We have otters in NE & E.Central Kansas as well, so that US map may even be a little conservative.

shot and ate a beaver a couple weeks ago out of twin buttes res.. I am going to tan the hide...

I'd like to run across an otter in TX

I saw one dead on the road last year between Sealy and Cat Spring. I also saw several in a tributary to Buffalo Bayou about 2 years ago and several along the Neches River near the DuPont plant about 15 years ago.

Saw one several years ago in our pond in Nac. Co.

Next beavers moved in and were "removed" last year. Destructive buggers. Btw the taxidermist said the tanners really didn't like doing them. They did them anyway and they turned out great.

OK, thanks for this. Seems my friend is much more acquainted with the breed than I am.....as much as I have roamed these parts for 50+ years, I have never seen one, and never had one come up in a conversation re: seeing one, so I learned something new on this. Very cool to see one caught on camera.

Respect for all the good info on a topic like this...I really appreciate the time and consideration to respond to questions like mine.

YuccaD

Smith County should be marked on that map. We lived on Lake Tyler East for several years and had a pair living in our cove. We saw them all the time.

There was a dead one on 2818 at Stotzer a few weeks back. When I saw it the first thing to hit my mind was "I wonder how many Texas foks are gonna be lost when they see that".

quote:

---

shot and ate a beaver a couple weeks ago out of twin buttes res.. I am going to tan the hide...

---

Awesome.

And I thought seeing Badgers in West & Panhandle Texas was strange.

I bet I know why that one in the pic on page one was crossing the road.


(Lord, please forgive me for this...)


...to get to the otter side.

can you hunt them? are they endangered? is there a season?

They would fall under fur-bearers regulations. Otters do require a CITES tag. If you shoot one, you have to take it to a TPWD law enforcement office and get the CITES tag (I want to say within 90, but I am not staring at the regulation).

Honestly, we don't know that much about their population. In general they are a species of concern, hence the CITES tag. They are pretty sensitive to water quality. They do seem to be expanding their range, but in reality, they may just be reinhabiting old range.

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 1/28/2011 5:55p).]

I can verify that they're in Titus County (Mt. Pleasant/Pittsburg area). And whoever said they can be hell on the fish population in the smaller tanks wasn't kidding. They'll wipe a pond out in no time.

Incredible...I live in Fulshear, Fulshear Creek Crossing to be exact. This is just west of Katy on 1093 and just past 359 N. I pulled into the neighborhood around 7 p.m. and saw something ahead in my headlights. River otter, and huge. Probably 25-30 lbs. We have a lot of creeks and ponds around so i'm sure that's where he came from. Didn't have time to snap a picture.

I had to google to figure out what it was. I've never seen one before.