· Trappers Urged to Avoid Taking Otters
· 2008 Spring Turkey Season Offers More Hunting Opportunities
· Proposals for Wildlife Diversity Small Grants Being Accepted
Trappers Urged to Avoid Taking Otters
PIERRE, S.D.—The re-emergence of river otter in South Dakota is causing trappers to reconsider how they go about trapping beaver.
“Otters are listed as a threatened species in South Dakota and they can’t be trapped,” according to Will Morlock, a game manager for the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department. “Trappers need to make an effort to avoid inadvertently taking otter in their traps.”
Morlock noted reports of otters in Roberts, Day, Codington, Hamlin and Grant counties with 10 to 12 otters trapped in the region in the past year. One recent incident occurred on Lake Marsh in Hamlin County the week before Thanksgiving. A 4-year-old male otter caught in a 330 body-grip beaver trap, also called a Conibear, was found alive and taken to Bramble Park Zoo by GFP personnel. A veterinarian at the zoo treated the otter and after a few days of care it was frisky enough to release.
“It’s unusual for an otter to survive in a body-grip trap,” Morlock said. “However, there are tactics trappers can use to avoid trapping otter when their quarry is beaver.”
According to GFP Trapper Jerry Riedel, trappers should avoid putting body-grip traps on trails established by beavers, particularly the trail over a beaver dam. “Otters use those trails, too,” Riedel said. “It may be best for a trapper to use a castor bait with a trap set off the trail. That will still attract the beaver but it shouldn’t interest the otter.”
Riedel offers this advice to beaver trappers so that they can avoid trapping otters:
· Look for otter signs before setting traps. The most common signs are tracks similar to mink but larger, scat consisting of fish scales and crawdad parts and slides in the snow.
· Avoid body-grip traps, improperly set snares or leg hold traps rigged for drowning.
· Avoid abandoned beaver lodges as otters like to go exploring there.
· Snares properly set for beaver are unlikely to capture otter. To ensure that the snare is safe for otter, add a stop to the snare that prevents the loop diameter from closing less than six inches.
· Foothold traps set in deep water are less likely to catch otters.
“Wetlands that have been modified by beavers can be attractive habitat for otters,” Morlock said, “so trappers must work to avoid taking a threatened species.”
An inadvertently trapped otter found alive in the trap may be released. However, according to Riedel, that’s easier said than done. “Releasing an otter can be a challenge,” Riedel said. “They’re quick and slippery and they’re handy with their paws.”
An otter found dead in a trap must be left undisturbed in the trap and reported to a GFP conservation officer or trapper within 12 hours. GFP biologists would also like reports on otters inadvertently trapped and released alive. Those reports can be e-mailed to wildinfo@state.sd.us or phoned in to GFP Terrestrial Ecologist Silka Kempema at (605) 773-2742. Trapping information, as well as population surveys, helps improve biologists’ understanding of the overall status of river otters in South Dakota.
South Dakota’s regulations governing trapping furbearers can be found on pages 32 through 34 of the 2007 Hunting and Trapping Handbook.
GFP personnel are at work on a brochure designed to offer tips on keeping otters out of beaver traps. Other states are facing the same challenge with inadvertently trapped otters. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources offers trapping tips on the Internet at http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/publications/otter/raccoon.htm and Ohio’s DNR offers a brochure on techniques for avoiding the trapping of river otters at
http://www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife/dow/regulations/PDF/pub407.pdf.
“The re-emergence of river otter in South Dakota is a wildlife management success story,” Morlock said. “With continuing vigilance the otter population in this state will prosper.”
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2008 Spring Turkey Season Offers More Hunting Opportunities
PIERRE, S.D.—Abundant wild turkey populations in South Dakota have led to increased hunter opportunities in the next spring turkey season.
At its November meeting, the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Commission approved a season proposal with a 7 percent increase in licenses offered in the Prairie Unit. At the December meeting the Wildlife Division staff recommended another increase of 50 single-tag and 50 double-tag licenses in Gregory County.
The season finalized by the commission also includes a new resident-only bonus season in the Black Hills. That provision allows residents two tags in the Black Hills Unit with the second tag to be used from May 1 through May 18.
“We’re convinced that the turkey population is robust enough to handle this increased hunting pressure,” said George Vandel, assistant director of the Wildlife Division. “Allowing residents to take a second bird in early May could spread out the hunting pressure.”
Other changes in the season include:
· Establishing new units in Hamlin County and Day and Codington counties and prohibiting hunting with rifles in those units.
· Adding western Brookings, Minnehaha, Hamlin and Brown counties to the area open for archery hunting.
· Combining Dewey and Ziebach counties into one unit.
· Revising the area description of the Lincoln County units to include all of Lincoln County.
· Adding Minnehaha, Moody and Jerauld counties to the areas where the use of a rifle to hunt wild turkeys is prohibited.
The 2008 spring wild turkey season will be held from April 12 to May 18 in most units. License allocations in a few eastern South Dakota units are split to be valid in two successive hunting periods. The first of these split seasons will run from April 12 to April 30 and the late split season will run from May 1 to May 18.
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Proposals for Wildlife Diversity Small Grants Being Accepted
PIERRE, S.D.--The S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department’s Wildlife Diversity Program is accepting proposals for the Wildlife Diversity Small Grants Program. In 2008, $35,000 is available for small grants that are focused on non-game wildlife surveys or monitoring projects. Proposals are due by Feb. 15, 2008.
“Wildlife Diversity Small Grants have funded education, research and monitoring projects focused on native wildlife and habitats over that last 10 years,” said wildlife biologist Doug Backlund. “The department recognizes that there is a tremendous pool of talent and expertise outside of the agency that can be very beneficial to the mission of the Wildlife Division. By making small grants available, we have been able to utilize this talent and expertise. The diverse projects that have been completed in the last 10 years have resulted in numerous publications in scientific journals, popular educational products and a tremendous amount of new data and information on native wildlife.”
Contact the Wildlife Diversity Program at (605) 773-4345 or e-mail Doug.Backlund@state.sd.us for more information. Visit the following link for further information and application forms: http://www.sdgfp.info/wildlife/diversity/small_grants2008/index.htm.
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