Nutria in Virginia

[Sam]

I attended the Richmond Fishing Expo this Saturday, January 21^st, and had the opportunity to speak with James R. Powell, the District Supervisor for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Mr. Powell noticed my Louisiana Crawfish cap and asked me if I was from Louisiana and did I know about nutria.

 

In fact, what made me stop at his booth were the nutria handouts, photos, and other information about this big rat and the map that showed nutria moving into southeastern Virginia (Tidewater and west towards Emporia). I had not seen a photo of a nutria in years as my Louisiana friends take them for granted and ignore them in the swamps.

 

Mr. Powell told me that the USDA is trying to remove the nutria. Only problem is that the rats are moving to the west and north, towards Williamsburg and Richmond. There were also some kills in the Jamestown Island area on the Historic James River last year.

 

The USDA killed and removed several nutrias from a very exclusive Williamsburg country club pond that boarders the Historic James River.

 

It is thought that the rats will be traveling north, towards Washington DC, and then as far north as the winter temperatures will allow them to migrate. Freezing winter temps are our friends in that we may not be able to fish, but nutria may not be able to survive a strong winter.

 

I do not believe there are any rules hunting nutria in Virginia, but if you do have a rifle on your bass boat or kayak be ready to use it; know how to use; and always check to see what is behind your line of sight towards the nutria so you do not damage property or persons. A Virginia hunting license would be helpful, too.

 

Wild boars are also in Virginia’s Tidewater area. The USDA supposedly killed all of them but another guy at the show told us that he and his friends have seen boars in the Tidewater area towards North Carolina and Mr. Powell said he will get the helicopter flying to check it out.

 

Here is some information on nutria.

 

First snakeheads, now nutria and wild boars.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutria 

[GreenPig]

When someone tells you they've killed all the wild hogs in an area, just nod and smile. They're wrong. Reduced numbers temporary,  maybe, but they'll never will eradicate them.

[Sam]

10 hours ago, GreenPig said:

When someone tells you they've killed all the wild hogs in an area, just nod and smile. They're wrong. Reduced numbers temporary,  maybe, but they'll never will eradicate them.

GreenPig, maybe we need to put together a Nutria, Wild Boar, and Snakehead cooking book.

 

I bet it will be a best seller!!!!! ?

[Sam]

On 1/21/2023 at 10:52 PM, GreenPig said:

When someone tells you they've killed all the wild hogs in an area, just nod and smile. They're wrong. Reduced numbers temporary,  maybe, but they'll never will eradicate them.

X2. I totally agree.

On 1/22/2023 at 9:06 AM, Sam said:

GreenPig, maybe we need to put together a Nutria, Wild Boar, and Snakehead cooking book.

 

I bet it will be a best seller!!!!! ?

Add coyote and you have a best seller. You can go on TV and radio telling everyone what a sensational buy this is. Good thinking. 

[GreenPig]

36 minutes ago, Sam said:

X2. I totally agree.

Add coyote and you have a best seller. You can go on TV and radio telling everyone what a sensational buy this is. Good thinking. 

If we're gonna cook Nutria, Wild boar, and Snake heads, we may as well add Armadillo.

[Sam]

8 hours ago, GreenPig said:

If we're gonna cook Nutria, Wild boar, and Snake heads, we may as well add Armadillo.

And possum. A big, fat possum hits the spot on a cold and dreary winter day.

[Kyle S]

Thanks for sharing the info @Sam

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I could've sworn the critters that I see patrolling the banks of the Pamunkey River are Nutria. They look exactly like the pictures in your Wiki link.

I see quite a few of them throughout the course of a day on the water

Maybe they're a different species, I'm not sure.

I'll certainly be paying closer attention the next time I go out.

Maybe I need to start bringing a .22?

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Kyle S said:

Thanks for sharing the info @Sam

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I could've sworn the critters that I see patrolling the banks of the Pamunkey River are Nutria. They look exactly like the pictures in your Wiki link.

I see quite a few of them throughout the course of a day on the water

Maybe they're a different species, I'm not sure.

I'll certainly be paying closer attention the next time I go out.

Maybe I need to start bringing a .22?

Maybe I need to start bringing a .22? - I suggest contacting DWR to find out if you need a hunting license; if the nutria have a hunting season; and then you can go out there and blast them away!!!  

 

Good luck and let us know what happens. Post pics if possible.  Be safe.

[Darren.]

There was at least one nutria living at Newport News Park,

at least the area I was always fishing. Saw him numerous

times, this was maybe 8 years ago. Wasn't sure then what

I was seeing, but learned from park rangers it was a nutria.

Wasn't aware (until the chat) that they were an invasive

species, either. I imagine the critter(s) was trapped/killed

as I never saw it again. 

[basscrusher]

I saw a few nutria at the OBX this past summer.  I guess it was just a matter of time until they spread north.

[TnRiver46]

Muskrat on steroids? Sounds fun to trap 

[Junger]

We need this guy to train his minks to hunt them down: 

 

 

[N Florida Mike]

I’m more concerned down here with otters. They are obviously gaining in population. We hadn’t had one in our lake in 10 years or so but theres a medium sized one that got in sometime in the last year or so. They are eating up the catfish and bass. Numbers of bass and big fish are way down. 
We have nutrias too, but they aren’t fish eaters so I don’t care much about them. They did eat a couple feet of my bank in one spot. I trapped several of them and it slowed down a lot…

[chall59]

I could loan you some gators from SELA. We have seen a steep drop in our nutria numbers down here as the alligator population is getting out of control. I hardly see nutria in some of the places I duck hunt/fish anymore.  

[Sam]

Chall, gators come as close to Virginia as South Carolina and that is close enough!

We don't need prehistoric preditors in Virginia but thanks for the offer.

Geaux Tigers!

[Johnbt]

Maybe the gators will eat the nutria.

 

There are plenty of gators in NC, almost all the way up the coast to Virginia.

"Alligators are living just south of Dismal Swamp in Merchants Millpond State Park, North Carolina".  The VA line is about 15 miles away. Great place to rent a canoe to get to your campsite. 

 

There's even an Alligator River just west of Roanoke Island and Nags Head. The bridge from Roanoke Island takes you to the mainland at Manns Harbor.

 

"The largest alligator ever found in North Carolina was a 635-pound alligator that was hit by a car in Manns Harbor in May 2014."

 

www.fws.gov/refuge/alligator-river  Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

 

They even caught one on the sound side of Kitty Hawk in 2018. It was 9.5' long. They released it.

www.thecoastlandtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2018/05/alligator_caught.jpg

 

“The Outer Banks is available habitat,” Dinkelacker said. “And we know alligators can go out in the salt water for a month or two at a time.”

 

[Darth-Baiter]

I want to do one of those airboat Nutria hunts.  seems like "country fun" for a city guy like myself.  

 

I heard they are delicious.  dunno.  invasives are a problem.  but I heard Snakeheads are not that detrimental?  I want to catch one badly.

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Johnbt said:

Maybe the gators will eat the nutria.

 

There are plenty of gators in NC, almost all the way up the coast to Virginia.

"Alligators are living just south of Dismal Swamp in Merchants Millpond State Park, North Carolina".  The VA line is about 15 miles away. Great place to rent a canoe to get to your campsite. 

 

There's even an Alligator River just west of Roanoke Island and Nags Head. The bridge from Roanoke Island takes you to the mainland at Manns Harbor.

 

"The largest alligator ever found in North Carolina was a 635-pound alligator that was hit by a car in Manns Harbor in May 2014."

 

www.fws.gov/refuge/alligator-river  Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

 

They even caught one on the sound side of Kitty Hawk in 2018. It was 9.5' long. They released it.

www.thecoastlandtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2018/05/alligator_caught.jpg

 

“The Outer Banks is available habitat,” Dinkelacker said. “And we know alligators can go out in the salt water for a month or two at a time.”

 

Wow! That's too close for comfort.

Thanks for sharing.

[Deleted account]

"Country Fun" made me LMAO...

There had been rumors of this thing swimming around for a couple of years before it was caught. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/06/22/maryland-alligator-pond-chesapeake-bay/

[TnRiver46]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:29 AM, Darth-Baiter said:

I want to do one of those airboat Nutria hunts.  seems like "country fun" for a city guy like myself.  

 

I heard they are delicious.  dunno.  invasives are a problem.  but I heard Snakeheads are not that detrimental?  I want to catch one badly.

Invasives are mostly a problem inside human skulls, the thing we have to fear is fear itself 

 

throughout the wildlife curriculum in college, the sky was falling with all kinds of different invasive species that would surely leave us with no natives left in a decade. Fast forward twenty years and almost nothing has changed except the list of “threats.” And the money keeps rolling in to fight the threats that don’t exist (except inside the human skulls attached to people with deep pockets) 

[Darth-Baiter]

26 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Invasives are mostly a problem inside human skulls, the thing we have to fear is fear itself 

 

throughout the wildlife curriculum in college, the sky was falling with all kinds of different invasive species that would surely leave us with no natives left in a decade. Fast forward twenty years and almost nothing has changed except the list of “threats.” And the money keeps rolling in to fight the threats that don’t exist (except inside the human skulls attached to people with deep pockets) 

at a personal level, i bought a house where some person planted bamboo.  it was invasive and took great effort to beat it down.  i never ever want to see that again.

[TnRiver46]

44 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

at a personal level, i bought a house where some person planted bamboo.  it was invasive and took great effort to beat it down.  i never ever want to see that again.

Hahaha yeah I see that everywhere. Lots of our customers have it and wish they didn’t 

[Bankc]

23 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Invasives are mostly a problem inside human skulls, the thing we have to fear is fear itself 

 

throughout the wildlife curriculum in college, the sky was falling with all kinds of different invasive species that would surely leave us with no natives left in a decade. Fast forward twenty years and almost nothing has changed except the list of “threats.” And the money keeps rolling in to fight the threats that don’t exist (except inside the human skulls attached to people with deep pockets) 

There's a lot of truth to this.  About 20 years ago, everyone was up in arms about nutria, killer bees, and fire ants.  But eventually everyone learned to live with them.  I'm not saying they're not still problems.  But no one loses sleep over them anymore.  We've all moved on to wild boars and mountain lions.  Which is kind of funny, because those all existed here 20 years ago as well, and probably even in greater numbers, but no one talked about them then.  

 

These days, nutria are less common than beavers and muskrats, and probably less damaging to the environment (due to their subdued numbers).  Plus, people know to kill them on sight.  So while they exist, their populations remain relatively in check, and no one talks about them like they used to. 

[Troy85]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:29 AM, Darth-Baiter said:

I want to do one of those airboat Nutria hunts.  seems like "country fun" for a city guy like myself.  

 

I heard they are delicious.  dunno.  invasives are a problem.  but I heard Snakeheads are not that detrimental?  I want to catch one badly.

Come down to Southeast LA, there are a few guides down here that do airboat nutria hunts.

 

The state has a bounty season on them, I think its like $4 or $5 a tail.

 

And they may look ugly and gross, but they are actually really good to eat.  All they eat are plants and roots.  They have really white lean meat.  Id say it most closely resembles rabbit meat, and if no one told you otherwise you'd probably never tell the difference.

[Sam]

7 hours ago, Troy85 said:

Come down to Southeast LA, there are a few guides down here that do airboat nutria hunts.

 

The state has a bounty season on them, I think its like $4 or $5 a tail.

 

And they may look ugly and gross, but they are actually really good to eat.  All they eat are plants and roots.  They have really white lean meat.  Id say it most closely resembles rabbit meat, and if no one told you otherwise you'd probably never tell the difference.

Toolame students, faculty, and alumni have Nutria boils while the rest of Louisiana has crawfish boils.

Geaux Tigers!