I forgot that I have personally tracked my otters travleing greater than 23 miles in one day. That stat still astounds me.
Otters are the only animal that I known that doesn't have to struggle to find food, They would rather play than eat I think. As far as how many I would take from an area, I would keep track of the sign that I see on that particular section of river. Once that sign starts to dwinddle move. I have personnally caught and relocated 5 otters form a half a mile stretch and the day I pulled I saw 11 otters that I am about ninety-five percent sure that they were all differnet animals, and the most of them were females with young

I have knowticed that they are there then gone. Its weird. Beaver are in and otter are out. Then vise versa. So far I have seen that the otter are in the high water days and beaver in the low water days.

Very good. If there is fish in the main river they don't need much reason to move. There isn't a fish they can't catch. They will explore so the msaller trib you are talking about can cathc you an otter. The mouth may be a good spot.

another thing is here we are in the desert. Not much water. So they are very limited to where they go. Yes they can travel 20 plus miles here in our river systems. I just cant picture it happening. I belive you all trust me its just a huge span. Kid yes its possible. I have a friend that had one in his pond eatin all of his bass. We figured it came in the irrigation canal that is fed from the river

Otters key in on certain areas to have toilets/latrines. One of those palces is the finger of land at the mouth of a stream, where the small trib meets the big river. Crossovers are a great place as well.

Otters have no fear of traveling across land. Case in point after the reintroduction of otters into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the otters were documented crossing the Appalachain Mountains from TN into NC. They really don't have any predators other than man. If you ever get a chance to tangle with a live one you will understnad why.

send my otter back over the hill otterguy need to get me a few more this year lol

I would gladly can't keep out of my traps here. I have moved triggers, trimmed triggers, etc, etc.

A few years ago I worked for Mo dept of Conservation on thier otter research program. We live trapped otters then inserted a radio transmitter into the body cavity for telemitry studies. 1 otter in particular that I caught had moved in a 3 week period 100 miles from where originally caught. I have often saw where otter had come up from a canl in S E Arkansas and took out across a cotton field to god knows where? And yes I have caught them succussfully in baited as well as blind sets.

You must know a Mr. Mike Fischer then, that man taught me alot about trapping otters. A true outdoorsman, he is. I traped a few with him in MO as well, at a northern and a southern location. Fun place to live trap otters. I did a very similar project for my master's degree at Univ of Tenn, but project was in KY.

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

its all great stuff guys keep it up

i dont know a ton about them i catch a few every year though, had one this morning in a 330. all mine are taken in blind sets with 330's and 280's. they poke there heads up every little side stream on a river it seems like, and will run all the little channels or back water sloughs, also any streams with beaver ponds are great.

Ok does anyone know about how many to a family? Better time of year to trap than others? It sounds like to me that figuren outa population is guna be hard do to the wide terrain that they have?

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

Otter have a 14 day run,often in pack 3-5,always set a trap on each side of beaver dam, they hunt pray on shore and not in a middle of the stream (remember this).I use 220 and 280 if beaver sign, 330 is not the best choice for otter because she too fast and the trap is too big for slim otter.Always use cable tie with swivel for otter trap.Regular checking need for keep running trap operated.Take care after catch is too important than before.

I have taken as many as 10 in a season from a single crossover. I have also had three triple catches at that crossover (over the years) and had as many as six other otter swimming around trying to run me off from the captured otter.

I mainly trap on 2 Rivers here in SW Missouri. We have an abundence of otter on the streams around me. It seems to me that year after year you will catch otters in the same places. I live with in walking distance of two rivers, and this year, I've caught 7 otters within sight of my house. These all were caught in about a 2 week window. This areas also produce otter every year. Sometimes it may be 2-3, and others as many more. It seems that they stay in the area for a couple of days, because you will make a catch or two and then you will go dry for a while. I mainly set old abandon bank dens, along with blinds sets in slides, and toilets. I also catch otters in pockets that are intended for coon (which sometimes is a pain because you always have to be prepared for them). So yes otter can be caught on bait, but I believe your chances are better when setting good blind sets on location.

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

wow thats realy good too.