coat dries thoroughly from any contact 
with water. Because the otter cannot 
get to the land without first entering 
the water, he does not leave the latter 
realm until warm weather again visits 
the land. On the first warm days of 
spring the trapper is more than apt to 
catch an otter out on a bank, sunning 
himself, providing of course he is in 
an otter country and knows where to 
look. 
HE majority of otter trapping is 
done in the water, but some mighty 
good land sets may be used at the com- 
mencement of the season. One of our 
favorite sets for this animal is made as 
follows: Selecting a natural elevation, 
not too far from the water’s edge and 
along a stream where one is reasonably 
certain otters travel, the bait is buried 
and two or three traps set near it. 
Fish is the natural lure for otters, and 
a piece of rotted trout will attract one 
of the animals for a considerable dis- 
tance. Certainly the otter doesn’t 
hanker after rotten fish as a food, but 
his sense of curiosity will cause him to 
dig up a bait of that kind. The set 
should be made in a sandbar, in sand 
that is perfectly dry, for if there is 
any dampness the trap is lable to 
freeze down because of the frosty 
nights. These sets, in our experience 
at least, have accounted for most any 
animal that happened along; minks, 
foxes and wolves being fooled by them 
regularly. This set is good until otters 
quit traveling along the shores and dis- 
appear. 
This is a good water set: Along the 
smaller streams find where the otter 
has been going over old beaver dams. 
If the water has a natural outlet over 
the top, as well as seepage through the 
brush, set one or two traps right in 
the center of the break. If the passage 
is merely a smooth worn place over the 
top of the embankment, above the water 
level, set the trap or traps in the 
water’s edge on the upper side, five or 
six inches below the surface. Use of 
the drowning stone should be resorted 
to, as we will describe for beaver, for 
the latter animal might happen along 
and such a set will capture him quite 
as readily as the otter. An otter may 
be taken and held in a staked trap, but 
it is always wise to fix your sets so 
they will take care of any furbearer 
that happens along, within certain lim- 
its, of course. We don’t mean to ar- 
range a weasel trap so that it will pinch 
a grizzly’s big toe. 
HE above set may be varied in this 
way: Find a place where the 
stream is exceptionally narrow or ob- 
structed by fallen trees or jammed with 
logs. Using stones or brush, narrow 
212 
the passageway to six inches or so in 
width. At either entrance to this pas- 
sage place two traps, either staked 
firmly or weighted with stones. If the 
water is too deep build up a platform 
for the trap to rest on, with stones or 
stakes. This is what is called a blind 
water set, for it depends on neither 
scent nor bait. 
Water sets on lakes are made as fol- 
lows, an old Indian method and one 
which we can vouch for: A short dis- 
tance from the shore near points where 
the otter has been known to travel, 
make a stake and board platform in the 
water, so that a trap, when resting on 
it, will be five inches or so beneath the 
surface. Now insert a dead tree in 
the mud so that the top branch of it 
will lean over the place where the trap | 
rests. From this branch the bait is 
hung, a piece of fish or small whole 
fish in such a position as to allow its 
reaching ten inches of the water and 
DIRECTLY above the submerged trap. 
The stake to which the trap is fastened 
must be firmly driven into the bottom 
of the lake bed, and an additional pre- 
caution is employed by weighting the 
trap with stone. The otter struggles 
fiercely when trapped, besides it is hu- 
mane to drown an animal whenever 
possible. 
HESE sets, being made in water, 
are only effective during fall and 
spring months. Winter sets will oc- 
casionally capture an otter. Near the 
places where small streams flow in and 
out of lakes, the ice is slower in form- 
ing and in consequence otters travel 
there sometimes as late as Christmas. 
An ordinary pen set, made of stakes 
or logs and placed a short distance 
from such points, will often attract an 
otter. Back under the banks, along the 
shores of lakes and streams, small V- 
shaped pockets may be dug and will | 
serve just as well as the method just 
mentioned. The bait is shoved back in 
the pocket and the trap set in the open- 
ing. The bait should be at least ten 
inches back from the trap for the otter 
has an exceptionally long neck. 
Because of these holes in the ice, the 
otter will come out and travel along the 
shores off and on during moderate spells 
quite late in the fall, depending, of 
course, on peculiar phases of climate at 
the particular time one is trapping. 
Snow, even to a foot in depth, will not 
keep him from traveling considerably, 
and it is wise, under such conditions, 
to cover the traps with snow, treating 
the otter (as he actually is) like a very 
shrewd fellow. In making land sets 
we have always exercised just as much 
care in trapping for the otter as we 
have in dealing with the fox. 
When trapping near the shores of 
¥ . 
lakes or streams which have not yet 





frozen over (speaking of land sets) 
remember that’ an otter, when trapped, 
is very apt to make for the water; hence 
it is wise to either stake your trap 
solid or fasten them to a heavy stone, 
Apropos of the above, we have caught 
otters and had them break loose fro 
a stake, and instead of striking for th 
water they commenced climbing th 
banks and got caught in the brush, 
You can’t always tell what a trappe : 
animal will do. f 
Gare the right conditions, an ex- 
perienced trapper might trip an 
otter with a stout wire snare, in fact, 
we know an Ontario trapper +» who 
claims to have been successful in using 
this method. The idea is to find an 
otter’s overland trail and set the snare 
so arranged that a balance pole or 
spring pole will lift the struggling 
creature from his feet, once he igs 
trapped. The stoutest animal becomes 
helpless in mid-air. ‘ 
Barricade sets may be made along 
rocky streams by narrowing small chan- 
nels with stones. In this western coun- 
try the writer has used that plan with 
success in mid-winter, for the streams 
in the regions west of the Rockies and 
south of the Canadian line do not re- 
main frozen for any length of tiine, 
hence the otter travels them continu- 
ally. An otter’s range in such coun- 
try is very large, and we are satisfied 
they travel hundreds of miles in mak- 
ing a complete round. As a concrete 
example, we have known them to leave 
the Columbia River and travel up some 
of its tributaries for at least a hundred 
miles, returning via the same route, 
The tyro would naturally assume, when 
seeing otter tracks all along the stream, 
that he had struck a trapper’s paradise, 
while as a matter of fact perhaps two 
otters made all the signs. i 
N traveling streams that twist abo t 
considerably the otter is prone to 
make cut-offs; that is, to travel overland 
for some distance where it would save 
him from negotiating horseshoe bends 
or hairpin curves. The careful and 
watchful trapper will discover the | 
points where these cut-offs are and, 
when once located, afford splendid. 
chances for blind trail sets. And i 
places where a stream makes junction 
with another, the otter will often leave | 
the water and travel overland within 
the triangle formed. Only closest ob- 
servation will result in the location of 
these places, but the trapper is first of | 
all one who must keep his eyes and. 
ears open. > | 
Washington and Oregon, and no 
doubt California, are perhaps the best 
(Continued on page 248) | 
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