Otter trapping

Does anyone here eat otter meat? A friend asked I’ve never heard of anyone eating otter and wondered if there was a reason for that.

I imagine if I were hungry enough I would. They smell like fish and that ain't right for red meat.

Ohh okay. I always wondered why i never heard of anyone eating them lol

I don't even think maggots eat otter.
I once read a historical journal of some trappers in Labrador in the 1700's. They talked about eating marten, fox and some other furbearers, they seemed to think they were all more or less edible. However, they said that otter was "very strong tasting"; it didn't sound like they thought it passed the test for table fare.

Just about any critter you throw into a carcass pile will be eaten by coyotes, foxes, possums, coons, buzzards, etc. But I have never seen ANYTHING that will eat otter carcasses. If it is warm enough the flies will lay eggs, other than that they just sit there.

The only thing I have seen eat otter is ravens

My experience here in central BC also, Including ravens.

I didn’t know any of that before, thanks for the warning

I have used otter and mink in bait piles for tide sets targeting wolves with success. Must have been the mink that appealed to the wolves.

Eagles eat otter carcasses and I've had wolves dig otter bones out of the snow after the eagles had picked them clean.

I also put otter carcasses in bait piles, and they get consumed. I assume by birds.

I have heard of wolverine stealing otter out of traps. I did throw some in a bait pile last year and the ravens ate the majority, but I think the wolves finished them off.

Have any of you guys ever tried them for crab bait?

last fall my grandson watched us skinning an otter, and asked if they were edible. i said no, and he asked why. i had no answer as ive never tried them. he filleted off a few small pieces and pan fried them that evening. they said it wasnt too bad, but tough. it was phil robertson who once said "enough black and red pepper makes anything taste good". maybe hes right.

Otter are eaten here on the Yukon/Kusko delta by some .I had a friend that would eat them regular. He would hang them in the smokehouse to age a bit and then bake them. Mink too were eaten here,. Not so much anymore.

Fox here will eat otter out of your trap.

our abundant fox populations make for some hungry ones I have seen fox eat them. Had a wolf pick one up and cary it about 50 yards one time and dropped it guess he wasn't hungry enough. I have talked with some old timers who tried them around here they all said it was like trying to eat an old tire

Not sure about using them for crab bait, but mink carcasses are top of the line crab bait, for me.

I picked up about 30 or so carcasses from TrapperJoe a few years back and put them out on the bait stations, the ravens and eagles ate them up. As long as the birds are busy the fox and yotes will come to investigate. As far as a stand alone bait I wouldnt use it, eating it, nope not on my list to try.

How about a nice otter stew,dont forget the green gland cream for the sauce.

LOL ! That gives a whole new meaning to ........."boiled"

I have caught a lot of lynx just using otter for bait. I would tie the whole carcass up to a tree and surround with snares in the dead of winter. When I use to have red fox in my area I would bury the otter with just the tail sticking out and catch a lot of fox in snares. Never found them of much use in a bait pile.

Back in the day people used to eat otter here. Hard times food like a lot of stuff.

From my experience maggots will barely eat them. Throw them out in a bait pile and everything else will be ate while the otter lays there and rots.

Yeah, one time I gave a friend some beaver and otter carcasses. He used them for bear bait on his property. Bears loved the beaver but did a WIDE circle around the trees with the otter staked to them. Never did touch them otters.

My neighbor came here in the 50's and trapped on foot out of Circle. They ran out of food and ended up eating Marten. That was the last of his trapping experience!

Otter are the only carcasses i can leave laying outside that village dogs wont eat.

Iv had fox eat other fox carcasses but otter and coons never get touched here... beaver and rats are gone overnight

Some otter here have worms under the hide, as do mink, I've been told it's because they have been eating a lot of shellfish.

Yes crustaceans but not like the shellfish we think of eating. What you see is likely guinea worms. The larval stage is expelled from ulcers on infected otter, mink, coons etc.....into water. The water makes the ulcer burst. Once in the water, the larvae are eaten by tiny crustaceans known as copepods....there are many species but cyclops in the most likely in N. America.

These Cyclops guys are only 1 or 2 mm in length. They are essentially zooplankton. Along comes a trout, whitefish, frogs and eats cyclops.....or many cyclops. Now Mr otter and Mr mink eat the fish or frog and the cycle repeats itself.

There have also been marten around the Great Lakes found to have Guinea worm or Dracunculis insignis. The ones in otter are Dracunculis lutrae

We find them under the skin of mostly the back legs of moose here. I suspect they pick them up when eating vegetation from the bottom of ponds, or just drinking the water.

Gulo or North of 50 can do a much better job on this subject

Boco you forgot the Ketchup, but it has to come out of the glass bottles, so you get the real plop when you hit the bottom.

White17 you did a good white-wash agreement in your closing.

If you want to see fur mites, just wash an otter skin. Counts are in the 1000's so be prepared for a 12 hour picking 1mm floaters.