River Otter in the US

I ran across this interesting study on River Otter in the US. Talks about populations in the different states and the success of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. I knew WI did a lot of work on otter but it was cool to see a roll up on all the other states. Anything else catch your eye?

https://meridian.allenpress.com/jfw...er-Status-Management-and-Distribution-in

Very interesting. It shows them as present in the 2 counties I live in and frequent the most. They may exist in the far reaches of the county but not in any numbers and I know of no credible reports of one. I wouldn't be surprised to see a decent population of them within the next 5-10 years with as much success as the rest of the country has had introducing them.

The DNR otter harvest survey for the neighboring county has been increasing steadily each year. 5 years ago was the first one and now its 5-7 a year. Part of our rivers headwaters originate in that county so they aren't too far out.

defintly a good read. i love otters they are litle tanks i have seen 4 in the last month 3 in one day. i got to watch them hunt and eat there catch 20 feet away from me. defintly a speices worth saveing. it is a shame they where over hunted but i also blame agriculter for the los of habitat of both otter and beaver populations it the lower48 or realy any place that has lost those litle jewls.

Interesting feedback guys. I know WI had some concerns with otter with beaver populations coming down back in the day. But the reduction in beaver trappers benefited the otter more than the loss of some habitat.

I can't even trap beaver here because there's too many otters. The are protected in NE

Are they getting any closer to opening up a season there? If anything, this should help your cause. It shows that with regulated trapping, you can still increase the population.

we are getting to many of them up here . we just got limit raise to 4, we were asking for 6

everywhere and nothing we can do here,no season yet.assume they are waiting for them to clean the rest of the fish outta the rivers first.

That’s when the population takes care of it self. Pcr you gotta state hop

He is right and they a pain to release. One Real good thing about my #3 Dukes is the BIG spring levers, that helps a little in releasing them. But they are a hand full to let go......jk

Get the state trapping association to push for a season. That was what happened here and we have a season now. It is very limited, but so are otter in ND. I would bet money we would not have a fisher or otter season if it weren't for the push from the trapping association. If you think the G&F is going to push for it, keep waiting.

The best thing you can do is turn in every incidental otter catch to the wildlife agency.

Missouri has a great otter program.

Surprised to see otters present in Central AZ.

I watched two this weekend on the Allegheny River. It was the first time I could positively identify them as otters

They are on every stream here in Southern MN. Getting increasingly hard to NOT catch too many. We only get 4 per year. Hopefully that will change.

Many years ago, NC traded otter to WV for turkeys. We hardly had any turkey left but through proper management, relocation, and controlled spring seasons, thanks to those otter, we have wild turkey in all 100 counties.