Massive Louisiana River Otter

I know one of the guys of LTA does live otters, need to give him a call, but how does this size up? He measured 41 1/4 inches and I did not weigh him, however he is in the freezer, I can do that later. He got caught in a oneida victor 220 conibear, I wasn't trying to catch him, I was trying for a beaver, muskrat or nutria, but I just looked for where there was a small opening in a sand dam, I set my conibear in the gap that was obvious some aquatic creatures were using, and voila! God was extremely nice to me though today, he did not punish me too hard for not wiring off my traps appropriately, however I will do that from now on, always and forever. I say that because it rained hardcore the past day and a half, and so I was very fortunate to find all but 1 of my traps. Anyways, here is the picture, does anybody eat these things, I'm sure they would taste good, almost every poop I have found has been full of crawfish.

Congrats on your otter.

Cook you up some of that...then let us know what u think. Hint: coyotes will not eat the meat and buzzards resist it if anything else is available. But you may like it.

Biggest 2 I've weighed here were a 29 lb male and a 28 lb female.

I'm sure it will taste good too. If everyone knew how good they are they would need to put a limit on then like deer. Go for it.

Thank you, I will, now keep in mind I eat raccoon all day every day which I like to call mini bear.....Thats interesting you say that, because all of the otter poop I have found has been filled with crawfish almost exclusively. First one ever, so I put him in the freezer so I would have time to think about how to handle him.

Congrats on the otter. I caught my first one two seasons ago and I was incredibly excited. Like you, I wasn't targeting otters - I was going after beaver - but I was fortunate.

If you've never put one up before, a few words of advice - look up "singe" on otter pelts and keep it out of direct sunlight and away from any type of heat source. I encourage you to watch some videos on how to properly flesh an otter, paying close attention to the tail because it can be very different than some other animals (Rich on Trapping Inc has a great video on how to attack the tail, and how to properly flesh an otter in general - I have the episode written down somewhere if you'd like it). And lastly - use a VERY aggressive belly board when putting it up on the board, if you take it that far yourself. I've never had any animal shrink to the board that much and had a nightmare of a time trying to get it off. Luckily I had a taxidermist on hand to give me a few tips because I was close to just breaking the board and praying that it wouldn't damage the pelt.

All in all though, it's my favorite animal I've put up myself yet. I'd love to catch some more. Congrats again

Congrats on your first otter!

Congratulations tofan

Congratulations.

That is average size for south Louisiana. Good job!

Have it mounted. You'll never again catch your first otter. I figure if you fix that otter just right, it'll taste about like a mink.

Rickey

Nice otter! I would use a larger trap than a #220 in the future if you are trying to catch beaver.

Ok, good advice, I put a #330 in the place of the #220 because I read your suggestion this morning. Are the #330s too large to catch the muskrat or nutria in your opinion? Thank you for the tip!

A 330 is a ok for nutria but would be big for muskrat. Where are you in the state where you actually have muskrat?

Nice otter. People from Louisiana can cook almost anything, but I’m afraid you will be disappointed with otter. I would probably rather cook every single animal in Louisiana that I can think of before I’d cook otter or mink. Let us know if you try

Thanks man, I really love trapping. I am chasing some beaver around, I am sure most of you guys would get quite a laugh. I will try to snap a picture tomorrow of my setup, the beavers seem much smarter.

Some of the otter around here get much bigger than that.

That's not the biggest otter that I have ever seen, but it is no runt for sure.
As far as eating otter, A skinned out carcass around here won't be eaten by anything. Not even bacteria. It just mummifies in place.

Massive otter. Eric

My god man, is that your pet otter? That thing is incredible! Mind sharing the story, how awesome.

First otter I ever caught, and my first year water trapping. Caught him on the last day of season. Saw tracks in a beaver slide set a body grip half submerged at the bottom of the slide and had him a few days later. Eric

Eric, did you happen to get a bodyweight on that otter? That's a very impressive catch and wild that it was your first one ever.

Congrats

Excellent tofan That's the Biggest otter you ever caught and you should be proud However if you skin and flesh it you won't be hungry at least for otter

Thanks man, yeah he is still in the freezer, one of these days. I did just get some of these 440 RGBs, and HOLY (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman). These things could crush a bear, although I will say the springs on them were easier to set than I thought, but I might just be used to setting the conibear springs at this point. Hopefully I can follow up with some more otter or beaver action, although these (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) beaver are either smart because i'm dumb, or beaver are just naturally smart, IDK probably the first one!

Ryan, I didn’t weigh him but he was very heavy. I carried him almost a mile back to the truck and by that point he felt like 500 pounds. Just guessing he was probably in the upper 30’s. Funny story I shared the pic with a friend of mine who showed it to his dad, his dad said it was a mink that there were no otters in our part of Virginia. Eric

Tofan I hope you didn’t think I was trying to put down your otter, because that was not my intention, I don’t catch a lot of otters I just wanted to share mine on your post. No trying to hijack your thread. Eric

Eric you are good brother! The more otter, the merrier man is how I see it. I loved seeing that huge guy, I mean who doesn't like a nice swoll up otter, haha. I hope one day to catch one of that size, Thats a great point about carrying back to the truck, I have been pondering a bit on how some of you guys carry the catches back if you are walking a line. I have my plan for water, but I do have a line on land that is quite a distance from the truck once you get to the end. Thanks man, name is Matt too btw.

Thanks Matt. I purchased a cheap sled this year to deal with my small water line because I have to walk all of it . It’s been really nice pulling the sled with traps and critters instead of packing them out one at a time. Eric

I saw a roadkill otter about this size back when I was studying in Valdosta. Dude was massive!

Otters run big in Virginia for some reason. I have caught some big ones, or so I thought. An old hand of a trapper showed me one he caught. I had to check it to make sure it wasn't a sea otter! He said it weighed 35#. He never lied to me before or since, so I believed him.
I did break his heart one day though. I caught a 75# beaver weighed on official scales at the Bait Barn. His best was 73#.
He called me a bad name. Several actually, in uncommon combinations, as he was retired Navy. I miss that ole coot.

tofan really nice catch ,they are something when you walk up and see it in your trap. I have taken a couple over 30 lbs with my largest tipping the scale at 35.
Here is two from this season 27 lbs and 30 .
I have eaten a couple of my first to say I gave it a go. Cut the backstraps off and fried with salt and pepper. Wasn't much flavour and kinda stringy . IF I was hungry I wouldn't hesitate to eat another one.
Again congrats on the catch .

I picked that otter up and skint him. Wonder why no one else stopped and got him. Lol!

I live 20 miles from Valdosta. Lots of otter around here ...and some bigguns too.

Every time I dump nuisance catch otters in the field, they are there for weeks. Beaver and coons are gone immediately. Apparently otter tastes bad even to buzzards.

Ask Steve Hardy down in De Ridder, La. He'll give you a good idea.

Crazy, thats where I live! I'll have to give him a ring this week.

Ain't it a small, small world ?!!!