Wisconsin’s Elusive River Otters Spawn Endless Puns and Fun

   You’ll always find more otter puns than actual otters if you go looking for either.

   Just google “otter puns” and you’ll find lists of 37, 40 or even 200-plus otter puns, jokes and one-liners. Some of them aren’t bad:

   -- What do you tell an otter with a toothache? “You otter see the dentist.”

   -- Why don’t otters need swimming lessons? It comes to them otter-matically.

   -- What do you call an otter’s life story? Their otter-biography.

   -- How do otters rise above conflict? They turn the otter cheek.

   -- Why did the otter cross the river? To get to the otter side.

   -- What did the unhappy otter tell his otter-half? “We otter see otter otters.”

   -- What’s another word for an otter’s life partner? Its “significant otter.”

   Speaking of which, researchers can’t agree on whether river otters – Wisconsin’s native species – mate for life. According to the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, some researchers think river otters pair only a few months during the breeding season, but don’t form enduring bonds.

   Other researchers maintain river otters mate until death parts them.

   At that point, they presumably look for “an-otter” partner.

   Groan.

A river otter, left, periscopes its neck and head from the water to watch two deer hunters paddling past. — Patrick Durkin photos

   You also won’t find “otter watching” tours within easy driving distance. But if you have time and wish to view sea otters from a tour boat, you can book “eco-cruises” from northern California to Alaska to watch for whales and sea otters.

   Maybe I missed it, but I’ve yet to see advertisements for eco-cruises or paddle-trips to look for river otters in the Upper Great Lakes region. The typical Wisconsin river otter – the state’s largest member of the weasel family – just isn’t predictable or photograph-accessible enough for tour schedules.

   For example, while turkey hunting on Doug Duren’s farm in northern Richland County a few Aprils ago, Steve Rinella issued our group this friendly challenge: “I bet you’ll never guess what animal we saw (in the woods) today.” Duren guessed "otter" on his second try, probably because he thought he glimpsed one two weeks earlier at the same site.

   Another time, while snowshoeing to a deer stand during early-December’s muzzleloading season in Ashland County, I tracked two otters through the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest by following their rounded troughs in the snow. The troughs ended in parallel slides into the Iron River.

An otter peers from an ice-rimmed opening in a northern Wisconsin creek.

   Though I’m never shocked when seeing an otter while hunting, fishing, snowshoeing or rowing my boat, neither am I ever ready for it. By the time I grab my camera, otters usually deny good photos by diving, swimming away or screening themselves in brush. Therefore, all my otter photos need explaining.

   “See that ‘stick’ way out in the water? It’s actually an otter.”

   “See that dark blur in the ice hole? That’s an otter, too.”

   Once they see the otter in my photos, no one says, “Wow!”

   That streak continued in late July while fishing with Tyler Florczak on a river near Chetek. As we took turns retrieving and clearing our lures of aquatic weeds, two otters popped their whiskered faces above the surface. One was bold, the other grumpy. As the smaller of the two otters approached for a closer look at us, the other patrolled warily while making a buzzing growl. At least that’s how I describe the sound. Its vocalizations were neither happy nor chatty.

   Florczak and I didn’t linger, the otters didn’t follow, and I again failed to get a wow photo.

Though river otters are semi-aquatic mammals and eat mostly fish, frogs, crayfish, mussels and other aquatic life, they’re often seen crossing Wisconsin’s fields and woodlots.   — Snapshot Wisconsin photo

But if you want to see some good otter photos, click through the otter files at Snapshot Wisconsin dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/research/projects/snapshot. This popular Department of Natural Resources project has photographed otters over 10,000 times the past decade on citizen-monitored trail cameras. You won’t see water in many of the photos.

   Then again, much like beavers, the North American river otter is considered only semi-aquatic. And though they primarily eat fish, frogs, crayfish, mussels and other aquatic creatures, river otters will eat any animal of similar sizes if the desire and opportunities arise.

   Wisconsin’s otter population has been stable in recent years, with a 2016 estimate of 11,000 statewide. Likewise, fur trappers have enjoyed solid success on otters dating to at least the late 1970s, when the otter harvest averaged 1,183 statewide for the 1976-1980 trapping seasons.

   DNR reports also show trappers fared even better from 2020 through 2024, averaging 2,200 otters annually, including 2,177 during the 2024-2025 season. Otter-pelt prices averaged $24.27 those years, according to DNR data, less than half the average pelt price of 1976-1980, $50.16.

   And though DNR reports showed a 23% otter-harvest decline from 2023 to 2024, when Wisconsin trappers caught 2,106 otters, state trappers recorded a higher harvest in 2024 than did Minnesota and Michigan trappers the previous nine years.

   Data from the 2024-2025 season also show trappers caught otters in 70 of 72 Wisconsin counties, with only Racine and Milwaukee striking out. The top counties for that trapping season were Price, 101 otters; Oneida, 94; Marathon, 88; Taylor, 80; and Barron, 74.

   But that doesn’t mean otters never live in urban counties. Snapshot Wisconsin cameras recorded one otter in Racine County in recent years, but not in Milwaukee County. Other counties striking out on otter photographs from 2018-2024 are Pepin, Crawford and Kewaunee.

   Snapshot Wisconsin’s top otter counties those years were Vilas, with otters on 28 of 91 (31%) cameras; followed by Sawyer, 17 of 69 (25%); Manitowoc, 10 of 45 (22%); Taylor, 17 of 57 (19%), and Clark, 11 of 61 (18%).

   Here's some more details: During the 2024-25 trapping season, body-grip traps were the most common trap used on otters, with 1,728 otters taken, or 82%. The second most common trap was the foothold, with 345 otters taken, or 16.4%. Snares took the others, or 0.6%.

   In otter words, if you think you know everything worth knowing about Wisconsin’s amazing river otters, you otter reconsider that assumption.