Ne. Otters

Looks like we finnally get a whack at them. Season will run from Nov 1 to the end of Feb. It will be a quota season and will be closed within 3 days after 75 otter have been harvested.

Awesome! I hope PEI gets an otter season down the road.

Awesome. I hear they're mostly out west, and there's not many in the SE corner of the state. I've never seen one personally.

They are on about every stream that has fish in it now. Biggest populations are on the Major river systems.Like loose goose said alot out west on the Platte. It always made me mad that the same otter on the Missouri could be legally trapped on the Ia side but not on the Nebraska side of the river! About time they let the guys that nab them while beaver trapping keep them! Historical event!

There have been alot of otter in NW Missouri for 15 years or more . I know there was quite a lot of sign on the Missouri River south of the Winnebago reservation to Omaha when i trapped it around 2008 . Congratulations on the season . I wish it hadnt taken this long to get a season . Now every time you all find a little pond thats been cleaned out or some body talks about the streams not having as many fish in them blame it on the otter and urge the landowners or fisherman to complain to the game dept. They wont remove the quotas until they get overrun with damage complaints

My thoughts exactly on the complaints!
There has been a trappable population for many years. I am hoping the quota fills up fast just to show how many otters there are.

Yes, I agree with that.

Oregon at one point had a tag system quota for beaver. You had to insert a metal tag upon taking a beaver just like a deer tag. 25 beaver individual limit. Then the limit was raised to 100. Finally in 1978 the limit and tag system was removed entirely and you could catch as many as possible. And finally beaver were given dual classification as furbearer (on public land) and predatory animal on private so they could be trapped year round when they caused problems.

All of these changes came about by damage complaints by landowners.

Cool 1crazytrapper. I remember sitting with my uncles at spring NFH meeting in Aurora in 80s. Frank andelt from G&P and group in attendance trying to figure out how to keep the recently released otters out of beaver traps on the platte. Were not many viable options discussed. Looked at shutting down beaver trapping in certain stretches. Talked about no 330s in one stretch. I remember one guy suggesting small coils front footing beaver sets only. None were good options to avoid otter without managing beaver issues too.
I will never forget on older gentleman there telling us how mean the little buggers were when he tried to trun them loose out of coon sets. He was on like his 3rd one turned loose from #11s at pocket sets.
Well, here we go. I always see several at every fur buyer in area when I take stuff in. G&P turn ins from accidental catches. Lot more around on local creeks and rivers than most folks think.
Jim

Plenty of otters in the MO river on the NE/SD border. I had many experiences with them back in 2009-2011. I suspect, there are a lot more now with almost nobody trapping beaver/rats on the river.

I remember years ago telling my buddy from Missouri I wish we had otter like you guys. His reply was you don't want the #@%& things, they will eat more fish than you can believe. He was right, they will set up on a pond for a few days and really do a number on the fish, and they kill some and take one bite out of them and kill more. If you have a pond that is within a couple of miles of a creek or branch they will check it out every time they come through. They will travel over dry land farther than most people realize.

that's great , the more we can trap the better

For sure Jim!
They dumped some of those otter right on the river where we trapped beaver and hunted waterfowl near Elm creek. We were scared to trap any slides cause we saw otter scale piles around many of the beaver slides!

I’ve never understood trappers who complain about otters lol

I’ve never sold a catfish for $200!

NW Missouri has always had the lightest population in the state. Certainly has harvestable numbers, but not nearly as many as the rest of the state.

With historical low value of water species, it might take a little longer to fill the quota.

Not many trappers out in the water.

I think they will be surprised with how quickly the numbers come in. I suspect there were a lot of non-target catches that didn't get turned in over the past several years. I also think Marty is correct about less water trappers, however I believe this will motivate many including myself to get back in the game an give it a go. I need to read the official rules, but I figure on catching 5 or 6 myself. Wouldn't mind getting one stuffed if I can find a reasonable taxidermy offer.

Gun Nut

I believe they’re going to limit it to one per trapper. I’ll have to check my notes.

Eric