By Nick Simonson

With the thirtieth animal taken, this year’s river otter trapping season has come to a close for resident trappers in North Dakota.  Many people aren’t aware of the riverine mammal’s presence in the state, and fewer still know of the trapping season which has been in effect since 2017. Nevertheless, these unique creatures remain part of the hunting, fishing and trapping calendar in the Peace Garden State, and are relatively stable with a consistently completed season, according to Stephanie Tucker, Game Management Section Leader and Furbearer Biologist with the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F).

“Our population model that we monitor for river otters indicates that it’s fairly stable, though it’s a pretty small sample size going into that model, but we haven’t found anything alarming,” Tucker explains of the animals residing in the state, “ that being said, North Dakota is not considered great river otter habitat, and so they were never abundant historically in North Dakota, and we don’t ever expect them to become super abundant here in the future. So, we’ll just maintain a conservative approach when we’re talking about harvest of river otters,” she concludes regarding the agency’s management of the species.

North American river otters typically reside in burrows dug into the banks of a river, with a number of exit and entry tunnels from their dens allowing them multiple points of contact with the flow.  Females typically have one to six pups each year, and they primarily eat fish such as perch, suckers, and bullheads but are known to consume other animals found in riparian settings such as amphibians, clams and snails. In North Dakota, river otters typically are found in rivers located in the eastern third of the state.

“Most of our river otter confirmations come out of the Red River valley and its tributaries. That being said they’re also in the James and Sheyenne Rivers to some extent, but you definitely want to be in that eastern third of the state to be most likely to see one, though you might see one somewhere else,” Tucker explains of their range.

The North Dakota otter trapping season closes upon the registration by trappers of a certain number of animals with the NDG&F as is required under regulation.  Registration of each harvested otter occurs online through the agency’s registration portal tied to the trapper’s account with NDG&F.  The 2025 quota was 30, however it has been lower in past seasons. This season’s quota was reached in just 11 days (Nov. 24 to Dec. 4), which is on par with most of the recent otter trapping seasons in the state.

“How long it takes to meet that harvest limit has been all over the board since we opened the season in 2017.  One year – a couple of years ago it actually didn’t even close – we had a harvest limit of 25 that year, and 24 were taken. So, it never closed for three months.  Other years it closes in a week or less, so this is sort of on the quicker end of things,” Tucker concludes on the brief 2025 trapping season.

Members of the public can report sightings of river otters and other uncommon furbearer species in the state such as black bears, wolves and fishers to the NDG&F via the agency’s online reporting form at: gf.nd.gov/hunting/furbearers/furbearer-observation

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.

Featured Photo: Chillin’ A river otter rests on the ice near the Lake Ashtabula Crossing bridge north of Valley City. DEO Photo by Ben Simonson.