I am going to be targeting otter this yea ein some culverts they have been traveling in. Problem is I would like to keep it inside the culvert as much as possible, away from prying eyes. I am trapping the road right away. The water is fairly deep. I was wondering what sets I could make that I may be able to keep under the culvert? Is there a way to drill a platform into the side to put a set on? I have been looking at the floating otter tube people use but since I don’t have that material laying around I thought it may get spendy. Any ideas on how to set this area?

Can you post any pics of some culverts?

How big a culvert? Block to funnel if not to large.

Down South most otters will not swim thru any size culverts. They cross over the road, dam, dike, etc, coming out of the water most times right beside the culvert.


Maybe those Minnesota otters will swim thru culverts. If so, I'd use 280s on KB stands and block sparingly with a dive limb over every trap.

Swamp. I have caught otter in 330s set on KB stands in in 3' or 4' culverts in NC. They were set for beaver where the water in the culvert was about 18" deep. To me, it sure seems that they choose the path of least resistance most of the time.

They swim through them in the winter lol.

They like to cross the road here too. I don’t know why. I would look to see if you have a trail by the pipe.

Take some hog panel, cut out a couple of spaces big enough for a couple 280s or 330s and place that under the road way. That way if they are swimming through, the only "opening" for them to go through is through the traps

Mink too sometimes cross over roads. Like you are saying look for sign.......jk

I also noticed that way more go over and around than through culverts here. I've caught a few in culverts, but probably ten times more by setting the crossing path that bypassed the culvert. It may be different up north, and I'm sure it's different where the water is covered in a sheet of ice.

Up north here in central BC I've experienced the same, going around culverts rather than through, even in iced up conditions.

Before I set a culvert I look for other locations close that will provide a better place to catch the animal.Like was said,for otter look a ways both sides of the culvert for a dry land crossover-they may not be well defined and there may be more than one.Also if you have permission most times you can find a better set location a little ways upstream or downstream,preferably at a pinch point.Another benefit is easier to conceal the sets/catches as they are away from the road.
For mink,if you can make a pocket set(or cubby if ground is hard or frozen) at the corners of some culverts it will produce good.Probably would catch coon too if you have them.
You can tell a mink is using around a culvert if you find mink scat on top of the culvert,especially several that have weathered along with fresher turds.
You can also place a tee pee set with a 330 at the outflow end of a culvert with a dive pole and a couple sticks for fencing,or if the culvert is big enough two such sets side by side will reduce the amount of fencing and produce multiple catches especially on extended checks.

Of course this set will be fairly visible to the public.It will take beaver and otter.You may be able to hide this type of set if you hang the bodygrips from the divepole and use short fence sticks.

Down South most otters will not swim thru any size culverts. They cross over the road, dam, dike, etc, coming out of the water most times right beside the culvert


Thanks for saving me a bunch of typing, lol

Caught alot of mink inside culverts though.

Here is a double tee pee set that connected with a beaver and an otter swimming thru a large culvert.
Caught before it froze,you can see the dive pole.
The otter was going upstream and the beaver downstream.

FWIW I've messed around a little trying to catch an otter down here in southern mn. What I saw after there was snow and the rivers and lakes were froze up. The otter wouldn't cross the roads anywhere near the waterways. I would pick up tracks 100 to 200 yards from the bridges or culverts. I had 2 get pinched in conibear set for mink that weren't up to the task of holding an otter.

The ones I was trying to catch were worse than mink. They never used the same path twice.

Saw a tank of a female otter hit crossing the road not too far from here this spring. She was about 50 feet from the culvert.

My experience has been if you can walk through the culvert standing up, there is a chance the otter will go through the culvert. Many will still cross the road to take a shortcut, visit a toilet or ???. Smaller than that most otter cross the road.

Neither of these are rules, just what I have generally experienced.

Your best bet in most instances is to get away from the road and trap the best pinch points.

My experience here is that it takes a large culvert to get them to swim through. But most of the time here they go up and over the roads or trails where the culvert runs under.

yes lots of animals don't like to go thru culvert

Wow! Thank you guys for all this great information. I think I will try and blind set them on land with some body grips instead of worrying about the culverts.

I've had decent luck in an area of a stream where there is an obstruction such as an old unused beaver dam. Tear a few holes in the dam and let the water run through. Set a 280 or 330 in each spot. Since otter often travel in numbers I've caught more than one by doing this. Or, if the stream is rather small, you can fence most of the center and set the sides. That works too.