Easy. Put up a sign.

Are you thick?
Of course you cant.

Wrong time of year to be trapping otter.

I have to disagree with Boco here. All breeding age female otters may be considered pregnant since they are carrying fertilized zygotes from last springs breeding.

Thats not an issue,
One of the first tenets of fur management is not trapping a species when there is young in the den.

Marten and other mustelids are technically pregnant in the fall even though the blastocyst may or may not implant in spring depending on the body condition of the female.
But we dont trap them with young in the den.

If you are doing nuisance work or trying to eradicate I can see it but it is still an unpalatable practice to most.
The parturition dates are well established for otter all over North America.

Boco,

Yeah...Im pretty thick-headed. But, it didnt even cross my mind that you were implying NOT to trap otters DURING season...


So, when should we southern trappers trap otter? Maybe July? Lol. Our fur season, here in Ga, is Dec 1 to end of February. Female catches do occur, but the male otter catch this time of year is much higher %.

Based on what you posted, some inexperienced trapper down here is gonna think he's doing wrong trapping otter now.....

This aint the great frozen north. Btw, what time of year do you trap otter in Canada?

Delayed implantation...yes^^^^

Nice. Catfish ponds? Talked with a trapper at our local sale years back who had a good haul of otter. He was trapping fish ponds bordered by a bayou. He would catch them on the crossovers from the bayou to the ponds.

The otter rut is underway in south GA. ? ? So the females have had their young and are now breeding ? I'll catch an almost ready to pop female in south ark inlate Feb or as incidental in early March but wow didn't think south Georgia was that far ahead of us.

I trapped south Georgia for bvr in Dec one year don't remember catching many lactating females. Over 50 otter and 115 bvr. I'm just curious not doubting.

Last season in south ark was 52 otter and 154 bvr. You can tell I run lots of 330's. As a friend runs mostly foothold and he the had same number of bvr but only 20 or so otter. And yes we trap several of the same counties

Parturition time for Otter here is between mid april and mid may,season ends april 31,Beaver season goes to May 15.Some incidental otter are caught in May and doing nuisance in summer,but I dont know of anyone who traps otter after february-fur is starting to singf.

Just because a season is open does not mean you should be trapping-same on the front end of a season.

Boco a southern caught otter is singed no matter what month you catch them.

We trap in 2 different worlds.

Mostly duck hunting clubs and their impoundments.
With this fur market nobody is chasing them and the population has exploded.

We don’t trap otter with young in the den.
Our season closes February 20th, a month prior to the first possible young being born.
Sounds like the disconnect is our definition of the otter rut and yours. I consider the rut when boar otter are roaming constantly and well outside their normal territory in search of females. Here that begins around early to mid January and escalates and becomes more frenzied thru the close of our season.

Sounds like our otter population is much higher than yours.
With this fur market, otter (nor any other species) is being hurt around here.

Some of the literature says otters breed after parturition. I catch females with bit up necks 3-4 weeks before any possibility of that. So in my estimation they are breeding often while pregnant from last years breeding.

It is known that Otters breed right after parturition.Parturition in otters is not a fixed date because they are delayed implanters,Implantation of the blastocyst is not a given date either.It is based on photoperiod. They are induced ovulators they wont accept a male until they are in season.The male may try to induce ovulation in an already very pregnant otter but it wont work.Probably why their necks are chewed up.
Parturition dates documented for otter in Oregon is around early April.

You are from Missouri ? You had to get Otter from Louisianna and Ontario in the mid 80's because your numbers were either low or non exixtant,LOL.

Yes Missouri.
Otter reintroduction began in 1982. We’ve had a season for 25 years. Our otter came from Louisiana.
We have a tremendous population. Even through the years of high dollar otter.
I base our population on talking to trappers from all over the country and year after year harvest numbers in the same watersheds around here. The Southeastern U.S. is comparable to our population based on harvest numbers and anecdotal trapper conversations.

Dang Boco....you are coming across as an otter expert when you really know little about these otters down here in these cypress swamps.

Not bragging, but Ive likely caught more otters in one season down here than the top 3 Ontario trappers have combined in one single season.