ND Otters?

[LBrandt]

Otters are the clowns of the animal world. I could set and watch them all day, but if cornered they can and will get nasty.

 

[Davy Crockett]

I see this topic is 9 years old but wondering if anyone has been seeing Otters in the Devils Lake basin ?
I sure thought I'd know the difference between a Mink and an otter but I'm not sure what I watched off and on for 2 days . At first I just assumed it was a dandy big male Mink but the more I saw of him the more I thought it looked too big for a Mink . He was coming up from under a big dead standing tree on the ice close to 100 yards away and eating fish. Then he would swim about 200 yards from there and come up a hole out in a hole in the ice and I assume eating fish there too, back and forth off and on for two days but it never got up and walked saw it stand once and turn around but mostly hung low and laid on it's belly. It drove me nuts that I didn't have my binos. He was a fishing machine .

I know they are in the Turtle Mountains , same with Pine martins and fishers.

 

[Eatsleeptrap]

East end of Lake Coe in Eddy county has a pair. Seen them, sometimes just one, off and on the last couple of years. The culvert area is open, way on the east end, you could sit up Hwy 15 to the east and watch them play. The closer you get they hide and just pop up for air.

 

[MSA]

I was just hanging out with a South African that works around Devils Lake, on the topic of American animals, he told me about seeing otters all around, I thought maybe he was seeing mink....he showed me pics, and they were definitely otters.

 

[NDbowman]

Not Devils Lake, but I know of a guy that lives along the mouse river that has seen otters by a spring in the river. he figured they're eating carp with the size of the fish scales in their poop.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Watched one on Mach 1st at a local lake for about 5min. Saw something on the ice about 15yds from a pickup and hub house then it got up and trotted along. It would trot/hop about 3-8 strides then slide on its belly then getup and repeat past the guys fishing then all along the shoreline staying probably5-15yds off the shore. Funnier than heck to watch and made the day for me after punching around 30+ holes and barely even marking a fish let alone setting a hook. That is how I ended my ice fishing season, watching an otter and really finding the limit on a 7.5 Kdrill with Dewalt Drill and a 12AH Dewalt Flex Volt Battery in about 22-24" ice.

 

[KDM]

They're pretty common on the Sheyenne. See them all summer and tracks in the snow in winter. Neighbors stock pond has fish in it and they make a solid trail from the river to that pond in winter. Must be easier to catch them in a pond vs a river. They are fun to watch. Would be stupid easy to trap one, but I'd rather see'em alive and sliding on the snow. Watch one slide almost 40 yards downhill back to the river. Still makes me smile just thinking about it.

 

[Jiffy]

Saw one get smoked on hwy 2 between devils and Lakota about 2 years ago.

Definitely NOT a mink!! When you see one, you’ll know.

 

[riverview]

I see this topic is 9 years old but wondering if anyone has been seeing Otters in the Devils Lake basin ?
I sure thought I'd know the difference between a Mink and an otter but I'm not sure what I watched off and on for 2 days . At first I just assumed it was a dandy big male Mink but the more I saw of him the more I thought it looked too big for a Mink . He was coming up from under a big dead standing tree on the ice close to 100 yards away and eating fish. Then he would swim about 200 yards from there and come up a hole out in a hole in the ice and I assume eating fish there too, back and forth off and on for two days but it never got up and walked saw it stand once and turn around but mostly hung low and laid on it's belly. It drove me nuts that I didn't have my binos. He was a fishing machine .

I know they are in the Turtle Mountains , same with Pine martins and fishers.

couple years ago there were a few otters on the north end of 6 mile

 

[riverview]

They're pretty common on the Sheyenne. See them all summer and tracks in the snow in winter. Neighbors stock pond has fish in it and they make a solid trail from the river to that pond in winter. Must be easier to catch them in a pond vs a river. They are fun to watch. Would be stupid easy to trap one, but I'd rather see'em alive and sliding on the snow. Watch one slide almost 40 yards downhill back to the river. Still makes me smile just thinking about it.

not super easy, i tried a few years ago on the Pembina river and got skunked. on the other hand i do suck at trapping.

 

[Downrigger]

The first ND otter I saw was by the Mouse River. I've seen a few more around the Sheyenne and we had run across the field by the McClusky Canal a few years ago.

 

[KDM]

not super easy, i tried a few years ago on the Pembina river and got skunked. on the other hand i do suck at trapping.

It would be as easy as it can get to catch one of these. They come out of the river at the same easily accessible point, run the same trail through the snow to the pond, along a trail in the cattails and down an opening in the cattails. A 220/330 conibear trap at each water opening under the water or across the cattail trail would have a better than average chance to nab one. My concern would be catching more than one if you have 3 traps out. The trail may vary a few yards year to year, but once they establish that trail, I've never seen them make another one or even deviate from the path. The snow turns to smooth ice by the river and the pond from the water coming off their fur and boy can they really scoot down that packed snow trail.

 

[Duckslayer100]

I remember many moons ago, fishing on the bank of the Red just north of Grand Forks. This was in 2008 or so. Heyday of SUMO cats up there. I had two lines out with cut sucker, and was lazily watching the clouds and listening to the birds chirp.

Nearly shat my drawers when a critter popped up between my line, two feet from shore, and started chittering at me. Once I realized it was an otter, my next thought was, oh no, I hope he doesn't go for that cut sucker and I need to tussle with an pissed-off wet weasel in short order. He goofed around and watched me for a while, then slipped away down the bank. Coolest critter on the river by far.