Marsee Wilson is a 69 year old long time professional ADC trapper from Mt. Vernon Washington. Among other critters, he is an accomplished beaver and otter trapper. In Washington, along the coast, it is not unusual to get beaver and many otter complaints too. In the past 4 years while using 10 of the Comstock wide 12x18x39 Swim Through Beaver and Otter Cage Traps, Marsee has caught more than 400 beaver and a pile of otter to go with them, 20 this past year.
I learned of the incredible experience he had with otter in January from Fred Lawrence and gave him a call yesterday to find first hand for myself what had happened. In late December 2015 Marsee set a few of our large cage traps for otter living under a residence on Camano Island. In this case the trap that did the catching was actually set on land, right side up at the corner of a deck, narrowed up in a positive type set to catch animals coming or going. He got the call from the home owner saying that he had caught 3 otter, but because it was still dark that wasn't exactly the case. Arriving on December 27, 2015 in the dark Marsee began counting otter as he saw them. With no idea how many otter were actually in the trap, first there was one, then two, then three as expected, but Marsee quickly noticed there were two more for an incredible catch of 5 otter at one time in one Comstock Beaver Cage Trap! To make the story better yet, the otter were not juveniles either but were all adult males! On this one particular complaint Marsee ended up taking 8 otter altogether.
During the conversation it was revealed that on at least two other occasions Marsee had taken 2 otters in one cage as a number of others have also done in the past 5 years. Obviously otter travel closely together, so having an 18 inch wide trap allows for multiple otter catches, which are not as uncommon as once thought in this unique trap. However, this is the first known take of more than 2 otter at one time in a seemingly impossible catch of 5 large otter at once!
In a hurry, minus a camera, though the news of the take was record breaking, Marsee took no pictures. But, his wife and home owner were there to share in the experience that may never be duplicated again.
As a footnote, when Marsee first learned of the new traps the news had come from 80 year old Fred Lawrence, also of Washington. Fred has taken hundreds of Beaver in the Comstock Cage Traps and a lot of otter too. Marsee said, "when Fred finds equipment that he knows is good, you better pay attention." We thank Fred and all of the others who have supported us.
When only a handful of trappers have taken 2,000 beaver in the Comstock Cages, with all of the cages in use, it is possible that more than 10,000 beaver and hundreds of otter have been taken in them to date.
