I'm experiencing a river otter problem in my ponds. I saw one under a floating dock and another in open water about two weeks ago. The otters didn't resurface and I haven't seen them since - just the evidence of their presence, half eaten fish. The previous otter occurrence was several years ago and the otter was constantly surfacing and submerging. I know that these creatures move around a lot and I've found partially eaten fish in several ponds. A professional trapper was out last week , but could not sight any of the creatures. He even returned in the evening with night vision binoculars and still nothing. However, he told me that most of his experience has been with beavers,feral hogs, and coyotes, but he plans to set traps this week.
The most disturbing concern is the stealth behavior these beasts. Maybe, they could have been around (off and on) for weeks or even months. Has anyone experienced similar otter behavior and how was it dealt with ? Any enlightenment would be appreciated.
They stocked a few in the river here about 10 years ago. I'm a couple miles from the river and haven't had any but a friend of mine has a 3 acre pond about a quarter mile from the river and he gets one or two every couple years. Not sure they would leave on their own as long as they had plenty to eat. He has plenty of time being retired and a deck high on the back of his house overlooking the pond. He sits out there and waits for them to surface close enough to shoot them. Sometimes it takes him a few days to get a good shot.
Squeeky-I have otter also in my lake. The first one that I saw was sitting on his hind legs holding a big bass like corn on the cob. I then saw others swimming in groups of four or five. My research suggested that they can destroy a lake's fish population. I contacted a trapper and in no time we are down four otter (and a couple of beaver). They can be live trapped too. I have a contact if you are near east Texas.
I'm in NE Texas, but I do have a trapper that I contacted through the Ag extension office. He talked about bringing traps out this week. Thanks for the reply anyway. I tried the live trap thing on my own, but only caught a skunk - it didn't turn out well. I'm wondering just how long these otters can remain submerged - I simply have no visuals on them anymore.
Many states have spent significant resources trying to reintroduce river otters to areas in which they've been historically extirpated. Prior to owning a pond and managing fisheries, I would have probably reacted to trapping otters in a negative way. However, since I've educated myself on the topic and researched their negative impact on fisheries, I can't make ethical judgments based on my ignorance of the topic. Otters are intelligent and I think are very cool animals, however, once they find a fishery they simply have to be dealt with. If they can be live trapped and relocated, I'd recommend considering that first. State laws may treat killing otters rudely without a permit. Bottom line - you're likely going to feel the impact of their presence on your fishery and will likely need to address the situation.
TJ
Aren't otters very nomadic? And don't stay in one place very long, unlike beavers. The lake across from us has otters. Wondering how long they stay
Pat W
I'm no expert - but I think they have defined territories and males probably defend them for breeding purposes. I suspect if they find a reliable food source they'll likely return to it repeatedly.
Males have a larger "home range" than females as they don't stay with the female after breeding. Depending on the available food sources, they have a home range between 2 and 50 square miles.
They are nomadic, but a female will stay in one area while the pups are young. IIRC they area weaned at 6 months of age.
Even with the large home range, they will overlap, and just avoid one another. So, a single pond could have more than one family of otters visiting it.
How far will otters travel across bare ground? My pond is over half a mile from the nearest creek, but I know that they are in there.
A long ways. I've been deer hunting in N. Wisconsin and have seen otter slide marks in the snow where they've slid down a hill in the middle of a 1700 acre piece of property - more than 1/2 mile from any water.
Thanks for the response esshup. I figured if muskrats could get there so could the otters. I've killed a couple muskrats but so far haven't seen any otters and hope that I don't.
I have seen a river otter in one of my ponds before. When I walked up I first thought it was a beaver. One of my big catfish was laying on the shoreline, half eaten. I only saw him one day. They say that in the spring, that the males will roam in order to find a mate.
Help! 12 acre pond in Georgia with otters coming in from nearby creeks, I see their tracks on the dam and they are eating my fish. Today the tracks looked like a small herd of them came in since the rain a day or so ago. Electric fence not really feasible so I was thinking about some kind of lighting or sound devices to scare them off, desperate for suggestions.
It's been several weeks since my initial otter sighting without further visual evidence of their presence. Maybe, they've cleaned out the food source and left for more fertile pickings. If the animals are still around, shouldn't there be some noticeable surface activity on a pond after 10 or 15 minutes of observation ? There are 6 ponds on the property, and I've seen evidence that the otters have visited at least two of them - and obviously, I can only make piecemeal observations; but, I tend to think that I would have spotted some indication of their presence if the beasts were still around. Incidentally, my trapper guy never returned to set out traps so I suppose that I'm left with little further recourse.
It's been several weeks since my initial otter sighting without further visual evidence of their presence. Maybe, they've cleaned out the food source and left for more fertile pickings.
Boy that's an ominous thought given that their primary diet is fish....
Help! 12 acre pond in Georgia with otters coming in from nearby creeks, I see their tracks on the dam and they are eating my fish. Today the tracks looked like a small herd of them came in since the rain a day or so ago. Electric fence not really feasible so I was thinking about some kind of lighting or sound devices to scare them off, desperate for suggestions.
Pine - if you can live trap them, I encourage you to do so and allow the state to reintroduce them somewhere on state owned land. They are cool animals, hate to see them destroyed - but one has to protect their investments from destruction, also.
I agree. I would certainly hate to see them destroyed. However, I've read mixed thinking on successfully relocating established otter families.
I should add the "releasing otters elsewhere" suggestion I made is backed up with ZERO research on my part - it just sounded like a preferred solution if it were possible. If I could convince my DNR to trap and relocate into some river systems far away, that would be my preferred method.
My personal feeling is that I don't like to just kill things that I don't/can't eat. I don't like to use animals for target practice. However, that assumes that they aren't a real problem. If they are a problem I'll eliminate with extreme prejudice.
I too have Otter problems in Northern MN. I have a 7 acre pond, they have been coming and going for the last three years or maybe longer. I am never there to try and shoot them but I have done a lot of research and I am going to fence it of with 3x2 inch Galvanized mesh fence, plus I will put a live wire around the top of the pond, at this stage I think it will cost around $3500.00 but in the long run will be well worth it. I will put the link on here so you can see what I will be [url=doinghttp://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/shop/electric-fencing/][url=doinghttp://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/shop/electric-fencing/][url=doinghttp://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/shop/electric-fencing/]doinghttp://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/shop/electric-fencing/[/url][/url][/url]
I hope this helps, they say an adult Otter can eat 10 Lbs of fish a day, they hunt in pairs and when they are full will kill fish just for the fun of it. Let me know if this helps, I will post some pictures of my project once it is completed.
Thanks
I'll second Dave's comment; since I don't enjoy dispatching anything without cause - but in the case of otters in fishing ponds, there's ample cause.
I've been helping a nearby landowner thin his beaver population since they were burrowing into the pond's levee at multiple sites. The 330 Conibears did the deed on 6 beavers - and then nothing else for 4 weeks. Out of nowhere, I caught a lone adult male otter in a beaver-set. One week later, I caught four adult female otters in one night - all four were taken from around the island in this photo.
I only set my Conibears underwater to avoid non-targeted critters such as coons, but any beaver-targeted set is subject to also nabbing an otter.
The pond in question is only an acre, so five otters could sure do some damage to the fishery if left to satisfy their penchant for fish-flesh.
330 Conibears are the way to go IMO, assuming you don't want to attempt relocating your fish-thieves to someone else's property.