Otter

[harvey lee]

Yesterday while muzzleloader hunting by a swamp type lake with alot of marshes, I heard a sound behind me. I turned to look and here were 2 black little creatures running and playing in the weeds.

I have never seen any otter in the woods and they were sure to watch, must have been play time for them as it was about 3 pm. Both were jet black.

Are all Mn otter black and how common are they in southern Mn?

Sure wish I would have taken out my cell phone and took some pic's as they were only about 10 yards from the tree I was in.

[RangerJack]

Most are dark brown-black with silver/greyish bellies.

They sure are fun to watch!

[PurpleFloyd]

How big? Could they be Mink?

[harvey lee]

Way to large for a mink. I looked online and found pics of otter with a little light gray on the throat area

[swamptiger]

Probably otters, since they were traveling in a pair.

Sometimes they have pretty dark fur.

[HunterLee]

Could of been fisher if they were black.

[Gordie]

Could of been fisher if they were black.

This is my thought too, but otters do vary in color, and I have never seen a jet black one let alone a pair. would really be cool to see.

[harvey lee]

After looking at many pic's, yes, they are otter.

I talked to a fellow that traps that area and asked him if there are any otter in that area and he said yes, he has even seen them from time to time.

[swamptiger]

Here's one I trapped last fall. I live on a chain of small lakes, and last year there was a family of five living on the lake adjoining my property. They have the nicest fur of any of the weasel family, in my opinion - very fine and silky smooth.

[Dave S]

There have been otters accidentally trapped in our area along the MN River Valley so yes I would say it was otters that you saw. They will travel from the MN River up High Island Creek.

[NoWiser]

Otters are becoming a lot more common in the area. In the last year I've seen and heard of a few in the New Prague/Jordan area along the creeks. One was dead on the road just outside of New Prague last spring. There is an otter trapping season in the area now.