Well I amazed myself and trapped an otter. We have a limited season of 20 for the whole state, only 3rd year they’ve had it in a long time. Put a 330 on the edge of river bank and connected first night, had seen some earlier this summer but no sign lately so I think I got pretty lucky. Got it skinned, gotta turn in carcass tomorrow and get tag for the pelt. 20 lb male that was 44 inches long. I don’t know what you guys use that get em regularly but the 330 hit it right in the stomach. He must’ve been moving!

Nice to see our northern cousins have a slider season! Hopefully, some day we will. How does your quota system work, the first 20 caught AND if you catch one, then you're out of any follow up attempts OR its the first 20 critters now matter who catches them...?

One per person per season. Residents only. Must report within 12 hrs and as soon as they hit 20 season is closed. When I called the game warden he said I was the first one he’d heard of. Just checked the website and it says 2 as of now.

Congrats!

Congrats,have you put up any otters in the past?
They are a bit different than other critters to put up.Especially the tail.

That is a nice size otter. Congrats. Caught my first one this year too!

Boco- no I haven’t put up any otter. I watched the coon creek videos on how to do it. Skinning wasn’t bad. I’m glad I’ve been putting up lots of coon and coyote the last couple years instead of selling in the round. Lot more confident in myself now than if I just sold everything in the round and all of a sudden had to do an otter.

One thing,they have a tough hide,you wont rip it unless there is a scar.

Careful though you can singe the fur pretty easy if you use heat to dry or leave in the sun, looks good no singe in the pics, congratulations!

Looks like it was going to die of old age.....
Glad you got a season......finely. They sure did a lot of DNA testing to see where they were coming from.
First otters that I caught the fur buyer said sell them to him...they were hard to do...
nope did them up myself...Got 2 of the 3 into Top Lot (lot of 10 skins) that year, back when they were worth 20 beaver each.

Well earned Congrats.

Congrats! They are on my bucket list. No otters where I live in Eastern MT but one can always hope.

Don't worry, you soon will have some. From my understanding, some of the otters from the eastern side were transplanted into the little Missouri river a couple years ago. If they take off like they did here you will soon be having them plugging up water sets. Definitely the least fun live release animal we have here, vicious little fellas.

way to go

Good job. Wish we had them.

Well done, very good

Sweeeet… Congrats bud..

Nice catch. There is not quite as many in this area, as far west as I am. I caught one NE of Spiritwood. It was out of season and I had to turn it in. Caught it in a dry land cubby set for coon and skunk.

For fast moving otter’s a 330-size trap quite often closes on them to far back resulting in poor hip catches that don’t dispatch them quickly. My experience with the smaller 280 is that it closes faster and results in fewer, if any, poor catches. The 280 will also capture more of the incidental mink and muskrats that often trigger 330 beaver and otter sets without getting caught. Thus, it is the ultimate otter trap IMO.

Nice otter Nodak63! They are addicting. Bottom Edge 330's are my favorite otter sets.

I've never understood the singe thing, especially comments about sun. I have put up a lot of winter otter and never had any issues with singe. The sun comment really confuses me because I wonder how they live and survive prior to coming into my possession yet still maintain beautiful fur.