As a kid and young man I trapped with my father and brother. We primarily sought nutria, but also caught many raccoons, mink, and otters. An average year would yield 2000 nutria.

Dad died in 1985 when I was 22. I trapped by myself for two more seasons but there was no money in nutria by then. I was a 4th generation Louisiana trapper.

Louisiana now offers a program that pays $5.00 for a nutria tail. I also found a buyer for the green hides they are only paying $2.25 per hide. With the total sell at $7.75 and not having to flesh, nail, or dry the hides I decided to trap again.

My nephew (sister's son) is helping me and is fifth generation. His father and grandfather were also trappers.

A few pictures from this year.









Video
http://i135.photobucket.com/al...00067EB46D8467-1.mp4

Interesting boat. What are the long pvc pipes for?

The boat is a crawfish skiff with a pro-drive.

The PVC is used for poles in the marsh to stake out the traps. Back in the "day" we cut bamboo. I had some PVC leftover from a project and used them for the poles. I drill a small hole and drive a 16 penny nail through it to hold the trap in case thjey chew the top of the pole off, did the same thing with bamboo.

Going back tomorrow to put out traps. My nephew works 7 and 7, so we are only trapping on his days off.

Mike, long ago, as a young man, I remember having a conversation with a man I worked with. (I live on the TX coast and we have nutria in the rice canals around here, although not near in the numbers you do.)

He claimed nutria were absolutely delicious. I have never eaten one, but wouldn't be afraid to. From what I have been told, they are pure vegetarian so I could see how the meat could be quite good.

Have you eaten them, or was I getting my leg pulled. They are plenty ugly...

I have eaten nutria. It is OK and has a taste of its own. There are people that really enjoy the meat.

My brotherinlaw and his father trapped on Marsh Island. They would stay at the camp for extended periods. The main staple of their diet was nutria. He sounds like Bubba from Forrest Gump naming all the ways he has eaten nutria.

The fur makes for a nice winter coat interior.

quote:

I have eaten nutria. It is OK and has a taste of its own. There are people that really enjoy the meat.

Just curious.. What do you do, with all that piled meat (Skinned Carcas) in the photo..?

PAPI

We load the carcasses in the boat and dump them in the marsh. We cover them to keep the birds of prey away as required by the state program.

There is little market for the meat. I wish we could sell them for dog food.

I recall that a little while back Louisiana started a program with some local celebrity chefs to try and promote the nutria as table fare in an attempt to reduce the nutria population. Some predjucies die hard. Also proof that "coonasses will eat anything" is an undeserved stereotype. It was about as successful as convincing folks that snow geese are haute cuisine.

For the record I won't turn down either but they're far from my first choice.

$7.75 per nutria adds up fast!!

Keep after 'em!

Cool! How many do you catch per season?

Mike, when you say they have a taste of their own, exactly what do you mean.

How did you cook them and what other meat do they tast like. [No chicken jokes, I am serious here].

We have had several nurtias on our pond, and I have left them alone as they eat the aquatic plants, and help thin them out.

When we get to many, I have thought about eating a few of them...

I like eating small game like rabbits, squirrels,and rattlers.

We had nutria in the swamp behind our house when I was a kid in Oregon. I don't know how Oregon ended up with them but we had them. That was my first introduction to trapping and I did pritty well catching them. I did'nt get many but it was a great way for a 14 year old kid to have fun on my own when my father could'nt take me hunting.
This thread brings back some good o'l memories.
I did put my foot in my mouth a few years ago when I saw some nutria on the edge of a cattle stalk tank while I was on a hunt. I explained to my guide that we had them when I was a kid in Oregon and that they had come up from Lousiana. I asked him how they ened up there.
That was the foot in mouth part, I was hunting in Argintina. It really dose pay to think before you open your mouth.

I wonder if they got to Oregon the same way they got to LA. They were brought in for their fur first. Then later for aquatic plan control in ponds.

Whe we put out feed for the ducks and geese, then they are here, the nutria will come right up to us to get the feed as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Caracal:
Cool! How many do you catch per season?

In the 70s and early 80s we were trapping about 2000 per year on our lease. We trapped 90 days straight except for Christmas Day.

This is the first year I trapped/hunted since around 1987. I have less property leased than we did back in the 80s. This year we will probably end up with around 400 as we are also only trapping part time.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
Mike, when you say they have a taste of their own, exactly what do you mean.

How did you cook them and what other meat do they tast like. [No chicken jokes, I am serious here].

We have had several nurtias on our pond, and I have left them alone as they eat the aquatic plants, and help thin them out.

When we get to many, I have thought about eating a few of them...

I like eating small game like rabbits, squirrels,and rattlers.

Tony,

Texture of the meat is similar to rabbit, not stringy. The taste is mild.q I have always found they have a distinct odor when skinning them and the smell is present in my mind while I am eating them.

Grilled on a pit is good. Plenty of people debone them and use them in spaghetti. Of course you can brown them and make a gravy.

quote:

We had nutria in the swamp behind our house when I was a kid in Oregon. I don't know how Oregon ended up with them but we had them.

I did not realize how widespread nutria are. They can be found in quite a few states and in Europe.

According to most published sources and what we have always been told by the old folks nutria first escaped from Avery Island near New Iberia, La. Avery Island is where Tabasco is produced. I can also see the island from my house.

They were brought to the island to be raised for their fur and escaped during a hurricane in the 30s.

Good on you Mike for passing on a family tradition and perpetuationg the "old way of life".

I trapped as a kid too for gun, ammo, gas, and hunting money.

Set my last trap-line in 1981. Mom, Dad, & I were reminiscing about it the other day.

Thought I'd update this interesting post...My recent copy of Fur-Fish-Game ( a great down-to-earthhunt/fish/trap magazine) suggests nutria are fetching highest price$ ever. Seems the Chinese & Russian markets cannot get enough of ANY type furs.

"Fur-Fish-Game", I read that magazine back in the 70s. I need to see if I have any in storage.

I have not check on prices this year. Last year we sold nutria for $2.25 per hide, (skinned only) and $5.00 for the tail (from the state)

The best prices I remember were in the late 70s or early 80s at around $8-10 average, and that was when you buy a nice pickup for under 10k.

Hopefully the price returns to a good level. I fear the day of the trapper and commercial fisherman for the most part has passed in our area.

FFG for the last three months has shown southern nutria at $3-4 each, up to about $7 for the ones from Oregon. Not much room for profit taking when you count your time to flesh, stretch and dry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
I wonder if they got to Oregon the same way they got to LA. They were brought in for their fur first. Then later for aquatic plan control in ponds.

Whe we put out feed for the ducks and geese, then they are here, the nutria will come right up to us to get the feed as well.

During WWII, them Southern boy's brought their possum and nutria to Oregon to the shipyards. They never went back.

It is interesting this post came back to the top.

I just reads two books about my family history. The picture below is my Great-Great Grandmother. Her first husband was Joseph Burke. They had three children together. He was cutting timber in the swamp, developed pneumonia and died at 29 years old. She married again. Her second husband and my great grandfather were trapping together when her second husband was bit by a cottonmouth and died. My Great Grandfather buried his father and stepfather before he was sixteen.

She married again and outlived the third husband also.

They lived a tough but good life. This year I am thinking about living on my houseboat for a month, trapping, fishing, hunting like they did. I still own traps from my Great-Grandfather.



Great-Great Grandma Lydia Lombas Burke Dantin Granier with a nice otter.

Interesting story Mike. My great grandmother was also from Louisiana. As I recall she was married five times, including twice to the same man. When I was very young she used to babysit me from time. My understanding is that she loved feeding me squirrel.

Spending a month living on a houseboat fishing and trapping on the bayou . . . gotta be a reality television show in the making.

They say eating squirrel brains makes you smart. It seems as though there were not enough squirrels to go around.

A reality show, not me no cher.

You can look also for others markets, cleaned or partial cleaned skulls can have a value, but also frozen heads have some. Tusks, also, sold in medium-big quantity.

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Great story and great trapping !

Interesting that Nutria is now licensed and hunted in Germany too, where hunters are shooting them from blinds as opposed to trapping. If I remember right they also have a closed season in Germany on them !

Interested to learn if / how you are baiting the traps or are they just 'tunnel traps' ?

Charlie

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Charlie,

Nutria are not the smartest animals around. We would set traps in their trails with no bait. There were a few tricks to the trade, but I can remember setting traps within 20 feet of each other and having nutria in both.

Mike, many thanks for posting.. brings back lots of memories for me.

When I was growing up my Uncle had a 300 acre island on lake Mathis near Corpus Christi. I grew up trapping nutria and coons with him. He also had Spanish goats, plenty of ducks and white wings as well as a few deer on that island. A true paradise for a kid! He was a cattleman and always kept a herd of cattle on that island. Barging them to and from, on a barge he built, was always exciting. He also built a house boat that we used while working or hunting on the island. I still have a copy of the Progressive Farmer magazine with him on the cover and a nice write up inside.

Jay,

Those are great memories. We are very fortunate to have enjoyed that way of life growing up.

I've never tried a nutria for table fare, but my son thinks raccoon is the finest wild meat around. I'm not that fond of it, but it is at least as good as squirrel.

Old post but just now saw it Mike.

I was fishing out of Verdunville one day, many years ago, and I watched this young man in a crawfish boat like you show with a chocolate lab easing along the banks of the canal I was fishing. He would head-shoot nutria with a .22, and that lab would retrieve them! He had a pile in the boat about the size you show. Not sure how many times that lab got chewed on, but he didn't hesitate to rush in!

As a kid, almost 40 years ago in OH, there was an old man who purchased furs in a little shop above the only hardware store in town. He would give anywhere from $4.00 - $5.00 (can't remember exactly) for an unskinned muskrat. Carry them upstairs and throw them on the floor, get some cash, and back to the farm. I see prices haven't changed much, but $5.00 went a whole lot further 40 years ago!

Back when Enola Prudhomme had a restaurant north of Lafayette, she offered nutria chili for a period of time. Wasn't bad, but chili is like gumbo, it can mask just about any kind of meat ....

Thanks for the post. I miss LA!

One would think that gator farms would pay something for the carcasses.
Do they not want them?

I was going through my deceased grandfathers photos the other day and came across a picture of him with a nutria taken in Snohomish County Washington circa 1940's. I remember him saying they came up from Oregon but I never saw one on the trap line (I trapped around 1990-1996 when the state banned leg holds).