DIY Nutria?

[SherpaPhil]

Have any of you ever tried a DIY nutria hunt? I am thinking south Louisiana or the gulf coast of Texas. My google-fu hasn't turned up anything but guides and a bunch of generic articles saying I should go do it.

 

[Bukwild3]

The main thing is finding land to hunt. I would focus my efforts at the coast. Atchafalaya wma, wax lake wma, pointe aux chene wma. Places like that. Most people trap. The problem with where you are trying to go will be transportation. Air boats go fast and straight to them but on a lot of wma airboats are offlimits. Surface drive will be the next best thing. And there are motor restrictions. An air boat guide will be able to get you there and even put you on hogs. Nutria is exellent! You can Pm me if you have questions. Im from Louisiana.

 

[mdhunter]

I have friends that hunt them here in Maryland. They do best on a flood tide that makes them easier to get to and see in the marsh.

 

[7Bartman]

They are all but eradicated here in MD.

 

[JTHOMP]

You'll need to go late winter or early spring before the green up while the grass is short. There are some places where you can see herds of them on top of the marsh and running like miniature buffalo. Unfortunately most places were nutria populations are still high are on private land owned by large companies (Miami Corp, Vermillion Corp, Continental Land and Fur) who already lease it out to duck hunters, commercial fisherman, and trappers.

Most nutrias that are killed for the Coast Wide Nutria Program (CNCP) are done so on private land simply by riding around and shooting them from an air boat. This method would be illegal on public land. Probably 90% of the tails are collected by 10% of the trappers. Check out www.nutria.com for some resources that might be helpful. If you want to contact a Louisiana Wildlife and Fishers Office I'd suggest contacting the New Iberia office. That is the office where people that do the nutria damage surveys work out of. Maybe someone there can point you in a good direction.

If you get kill some there is a LOT of meat on them and it's delicious.

 

[JTHOMP]

Link shows maps of the harvest data http://www.nutria.com/site24.php Might can use this to narrow down public lands to hunt. If that doesn't work there is a park in the middle of Lafayette where you can knock a few dozen in the head. Probably frowned upon, but I've always wanted to try it.

 

[406LIFE]

Rinella did a podcast on rhese sometime ago. Might be a good place to go.

 

[SherpaPhil]

You guys rock. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

 

[Bukwild3]

You'll need to go late winter or early spring before the green up while the grass is short. There are some places where you can see herds of them on top of the marsh and running like miniature buffalo. Unfortunately most places were nutria populations are still high are on private land owned by large companies (Miami Corp, Vermillion Corp, Continental Land and Fur) who already lease it out to duck hunters, commercial fisherman, and trappers.

Most nutrias that are killed for the Coast Wide Nutria Program (CNCP) are done so on private land simply by riding around and shooting them from an air boat. This method would be illegal on public land. Probably 90% of the tails are collected by 10% of the trappers. Check out www.nutria.com for some resources that might be helpful. If you want to contact a Louisiana Wildlife and Fishers Office I'd suggest contacting the New Iberia office. That is the office where people that do the nutria damage surveys work out of. Maybe someone there can point you in a good direction.

If you get kill some there is a LOT of meat on them and it's delicious.

Excellent advice^^^

 

[Bukwild3]

If you do decide to come to Louisiana PM me. I might be able to help with boat/access and maybe a fishing/hunting trip pending on when you come. Im in Baton Rouge.

 

[JTHOMP]

Feel free to PM as well. After a slow day at work, and youtube I think I might try trapping some this season if I have the time. I did a small nutria study in college and have nerded out reading about this stuff again. Check out the 2016-2017 report. Probably won't be much longer until the 2017-2018 report comes out. http://www.nutria.com/uploads/1617CNCP_Report.pdf