I have a few otter running my frozen creek. Anything other than coni buckets your guys recommend? I don’t have access to open water, just on top of the ice.

Otter use the same channels/runs as beaver.They also swim on bottom when traversing deep runs.
They use old beaver houses and old beaver feed holes/bank dens also.
Set up all these,as well as old dams etc.Also look for dry land/snow trails and set them also.
Main difference between otter and beaver trapping in winter is that otter roam far within their home ranges and beaver dont go far at all from their house/pond/feedbed.So you have to give your otter traps more time to work.

I've had luck with bottom edge sets under ice. I'll even chop a hole every day, to give them a spot to go in and out. Bottom edge up and downstream from the hole.

Like Boco said, they need time to work also. Around me, they seem to be on a 17-21 day cycle.

There is an excellent winter otter set developed by Arthur Dussault
I named it the "silt set"
It takes advantage of otters always seeking out current.

With regard to dry land/snow trails, set them at pinch points just like you would with water sets.

Thanks guys.

Boco my friend, I am all ears, please do tell.
Mac

X2

Boco, can you show us the millet set also.

Although I am not Boco and I cannot show you pictures, I believe I can explain the Millette set to you. This set is otherwise known as the Otter Pressure Set: At iced over beaver dams with a constant water flow over the dam place traps, two or three back under the ice. Enlarge the hole if necessary, to accommodate the traps. Then block off the sides to the dam with sticks thus forcing the otter through the trap(s).

Thanks
Mac

Thanks Tomcat.

Hmm..That's the same set Boco uses with conibear traps at a dam break for beaver. I like that set.

Actually the winter set that Paul Millette developed uses an ice tunnell that stays open over the dam,allowing animals to travel up and down the drainage all winter over the dam under the ice.
Creating the ice tunnel is key.You need a good sized dam,a steady flow of water and a few feet of elevation between the upper creek and lower creek.

Quite different than your regular pressure set.

Actually the winter set that Paul Millette developed uses an ice tunnell that stays open over the dam,allowing animals to travel up and down the drainage all winter over the dam under the ice.
Creating the ice tunnel is key.You need a good sized dam,a steady flow of water and a few feet of elevation between the upper creek and lower creek.The key to creating the ice tunnel is to chisel a hole in the ice at the bottom of the dam,FIRST so when you make the top water channel, and open the dam,the water has somewhere to go,otherwise it wont work,The flow will keep the lower ice hole open which is the lower "door" to the tunnel.The channell dug in bottom on top is the upper "door" to the tunnel.the tunnel actually forms from the water splashing over the sticks on the dam as it makes its way to the hole on the bottom.This is why it has to be made on a constantly flowing stream.

Quite different than your regular pressure set which normally only works in the fall or early winter.
The Millette set will keep functioning at 40 below.

If it were me i'd use the litter box set. A box of peat moss with a trap bedded in it and slip out into their travel way.

Not really that different! If you control the ice built up and keep the water flow over dam the pressure set works, just as well if not better.

Trouble is with the so called pressure set,at 40 below the water will freeze when flowing over the dam in the absence of the ice tunnell.
The only way a pressure set will work in prolonged cold weather is if the water above and below the dam is the same level,and you make a break in the dam right down to natural flow.Then you basically have a channel set(pressure set or pinch point),not a Millette set.

The set I named the silt set is easy to set up and works well,but I am not free to divulge that set on an open forum.
Arthur Dussault,the developer of the silt set who showed it to me told me not to share it in case he decides to publish it at a later date.