Some where I heard, I don’t know where, that they used toothed traps to catch the otters. It was said that the toothed traps kept the foot from sliding around in the trap. The toothed caused a puncture wound which healed much quicker than the abrasion from sliding, in the trap. I can find nothing on this, and I have searched. Does anybody know if that is true?

I was at two of the releases in NE Indiana in the 1990’s, and went to one of the meetings that the biologist in charge of the program held at a local nature center.

I guess my take on it around here is that I really like having otters around. Yes they eat fish, but they are not too difficult to manage. Which brings me to another thought, here in these parts we desperately need a higher limit than 2 per year. The lakes, especially smaller lakes and ponds, “Ate up” with otters. The other management change that I think would go a long way to reducing the impacts on small private lakes and ponds is to allow them to be removed under the same regulations as beavers or other frequent flyer nuisance animal. I have met a lot of people who loved the idea of having otters around, right up until they camped out for a spell and ate darn near every fish in the pond, fish they paid a lot of money to stock. If the pond owner could deal with them like they would a beaver cutting down an apple orchard, a lot of the anger toward otters would be lessened.
Some feel Indiana waited to long to have a season, and I tend to agree, but we could quickly get them under control if the DNR would allow it.

They are also turtle killing machines.

I understood that otter were introduced in Ohio to reduce the beaver population.
Don't really know how that started, but doesn't seem to effect the beaver population.

States with good habitat and well established otter populations should not have limits. It’s ridiculous to think that trappers today are going to decimate a population.

Illinois has a limit of 5 and we have the high priced cities tags deal going. BUT I know of the trappers just South of me that can easily fill more than 5 in a short time.
So I agree with what Clay and Eric say.

Toothed traps were used on wolves not otters. Tripped out #11's were the trap of choice for otter relocation.

I worked with Dave Hamilton on his research up there on them in 2001. Where i grew up in Alabama we had no otters! With the collapse of the fur market after the boom they gradually made their way up and it's just like Mo. where they were introduced, everyone flips out when they see one in a pond convinced they eat all the fish.

Oddly enough in our 'catfish capitol' of the state where all the commercial catfish farming takes place you can fill a pick up truck bed up with otter's and no one down there pays them much attention since they grew up with them there.

Allways wondered why the otters disappeared and had to be reintroduced to begin with. Caught my first in the early 90s but trapped since 75 . No otters back then in southern Minnesota.

Reading this post it's a wonder there's a fish alive in the state of Mississippi what with all the otter we have here. I have a fish pond and have had zero issues with otter in it. Perhaps the yard dogs keep them ran off though.

According to data I found, below is where the reintroduction areas were in the 1980s.

Kettle Moraine State Forest: A key area for habitat restoration.
Black River State Forest: Provided suitable wetland environments.
Chippewa River: Offered abundant food sources and shelter.
Lake Wissota: A strategic site for population growth.
Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge: Ideal for conservation efforts.
Lower Wisconsin Riverway: Supported diverse ecosystems for otters.

Looks like mostly southern 2/3rds of WI. Otters may have been present to common in the north. I don't know. They sure have done well here in WI.

Bryce

I catch 60 to 90 otters every winter since the coon market tanked. I never get more than 10 miles from home the way the crow flies. Always caught otter since season opened in ‘96, but really went after them for the last 10 years or so. Add in the otter shot by landowners and duck hunters, and our population is still super strong.
You all with good habitat and otter populations with restricted harvest have biologists either with an agenda, or they don’t know anything about otter harvest in this day and age.
Big difference in harvest pressure today.

Thanks for the info Bryce. I was never aware of the need to "reintroduce" otter to parts of Wisconsin. I have had enough experience with incidental otters over the years to question the need for reintroduction at least in this area.

Not a good deal for me , Cleaned out 400 stocked walleye pond in a month nothing you can do . DNR says so

If you wouldn’t mind, please share this insight with our SDGF&P..LOL. Can’t run an effective coon line near water here without piles of incidentals. Frankly they have become a nuisance on my coyote line if I’m near ponds, creeks, or the river. Not fun to deal with and a lot of wasted time. On top of that they have the quota(20) LOL starting the first week of November. Far from prime, so no value besides to show your buddies if you don’t trap much. Ponds here have no chance anymore with them around.