During the hot summertime months most hunters are in the planning mode. You know, securing leases, designing food plots, making plans for stands and blinds maybe even reserving vacation dates at lodges. But it’s a safe bet very few are strategizing their upcoming nutria hunts. Recreational nutria hunting really hasn’t caught on even while the state’s program designed to control an explosive population to reduce or eliminate damage to our wetlands has been a rousing success. It’s also proof-positive that putting a price tag on wildlife can put a serious dent in populations. In most cases this would be a bad thing, but in the case of nutria, a good one.
Now in its 7th year, the LA Department of Wildlife & Fisheries’ Coastwide Nutria Control Program concluded its 2008-09 season crediting 262 participants with taking out 334,038 of the orange-toothed, rat-tailed critters. These registered “bounty hunters” bagged 25,826 more than last year bringing the total since the program began to 1,790,829. Anyway you look at it that’s a whole lot of fur and flesh. And at 5 bucks per tail added to whatever profits from the hide and meat, that’s a pile of moolah.
So why this war on nutria? - A little nutria history, please. No one’s really sure how they got here from Argentina but they took a liking to the local climate and habitat and either escaped or were released into the wild and never looked back. At any rate, by 1943 the nutria was firmly entrenched across the southern part of the state. That year nutria started showing up in the trapping industry, which was looked upon as only slightly positive. But only 3 years later, the nutria situation began to get ugly.
Muskrat, long the number one pelt in a very valuable industry, had begun to decline from a high of over 8 million animals to under a million over the next 20 years. Nutria took the heat. By competing for three-cornered grass, the muskrat’s number one food source, they had put a serious squeeze on their cousins. Trappers cursedthe nutria for causing them a serious loss of income.
But as muskrat declined and nutria flourished, a funny thing happened. The nutria became popular with trappers. Not only was it much easier to catch and reproduced quicker, the value of its pelts were supplemented by a market for the meat. In the early days of the nutria population explosion, the Department of Home Economics at LSU experimented with nutria dishes and served a free meal toanyone willing to test it. Most compared it favorably to rabbit and it began to find its way into European restaurants as a delicacy. Someone got the idea that the meat could be used as canned dog food but that never really amounted to anything. Changes in the fur industry also played a role in the nutria’s rise to popularity. Luxury coats made from rare species began to decline in Europe. As a result, thetrend shifted from luxury to inexpensive, more durable furs. The nutria with its longer hair and thinner, cheaper pelts fit the niche. In a little over 20 years a handful of rodents from South America had evolved into a multi-million dollar industry.
As synthetic furs combined with the movement to give animals the right to vote, there was a serious decline in the fur industry from which it has never recovered. The end result is that more nutria is being left in the marsh to make more little nutria. And that’s something they are really good at.
With more nutria mouths to feed, they began to take a toll on the state’s lush, coastal habitat. Let’s face it, when it comes to noxious aquatic vegetation control, nutria just can’t get it right. Instead, they prefer the precious marsh grasses that hold sediment. Massive nutria “eat outs” appear as mudflats that accelerate an already devastating coastal erosion problem. Rice and sugar cane fields are also targets of their destruction. They often cut more cane than they can consume. Young, tender cypress trees have been ravaged by nutria in the swamps and their burrows and tunnels in levees have caused significant flooding problems for crawfish, rice and cane farmers - thus, the control program.
Now before you grab your rifle, your headlight, tail clipper, bank deposit slip and head for the nearest marsh, there are a few things you need to know about nutria bounty hunting. Although the opportunity is there for public participation, be aware there’s some red tape to deal with. First, anyone wanting to collect the five bucks per tail bounty needs to be a licensed trapper, have a nutria control program registration number acquired through a nutria program participant application submitted to the LDWF. It must also be accompanied by a tax receipt and a legal description of the property to be trapped/hunted as well as the name, address and telephone number of the landowner with signatures of the participant and landowner indicating permission to hunt nutria on the designated property.
For those who just want to help the cause or know a good nutria recipe, there’s always the recreational route. On state WMAs and on private property nutria are fair game for licensed hunters using any legal hunting weapons during legal shooting hours beginning from Sept.1 through Feb. 28 with a daily bag limit of five (5). There are some other regulations that can be found on the LDWF website at www.wlf.gov or in its hunting regulations pamphlet. Check it out and while you’re sipping a cold drink and enjoying a hard-working air-conditioner, it’s a great time to make your plans.