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River otter sighting

D

deerman

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I saw a bald eagle flying upriver near Montour on 12-24.Didn't see any otters.They are fun to watch but,I heard they like to kill catfish so,I'm not to fond of them.Maybe the eagle was looking to see if the otters had dragged any out of the water so he could get an easy meal.Are you upriver or down river from Montour.I was downriver?
 
My uncle is the former State Forester for Iowa. He is now retired, but was telling me the other day the DNR had stocked River Otter. He said they have been breeding and are doing very well.
 
Just wondering if any one else has seen any?

This sighting was on the Iowa River in the Montour area.

I was fortunate enough to see three on the 26th of Dec. Along with a Bald Eagle who had also seen them.
He came in from the East and started too swoop down, and then saw me and halted his assault...

I capture a little video of it.
 
Hey fitzt,We may be pretty close.I love that river bottom in that area.Been hunting it for years.Once saw a wild bore in there,good thing I was in a tree.Talked to the poeple who used to have some in a preserve and they told me none have gotten loose for 3 years.Just think that old boy had been running around there for all that time.
 
Got alot over here along the big river. They get hit on the cause-way roads. Some end up trapped. Neat critter, they sure get big.
 
I was chairman of the "They Otter be in Iowa" program back in the 1980's and we sold T-shirts and sweatshirts that said "they otter be in Iowa" to raise money. We were successful in releasing many otters in conjunction with the DNR. I forget the numbers, but I think there were just under 100 released at about a dozen sites. We traded turkeys to Louisiana for the otters, which were trapped on the bayous and transported to Iowa.

I was a director of the Iowa Trapper's Assn at the time and we never dreamed they would do as well as they have, but we wanted to do it for the positive publicity it would give trappers at a time when we were battling antis on every front. It was hugely successful. I was able to stand at a podium at several release sites with hundreds of people watching including busload after busload of school kids and TV cameras rolling, and tell them how trappers and hunters care about wildlife and all that. It definitely was a shining moment for outdoorsmen and a real coup over the antis in Iowa. At the time, we were battling ridiculous snaring regulations and anti-trapping regulations in the legislature, and the positive PR we got was huge in defeating the anti legislation. Plus I spent a lot of hours lobbying in Des Moines. We got a tremendous amount of positive PR over the otter reintroductions in newspapers, TV and radios. Even the Des Moines register treated us kindly (what a shock), although they never did get over calling it "ironic" that otters were being stocked by trappers when we would likely never be able to trap them.

That was 15 years ago. Now they are doing very well and it's entirely possible that we may actually see a limited trapping season on them in the future. They are a fascinating animal and I'm proud to have been a leader in the reintroduction efforts.
 
I saw the River Otter's again in the same place on 1/07/02

The river was thawing, and there were a couple open holes they were swimming back and forth coming out, and running around.

I was able to get some more video.
 
I figured out how to download a picture from my Camcorder.
Thought you might like to see the little guys. (Actually quite big)
uploadedOtters1.jpg
 
So this baby seal walks into a club....

A great line at the office for the tree huggers all around!

Speaking of Eagles. We were at a sporting clay range recently right along the Missouri river south of Council Bluffs. There were SIX bald eagles hanging around all day. WHILE everybody was blasting.

Pretty cool to view. I had one last December land in a tree while bow hunting not 30 yards away. That will wake you up first thing in the morning!
 
Iowa1, you know if there were any released in the little souix river?The reason i ask is I was fishing a dam that comes out of a lake here, the water runs into the the little sioux from the dam.Anyway, the water was pretty high and I seen what i thought was a beaver swimming toward me.after he got to within about 20 yrds of me something didnt look quite right and I was sure it was an otter.But he went under and I never seen him come back out.i did see its tail when he went under and all i know for sure is it wasnt a beaver LOL.Just wondering if one could have come up the creek in the high water?
 
Our DNR has been doing intensive re-introductions here in Indiana for the last 6 years. Very successful as well.
 
Yes, there were otters released into the Little Sioux. When I was in elementary school back in the 80's the whole school got to go and see them released. After that the catfish and walleyes disappeared.
 
Tinks, where was this at?just curious cause thats the only one ive ever seen around here and I used to fish the Little Sioux pretty regularly.Any ideas how far these otters roam after theyre released anyone?
 
The otters I saw released were in Peterson IA. I believe they can range pretty far to find their own territory. I have seen probably 10-15 of them and caught one trapping quite awhile ago. They eat an awful lot of fish.
 
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