about half an hour. Kinda fun
Then last year, I was sitting a treestand half a mile from the creek, and kept hearing splashing about 300 yards away in a little stock pond. As the sun rose, 4 otters ran by my treestand through the woods, and dove into a very small pond near my stand. They spent about half an hour swimming circles and hunting, then finally got bored, and left the pond running through the woods back towards the creek.
I know they'll leave the big bodies of water for small ponds, but I wasn't expecting to see them that far from the creek :)
From: Salagi
18-Apr-17
When I was younger, I always wanted a pet otter. Now that I'm 55, well, I still do. ;)
From: Bake
18-Apr-17
I trapped just one years ago when they were worth something. I think the bottom fell out of that market though, and sadly, no more time to trap
From: Shuteye
18-Apr-17
About three years ago I stopped trapping except problem beavers. I caught nine otters and averaged about $65 per otter. We have to register them and tag them to take them out of state where I sold them.
From: JLS
19-Apr-17
I see them pretty regularly where I fish for steelhead. They are a very cool animal, but I don't spend much time fishing the holes they are hanging out in.
From: slade
19-Apr-17
No kidding JSL, I had a a couple make a den on my of my favorite holes on the Rouge, the fish never held their again.
From: Gray Ghost
19-Apr-17
We've had a family of otters swim all around my drift boat several times on the Green River in Wyoming. Almost like they were playing.
They are surprisingly big, and unbelievably agile. I wouldn't want to tangle with one, especially in the water.
Matt
From: spike78
19-Apr-17
Had a family of otters run right up to me while I was hunting by a swamp. They were curious and unafraid. One of the coolest encounters I had hunting.
From: Mint
19-Apr-17
My friend stock his new pond with over 200 rainbows in VT a couple of years ago. It is a vacation home and he didn't let the pond freeze over and the otters cleaned them out.
From: Straight —» Arrow
19-Apr-17
they have made a real come back in Missouri. They do eat a ton of fish.
From: sportoutfitter
19-Apr-17
We take a yearly float trip on the South Branch of the Potomac River. See them quite often up there. Fishing off the bank last year, a small otter nearly runs right across my feet with a blue gill in his mouth. Paid me no attention whatsoever. Was the coolest thing.
From: Gray Ghost
19-Apr-17
I've also seen sea otters crack open mussels with a rock, while floating on their backs.
Very cool animal.
Matt
From: Shuteye
19-Apr-17
My mother called me one time and said there were dead bass all around her pond. I checked it out and found where an otter had climbed up the hill from a stream and slid into the pond. Every time we would have a lot of rain the stream would rise and otters would check all the ponds along the stream. I set a conibear 330 and told mom where I set it. She called me the next morning and said I had the otter. I always thought they just caught fish to eat but in a small pond they will kill fish for fun.
From: Shuteye
19-Apr-17
They were gone on the Western Shore of Maryland. They caught otters about two miles from my house in leg hold traps. They tranquilized them and gave them some shots. They were taken to the Western Shore and released. From what I understand the population if doing fine over there now. The guy that was trapping them was telling me he was trapping Sika deer in wire cages. They put corn in the cages until the little deer were going in it good. Then they closed the gate. This trapper had a great big spot on his leg where he was bitten. He said he was trying to tag a stag without tranquilizing it. He said the damn things bite worse than a dog. He used tranquilizers after that.
From: Solo
19-Apr-17
Great stories.... They're all over out here in the Pacific Northwest. But Florida is where I saw the most and the largest ones. Was always told that otters are the most dangerous animal inhabiting the Florida waters. More vicious than gators, and will come right into your boat and rip you up real bad with extremely painful, infective bites.
From: Glunt@work
19-Apr-17
I've seen them here in CO and watched a group for an hour on Kodiak. They are about the perfect size for a back quiver.
From: ben h
20-Apr-17
We don't have a ton of them in Utah, but I see them from time to time. A few years ago I was duck hunting and two of them swam by a couple times. Our Drahthaar (Auri) finally said "I'm going to kill you", jumped the blind and went after those otters. When she caught up with the otters, they kicked her ass in the water. It looked as though they were trying to pull her under and drown her. There wasn't anything we really could have done with a dog and 2 otters thrashing around in the water, but fortunately Auri got loose and made it to shore. I'm sure her ego was badly damaged, but she was okay.
From: HighLife
20-Apr-17
Saw a dead one on the road near Rt 83 and 290 interchange. Called the local dnr and they wanted to know what an otter was. So I go back to get it thinking great back quiver size and it was gone thinking someone had the same idea lol
From: Squash
21-Apr-17
Here in northern NY state I see them on a weekly basis in the lake next to my home. We have a good population of them and I have trapped many over the years. Lately fur price is low so I don't target them much anymore.
From: tacklebox
21-Apr-17
I have one in my freezer right now I need to tan. My buddy in MO trapped 3-4 this past season while targeting beaver. I've only seen them in KS once. Turkey hunting in the spring, walking along a creek about 17-18 yrs ago. Took me a couple double takes before I realized what I was seeing. Cool critters
