Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: foxgeter]
#1784348
02/01/10 03:09 PM
02/01/10 03:09 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592 Northern Maine
Bruce T
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
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I don't know anyone who has caught otter with baited sets.I would much rather have good blind sets in water channels,cross overs,trails,etc.
Nevada bound
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Bruce T]
#1785008
02/01/10 07:37 PM
02/01/10 07:37 PM
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 174 Durham, NC
silver is money
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 174
Durham, NC
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I and others I know have seen them in the daytime.
Silver is a leveraged derivative play on gold.
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Jeremy Watson]
#1785127
02/01/10 08:18 PM
02/01/10 08:18 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592 Northern Maine
Bruce T
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
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Could be one or two.Could be a whole litter with the parents.Otter cover miles.Could stay in one area for a while or might not come back to an area for a couple weeks.
Nevada bound
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Bruce T]
#1785221
02/01/10 08:41 PM
02/01/10 08:41 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 253 Higginsville,Missouri
TrappinCol
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 253
Higginsville,Missouri
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A wise young man working a few years back with our conservation dept.on an otter program ran telemetry studies on otters that had been implanted and or radioed told me this."Our studies show if an otter wants to go 5 miles across open fields in one night,they'll do it."I never did ask him what they figured was an avg. home range in Missouri.Have just always remembered that little bit of Info.More nocturnal but will definitely be out on cloudy,stormy days.I've been in GREAT territory and it be a week or more setting heavy on the blind sets before connecting.
Member Missouri Trappers Assoc.-NTA.Official auctioneer of National Trappers Assoc.
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: firedawg]
#1785340
02/01/10 09:11 PM
02/01/10 09:11 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860 Oregon
beaverpeeler
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860
Oregon
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On really good otter water if I catch one for every two or three river miles I have got about all that river will give up for that year.
I did read some studies that suggested that home range for males was about 20 to 30 river miles...lot's of depends though.
As far as all the lures and baits... I'd bet that these sets account for less than 5% of all otter caught in north america on a yearly basis. Crossovers and blindsets plus covering lot's of territory is where it's at.
Finally, if you really want to do some good reading about otter trapping buy a copy of "Otter Trapping" by the Washington State Trappers Assoc. It is a compilation of observations and methods by Washington's top otter producers. George Sovie at Cascade Trappers Supply can set you up.
PS I see otter during the daytime often and have checked traps going downstream (with nothing) and had otter in them an hour later as I made my way back up.
Last edited by beaverpeeler; 02/01/10 09:14 PM.
My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Jeremy Watson]
#1785357
02/01/10 09:14 PM
02/01/10 09:14 PM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 434 Ky.
watershedman25
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 434
Ky.
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Been tryin' to catch one myself. A fella trapper on GBO said they would hit a bucket set for coon baited w/flakey fish. Caught a few coon but no otter.
Born once,die twice-Born twice,die once.
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Well taught]
#1785422
02/01/10 09:33 PM
02/01/10 09:33 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860 Oregon
beaverpeeler
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860
Oregon
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I one time had an otter break a wire (on a lake) and so the next day I came back with a wet suit and snorkle. I kept bobbing up and down looking for it but after a bit I looked out on the arm of the lake I was on and I had 9 otters in the water stretching their heads up as high as the could to see waht the funny black otter was doing. LOL
My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Jeremy Watson]
#1786072
02/02/10 01:04 AM
02/02/10 01:04 AM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 694 Kamiah ID
Native
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 694
Kamiah ID
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I set at a place where it was an otter toilet but didn't know that at the time I was trying to target beaver with a coni set at a beaver hut but I set the trail going to the toilet and got a good otter
you cook good rabbit pilgrim
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Jeremy Watson]
#1787852
02/02/10 07:26 PM
02/02/10 07:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 96 missouri
joefromeldonmo
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 96
missouri
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i catch mine in fast water funnels pullouts at beaver dams castor mounds and a few in baited pocket sets for coon/mink. just make sure you are on slides to deep water or drags with footholds in the fast water funnels or dam cross overs 280 or 330 get the nod
veggen old indain word for bad hunter
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: helslb]
#1788141
02/02/10 08:51 PM
02/02/10 08:51 PM
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 423 Red Deer, AB. Canada
davec
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 423
Red Deer, AB. Canada
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good topo map, is handi, find streams out of and in too lakes, into rivers, late season fishing trips are when I decide where I will trap, is when I also set diving poles and choke of streams, if you want to catch otter, have to start before the season, only lure I use is hawbarker mink lure seems that they like it for some reason, came across that buy accident, good luck
Dave
May you be an hour in heaven, before the devil knows your gone
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: helslb]
#1788249
02/02/10 09:28 PM
02/02/10 09:28 PM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,531 Maine
sandman
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,531
Maine
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Since this thread is a otter info thread, I will post some otter observations from ice and snow country useless to those of you with year-round open water,LOL.
Harsh winters, otter often stop traveling and settle down in a beaver pond full of fish, shiners, suckers, whatever, living in a beaver bank den or old house. Might stay in one spot for weeks until settled snow,warmer weather, breeding urge push them on.
Occasionally, they freeze in and have to wait for a thaw to free them. Most of the time when I have found "wintering" otter, they maintain a way up onto the ice.
A friend of mine owns a series of shiner ponds, some with water level control pipes. Pipes all have screens to keep the shiners in their respective ponds. He decided one winter day to drain the shiners from the largest upper pond into the smaller lower ponds, so he cut a hole through the ice to remove the screen and upright water leveling pipe so the water would drain out through the bottom drainage pipe. Watching to see how many shiners came out through the lower end of the pipe into the next pond, his partner was shocked to see an otter shoot out of the pipe!
Pond was sealed up tight with over a foot of ice. We surmised the otter got in as it was freezing up, living in a beaver bank den from years before when beaver had tried to take over his pond. Weren't many shiners left of the thousands of dollars worth he thought he had in there,LOL!
More open winters, or on big rivers that never fully freeze,they continue to travel as usual.
James Arsenault
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: sandman]
#1789143
02/03/10 01:54 AM
02/03/10 01:54 AM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,481 Kansas
kansaskoons
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,481
Kansas
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JDW, this is exactly what I have been looking for, great thread! Well here in KS where otters are not legal yet (and to inform you ahead of time all that I have caught have been released or turned in) I think that we have an interesting twist to their normal habitat. They have small streams that run through several sections of old stripped mine ponds and lakes that eventually go on to larger rivers. Now I know that they are big time travelers, but an observation that I have made a couple of times is that when they move to a food rich area that they just stay, sometimes for weeks, is this normal? Also, not that I was trying to catch otters but the beavs come out of the pits and travel the small creeks alot and I target them with blind sets and crossovers, two sets that should pick up otter, but of the dozens of beaver caught in such sets, no otters. All of the otter that I catch are in the pits, are they staying in the pits because there is more food in them than the creeks. I really have alot of questions because alot of what I read doesn't fit with our otter. thanks for all the previus info.
waiting on the buffaloe grass........
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Re: Otter thread. Lets talk about it
[Re: Jeremy Watson]
#1792162
02/03/10 11:46 PM
02/03/10 11:46 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860 Oregon
beaverpeeler
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,860
Oregon
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The first year that I trapped one big coastal lake (Siltcoos) on the Oregon coast for otter I caught 24. In this particular lake they seemed easy to catch, showing very little fear of my conibears. The following year I caught 3 and then backed off because I wasn't seeing much sign. It became obvious to me that 24 had been too heavy of a harvest. I point this out as an example of how an area can be hit too hard. On the other hand, rivers with lot's of side sloughs, tributaries, swamps etc may be harder to overtrap and I have seen that too.
These days I trap the same places over and over but I tend to give an area a break for a year and then get back to it the following, giving it a chance to recooperate. This seems to work out pretty well. I also have an idea of what each area can produce and I endeavor not to over do it.
Last edited by beaverpeeler; 02/03/10 11:48 PM.
My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
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