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I am looking for a good place to hunt nutria in the western Oregon area. We are looking to collect skins for a personal project.

I have been having problems finding guides and/or landowners who meet the necessary requirements to do this hunt (i.e. have access to land with a decent number of nutria). I am willing to pay reasonable fees for guides and land use if they are necessary, and will be happy to make any necessary arrangements if this is done under some kind of pest control agreement. For a guided hunt an ideal outcome would be 10 or so decent sized pelts, collected over a long weekend, for anything else we will take what we can get. There will be two people for the hunt, and we have all our own hunting gear in appropriate cartridges, as well as a decent amount of camping and other ancillary gear.

Please contact me if you have any information or recommendations.
 
I don't have any specific names/contacts, but there are quite a few Nutria hunters on Puget Island in Cathlamet. You might be able to contact one of the farmers there and see if they'll let you.

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Good luck on finding a spot to hunt them !

I've known a few people over the years who have hunted them but they lived over in Western Oregon and had knowledge of where to go.

What are you planning on making out of the skins ?
 
Had no idea people sell guided hunts for them, i think of them as giant invasive rats. I live on a floating home in portland and see them occasionally along with beavers, muskrats and actual rats and they all look similar just different sizes and tails lol. My in laws have some property on puget island and it indeed seems like a popular spot to hunt nutria since they're everywhere out there. I see/hear them scurry off into the slough all the time while walking the property. They allow access to a local guy that hunts them that sells the pelts so its worth a shot if you know anyone out there by chance. I doubt my in laws would give access to a stranger but it might be worth knocking on some doors cause no one seems to care for them
 
Oh man guide for nutes? That's wild! Perhaps find a trapper I'm sure they'd love to sell em to ya. My dad and brother were really into trapping but the nutria wasn't worth much. If you can get access to a slough I'd say that'd be your best bet. If you have a boat I'm sure that would open up some opportunities.
 
Oh man guide for nutes? That's wild! Perhaps find a trapper I'm sure they'd love to sell em to ya. My dad and brother were really into trapping but the nutria wasn't worth much. If you can get access to a slough I'd say that'd be your best bet. If you have a boat I'm sure that would open up some opportunities.
Well, the idea is actually my buddies. He wanted to procure some skins for his wife, but he wanted to be able to say he hunted and skinned them himself. It probably would be easier to just find them from a local trapper, or just find a place to do some trapping ourselves, but a "hunt" was specifically what I was asked to put together.

I can imagine a guide that specializes in that kind of thing would be rare indeed, but I also know a lot of guides are happy for work and something as easy as shooting swamp rats would be an easy payday if you knew where to get them. I know a few guides that actually put in a bit of legwork to find spots for us, but alas the connections just are not there. Seems most of the farmers around here are a bit too weary of letting unknowns hunt on their property, even if the nutria are a pest. After a few years of begging around the locals I figured it was time to broaden my search, so here I am.
 
They are all over in the slough i hike down but its in town, they sure are cute as babies about the size of a soft ball and they are so tame when they are young we can rip a reed stalk out of the marsh a couple feet long and they would eat the end of it as you held the other end and almost pet them, wondered what they taste like but dont have the balls to try.
 
The guy who hunts my in laws place claims they're pretty tasty, so far ive just taken him at his word. They just look like massive rats to me and they were definitely not the size of a softball, they were as big and bigger than my cat. That being said, if a plate of something made from nutria that smelled really good was presented to me i would most likely give it a shot tho, that slough is super disgusting tho haha. My dog has gone in it a few times chasing them along with our cousins hounds and it aint pretty when we pull em out!
 
I cannot imagine they taste bad, considering what they eat. I know quite a lot of people who like squirrel, for example. The problem with squirrel is you need a lot of them for a meal. I do not think that is a huge problem with Nutria, one decent sized specimen could probably feed a family of 4, with the proper sides.

I asked my buddy if he was interested in taking the meet too, but he said only if we had a guide who already knew hot to butcher one properly. I imagine it is a little more involved than just ripping off the sides and hocks. . .
 
Been quite a few years ago my son and his trapper friend used to drift the Pudding river for them. Did pretty good on them to. I'm sure there is still lots of them there.
Oh second hand info. was told they taste alright but really smell when cooked. I think they are more like a Porky Pine eating bark. I know that Porky Pine really stinks when cooked. Didn't even try to eat it.
 
The problem you will face I'm afraid is the shooters who have spent years developing relationships with landowners, lose their rep with all landowners in an area if a mistake is made. it isn't a lack of wanting to take you, it's the risk to years of reputation. any river valley with slow moving water and grass to eat in western Oregon should be prime starting points. Intel Ronler Acres in Hillsboro and Nike World Campus in Beaverton are both crawling with them.
 


The episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmerman is worth the watch if you can find it.
 

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