Otter trappers

[jim]

Maybe wax the trigger wire and after the T shape bend the ends a little down current.
Jim

[trappnman]

its not just the triggers Jim- if just triggers I wouldn't care- its the entire trap covered from spring ends to trigger- most aren't fired- just completely plugged

[jim]

With 330s I visualize an eight\nine inch square weed lined hole just inviting the otter to go through it. Have to use stronger bracing to hold the trap in place.

Jim

[trappnman]

nope- a 8" solid mass of water cress-

[wbg]

Hard for Me to visualize that much material in trap with out trap being fired. My experience has been that as long as trap is still set otter will follow the water, assuming Your using a proper dive stick. Otters spend their lives pushing through weeds and debris. BH., Different animals different situations.

[trappnman]

its hard for me to imagine as well- esp since these streams are the "cleanest" around. but they are sand over base rock streams.

well, those pics didn't work, apparently you can't copy them- but here is the link-

photobucket.com/images/watercress?page=1

a couple of pictures of watercress I grabbed off the internet. look at 2nd one down on left

the first is a spring hole- and small springs here get filled just like that in spring and early summer. the second is a closeup

now the streams I'm setting aren't that clogged in fall- but the sides and bottoms have a fair amount still growing, and its mobile meaning it spreads by breaking off and re-rooting.

so you get this on the trap- and then over that forms this green slime stuff. sometimes the traps are fired, but mostly not. I do run short triggers, and tight tension. its not an inviting as I would think- but a green square blocking clear water- and if you leave it, it just continues to build.

that's why I thought a chicken wire screen, 4-6 feet up, would become that "green square, and at least in 3 days, would keep the traps open. As of now, that's still my plan

[redsnow]

We have watercress here, good stuff on a sandwich or as a salad. I know that you're looking for a maintenece free set. Now that otter season is closed, do an experiment. Put your 2'x2' square of chicken wire above your pinch point, and stake another piece where you'd put your 330. Wait 3 days and take a look. Sand over rock bottom streams. I've seen pictures of your creeks, wasn't sure. I still believe, and this would be a pain, if you'd go downstream, below the pinch point, in the slack water and make your sets there, most of the crap will blow on past. Rock bottoms, they probably don't change much, you could get in there with a maddock, and dig it down a little bit. Not sure about your laws?, does a 330 need to be completly under water? Or half way? But you've all watched ducks/geese swim upstream, they'll paddle there butts off in swift water, as soon as they get through it, they'll drift off right or left in the slack water. Muskrats, beaver or otter would do the same thing, Imo. But below the pinch point, most of the trash should stay in the main current.

[trappnman]

I tried that to a degree redsnow- putting them in slack water- but i'll be honest I think that in an already hit and miss situation (otter population) that I reduced those odds even further by getting out of the pinch points. 330s 1/2 under here

I will make some test setups this summer- good idea

[redsnow]

Hmmm, I'm thinking about a couple of places, exactly like you describe. One spot, I've looked at 100 times, side channel of the river, just way too much crap floating down the creek to keep a trap working. 50 feet upstream, from the pinch point that creek is 100' wide. Everytime the wind blows, there are leaves floating. No watercress in that hole, but the bottom is covered with some kind of weed? Big stringy stuff, forget it's name. Like an aquarium weed. Not sure, kinda hard to spectulate on exactly what you have, without actually seeing it in person. It's possible, you could place a gallon sized rock in the edge of the current below the pinch point, and push critters around it. Honestly, in the fall of the year, that's when all that crap is beaking off, floating down the creek. Coming up on Spring now, it's probably not coming down quite as bad now? It should be taking root, greening up, before long. One thing that I was thinking about, you might be able to "modify" your spots, and use it year after year? It takes a really high water to change our creeks much. One a 3-day check, that might work? At least then you wouldn't need to clean all the gunk off of your traps every check.

[northof50]

some trappers mark cross-overs with clothes pins and set the next year in those locations 4 feet of snow or not they travel there again.
toilet areas are from year to year, grass slides to the side are the target area, butt rubbing or scent dispersal

I've had an otter held up in a old beaver house for 5 weeks during the cold weather,,, then it moved 5 miles through the marsh