I have been in the throes of damage control here lately. I discovered I have a river otter that moved in and has taken up residence in my pond. I am not sure of how much damage it's done so far, but I know because of their fish eating nature, it can't be good. I picked up a couple leghold traps, placed them strategically, and baited the area with a medium sized BG. All I managed to catch so far is a couple of toes (see below). I have re-set and re-baited the area with pellets. Perhaps, I need to procure some bodygrip (Conibear) traps. If anyone here has experience with this varmint, please feel free to give your experience in this matter. If it wasn't so elusive, I'd pop him with my .22 rifle.

If it is an otter he should not be to hard to snipe. Early morning or evening you should be able to see him. They do need to breath but can really hold their breath if they need to. I remember up north catching a marten and it took three hours to drown.

Place some carrots in your leg holes if you see some fresh grass clippings floating in the pond. Maybe they are muskrats.

We just doinked three. They were making short work of the lily's. If you want to skin the otter or rats out shoot under their head in the water. It my take two or three shots but they will get knocked out and drown. No holes in the pelt at all.

Cheers Don.

I have recently noticed a large amount of clippings from spike rush floating along the shoreline of my pond but I assumed that the gaggles of Canadian geese were to blame.Are muskrats the only pond dwellers that leave behind clippings?When are muskrats most active?

Don - Southeast Texas is currently experiencing temps of 70-80°F. Unfortunately, animal pelts from our area just don't measure up to their northern cousins. Also, retaining the pelt of a fur-bearing animal for any reason requires a trapping license; whereas the removal of nuisance animals doesn't.

Stickem - Conibear traps are the way to go for both otter and beaver. Leg-hold traps will work when using drowning cables, but otherwise have several drawbacks when targeting aquatic mammals.
I caught 8 otters in one pond over the course of one month last December (5 in one evening) while also targeting beavers that were burrowing into the levee. The otters' presence was noted by numerous partially eaten bass and catfish carcasses. Seems their preferred diet changes from crawfish during the more temperate time of the season to fish in the winter. The bucks appear to roam solo, while the females and juveniles move from pond to pond in groups.
The most successful sets were Conibears placed (submerged) at beaver-den entrances; which otters regularly investigate. Placing a submerged Conibear at entry/exit points works well too, especially when the pathway is "channeled" and the trap is placed directly beneath a partially submerged log - which confines the animal's route through the trap.
Be sure to condition (boil) the traps and allow them to take on a light coat of rust before use, since this seems to help eliminate some aversion to the trap's presence.

Good work Kelly!

Fur prices are way down this year, and it's not even worth (to me anyways) targeting the animals just for their fur.

Kelly, get some speed black for the traps. Once they have a light coating of rust, dip 'em. You can also wax them, but you will have to remove ALL wax residue from the dog and the trigger or else it will go off when you least expect it to.

Same with the foot hold traps. Dip and wax, remove wax from trigger and dog.

To help eliminate toe catches, tune the traps. Have the pans sitting horizontal, and make sure that there isn't a lot of creep in the pan before it triggers the trap. Also for water sets, you have to set it up so that once the animal is trapped, it drowns quickly. Place the trap so the animal comes into the trap from between the jaws, not over one jaw.

trapping otters in open water is tough. i fought then yearly at my old pond. I had good luck catching them on beaver dam crossings in the stream below the pond. I caught near the pond where he was pooping and another where he was sliding beside the pipe leaving the pond. i never had any luck with leg hold traps setting them along the shore. I feel your pain with these things. I would have grown a world record bluegill at the old pond if the otters hadn't wipe them out every year. seriously they made it hard for me to stay with my bg management plan.

I hate to see otters killed as they are incredibly cool animals, but there's probably no greater threat to a fishery, either. A guy just doesn't have a choice, really - doubt a live trap would work for something as smart as a river otter - and even if you did get one alive, where would one take it?

Yes the three rats we took out of the pond were just prime. Still some black but in good shape. Our Canadian rule of thumb is any month with an R is good for rats.

Last we checked they were only bringing $8 bucks. A warm year like this and numbers will go back up. Rabies is making a big come back in the racoon here. Over populating. I know of three good trees I could get 20 right now but not worth the time unless the boys want to learn.

Cheers Don.

To all who posted....a big thank you, for your input. I'll ease up to the farm tomorrow and survey the situation. It looks like I'll try the Conibear traps if I have no result with the leg hold traps. I really don't have a desire to kill the otter, but I have no problem doing it...I don't see much of a choice as I don't think he'll ever walk into a HavaHart type (live) trap. I've been nurturing these fish along for the last 1 1/2 years. It's hard for me to sit back and watch them destroyed. Thanks again, for everyone's experience...I'll keep you'll posted...

I've never heard of live traps being used for otter. There are specialized live traps made for live trapping beaver, but unless you are trapping beaver for relocation I just don't see those live traps as being economically feasible.

Watching nat geo the other day and watched three otters running through the snow. Turned to my boy and said that's what $2000 running through the snow looks like.

In fur prices or in fish prices??

What's Otter bringing up there? They had the first otter trapping season here in Indiana this year since re-introducing them a while ago.

Here is the sad list in US dollars from Jan 2015.

Yikes!! It's worse than I thought. The only semi-bright spot is Coyote. Not even having a price at all on Raccoon is a good indicator of how bad the market is overseas.

I have heard but can't verify that the Russians are the biggest fur buyers. They haven't been buying the last couple of years. It might have something to do with international politics.

I don't know what trappers are getting for the pelts, but I was surfing the web and saw that Otter meat sells for $40-$50/lb. The article indicated that it is a dark meat that cooks up like pork. I make a variety of blends of sausage as a hobby. I've never eaten Otter, but might try it with 50/50 pork butt in sausage if I could secure a fresh kill. I saw an otter / pork sausage blend online selling for $25/lb. Truly incredible. I'm originally from Louisiana and grew up eating what we hunted. I won't go as far to say that we ate exotic gourmet dishes....we just ate some animals (or parts thereof) that some would not even consider.

Since my last posting, I have ordered the Conibear (body grip) traps. They should be in in the next couple of days. I need to get this nuisance eradicated.

Did you also order the setting tool? It can be done with rope, but I've always used the setting tool.

Dave:

I heard that there was an embargo placed on selling furs to Russia by our illustrious president, that's the other reason for the drop in raccoon sales, in addition to their economy taking a hit.

China is now a big fur buyer, but they haven't embraced Raccoon like Russia does. But, their economy has taken a hit too, so it's a double whammy for the fur industry.

Don,

Does Canada have a restriction on sale of furs to Russia?

esshup,
Yes, I did order the setting tool along with the traps. I viewed the setting procedure several times on YouTube and figured it was a necessity. It looked like it could be done without one, but I decided to just go that route.

"esshup, Yes, I did order the setting tool along with the traps.
I viewed the setting procedure several times on YouTube and figured it was a necessity.
It looked like it could be done without one, but I decided to just go that route. "

Great suggestion - and decision (to order the setting-tool).
When it arrives, locate some thin-wall pipe that is suitably sized to slip over the tool's handles - for use as a cheater.
I found this to be a critical modification for setting the 330's strong springs.
The 18" handle-extensions shown in this photo worked well for me.

I happened to have some spare curtain rod that was perfect for the task. After partially flattening the ends of the rods, I was able to slip them over the tool's handles and finish flattening them to where the were very snug - and virtually flush with the flat surface of the original handles.
Using galvanized pipe probably isn't ideal since its thickness might interfere with the tool's scissor-action. Be sure to use some sort of thin-wall pipe that is stout enough to handle heavy torque without bending. Galvanized conduit might work okay.
Lastly, mark the handles with blaze-orange paint (not shown in the photo) to make them easier to locate when you lay them on the ground. I recently "misplaced" my setting-tool and spent an hour of backtracking my route before I was able to located the tool's whereabouts on the pond-levee.

Thanks, Kelly...the 330's are the size I ordered. They appear to be pretty stout. I can see where the setting tool extensions will help with leverage. I do have some small galvanized conduit that I think may work.  I know what you mean about painting the handles. That's why I won't own a camouflage painted shotgun. About 10 years ago I set my Rem 1100 down on a levee to set out goose decoys. Took me until well after daybreak to find the darn thing.

Dave:

I heard that there was an embargo placed on selling furs to Russia by our illustrious president, that's the other reason for the drop in raccoon sales, in addition to their economy taking a hit.

China is now a big fur buyer, but they haven't embraced Raccoon like Russia does.

Dave,
I worked in the western Siberian oilfields near the Arctic circle back in 93 - 94'. It was nothing to see Russian locals walking around in full length German Shepherd coats....and a lot of the locals gloves were lined with cat fur....true story. You didn't see any animals running around loose either.

Mystery solved. The anti fur crowd got an embargo put on fur sales to Russia and China.

If you check North Bay pricing for Canadian fur there is a racoon sale and sales. A high of $30 and low of $7. Canada still sells to Russia.

It's odd that otter pelts are being sold anywhere from $89 - $189 on several sites on the web. Must be a hell of a mark up after tanning is completed.

Pricing for a US company to tan pelts.

tubguy,
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the geese. At Away With Geese we offer maintenance free solar powered flashing lights that work at night to deter geese. We are in Cincinnati, not far from you, and are a family business. With over 10,000 sold we have a 97% success rate. We guarantee satisfaction and have tons of testimonials on our page if you would like to check them out.

As you'll know, I've been attempting to trap what I believe to be an otter in my pond. I've managed to come up with a picture, but it's very grainy and not sharp at all. There is evidence that leads me to believe it is a beaver....or I may have both. Your thoughts are welcome in identifying this animal.

The evidence that leads me to believe that it is a beaver is displayed below. These branches were found in the pond along the grassy shoreline. There are no trees within 10yds of my lil BOW that these branches could be blown into the pond. These were purposely cut, carried, and stripped in the pond. I don't know much about otters, but I know they are meat eaters (fish) and I do not believe that they display this type of behavior when it comes to foraging on saplings.

I know this for certain...the Duke brand "Conibear 330" style traps are brutal. I've had some nuisance waterfowl unfortunately go after the lil BG that I used for bait...the traps cleanly broke them in 3 distinct pieces. Gotta like that about a trap...in the meantime, I will continue to try and trap the predator...

stickem':

Those sticks are from a beaver.

They don't have to build a "house", they will also make a den in the bank like a muskrat.

Thanks, esshup....the lesser of two evils, I guess. I felt the stripped branches were from a beaver...I had just wished the photo had been better. I will continue to attempt to trap him.

Stickem the picture of the critter sure looks like an otter on his back. Beavers don't really do that.

I tool of choice is savage .17 HMR with a 3-9 40 scope set up at 50 yards at 3 then at 9. Long bombs are done with the smaller center dots on the vertical line of the scope each 50 yard farther.

The boys can put the rounds of a full clip in the size of a quarter at 50 yards on 5 leaning on a table.

If you can get this picture you could have taken him with something like this. Boys have 9 rats and one mink.

Cheers Don.

Charlie as you know I have both beavers and otters and they are a pain. Both are sneaky but I'd rather have a beaver depending on what he is doing. Otter you know he be going after the fish , so I would work on him first

Same type of trap will get either depending on how you set it (on a trail or pond side entry point).

Don,
I agree with what you say about the head position in the above pic. From the original pic close up, it looks like the bottom half of the animal is it's shadow and it appears to be much higher out of the water than it actually is. I've seen beaver float on their backs in the water stripping and eating the bark off of branches...thing is, this is a big animal. I've seen quite a few otters and beaver in the past...but have never seen an otter of this size...I'm sure they are out there...just never seen one. I've seen some beaver go in excess of 40lbs.

Shooting it would be fine if I could get close enough to the critter. He's been pretty elusive since he lost 2 of his toes. The above camera shot was taken from a random pic from a ladder stand while deer hunting. I didn't even realize he was in the pic until I got home and blew it up....that explains why the pic is so grainy and degraded. I guess I'm really hoping it's not an otter, I'm probably in the same shape my buddy, Pat W. is...I may have both to contend with. Thanks, Don....I appreciate your input...

Well, I had some success in figuring out my dilemma. As it turns out it was a beaver.



I'm not yet sure if it's the only one out there, but this appears to be the same critter that I had originally snagged by the toes in the leg hold trap last month. The pic at the beginning of this post shows (2) toes pulled off in a leg hold trap. See the photo below.



The traps are re-set. I hope this is / was my only problem. Thanks, to all who assisted me catching this rascal.

That's awesome Charlie! Well done! So you making sausage or jerky?

Congrats!!! So, what did you have to do to get it to swim through the trap?

Yep, that looks like the one that had it's toes pinched earlier. Good going.

I had recently transplanted some elephant ear plants from a nearby creek along the shoreline of my pond around Thanksgiving. I noticed a couple were pulled up and floating near a lil bare spot on the bank where it looked like something had been sliding in and out of the pond. I set that trap (and others) among the recently planted tender vegetation. The plants were right even with the trigger on the trap. I guess it was too much for the animal to pass up.

Bill...not sure how fresh a kill it was...so, I gave it a Naval style burial in a big nearby creek. Maybe next time I grind 'n shoot some with pork for sausage...lol.

Are you or anyone else you know of developing something to discourage cormorants?