Ok here it goes.. I set up this beaver pond on Sunday (12-11-11) I have checked them twice now and Notta.. The first check i had a 4 foot stick in one snare it had all the bark chewed off. I checked them tonight mainly just to make sure the ice is still good and notta dont even look like they have been around the snares.

I need to know if i have the snares set correct.. Do you guys have the opening of the snares facing the feed bed or do you have them facing open water? Right now i have the snares on the out side edge of the feed bed and the snares are facing the bed. Meaning the opening is one side out towards open water and the other is towards the feed bed.

I Plan on cutting some bait from the pond site to see if that may make a difference..

Rob,
Check this thread out, I know it is titled conibears for beaver, but there is a ton of awesome information in it on snaring beavers from some of the best.
Here is the link off the Wilderness Trapping forum....

http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post2319353

Also ROb I have found that the beaver are a little spooky with all the noise.So try and stay away a lttle longer.I use Rally Hess's snares with good results.

Be patient with under ice snares check every 4 days or so not everyday. How far below the ice are your snares? What size loop are you running?

sorry for the derail, you guys who use PVC on the conis how long and what diameter. I also read a bunch of that link and that was a ton of great info. One of the post in there mentioned afixing the bait ot the bottom, what side? the dog or trigger side, or is that a non issue.

Ty for the link. i will have to read it aging to make sure i got it all..


OT the top two snares are around 3 inches below the ice the water at most sets is only around 2 1/2 feet deep and it is a very hard bottom. I am using Rally's beaver spikes the loop looks to be around 10inches..

We have only had to cut holes in the ice once so far its been warm enough that it hasnt froze again.

Call Ralley Hess.......

Buzzard i have thought about that but i am sure he is a very busy man this time of year and i would hate to bother him any...

Anyone Else have any help for a newbie? I plan on leaving them sit for a few more days and see what happens next time we check i think i will rebait them with bait poles from the area around the pond...

This is the way I've been doing the under ice beavers for many years and it works excellent ,,,


It doesn't matter how deep the water is ,keep the snares handy the bottom of the ice ,,,,,,,,,,

Ever catch 4 at once in that set?

No, actually I haven't .Always one at a time ,I think the reason being is that when the beaver gets caught and during the struggle to get free they mess up the other snares ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

And always the big beavers ,Never caught a small one in that set .............

Hey CS...do you ever run the three snares off one pole with bait sticks tied to the pole ? Your method looks good but it also looks like a lot of set up.

Rally got me hooked on his set up years ago. It gets easier as the bait pile gets older and "sours". After that they will start hitting your bait poles more regular. I check mine every third day. He has a great set up and they have taken a lot of beaver for me. He made an EXCELLENT post on someones thread on the Wilderness forum last year with tons of pictures. If you can find that it will be a big help for you!

Rob, I wanted to try under-ice beaver snaring a couple years ago, so I asked Ottertrapper for advice. I followed his instructions, made the sets, checked them a few days later and it worked! There wasnt much of a beaver population there, so I pulled the sets after that, not wanting to clean them out. I just wanted the experience.

I used old coyote snares, which were not legal to use for that any more, after they changed the rules.

Instead of describing everything, I'll just show you some pics......






Good luck!

-NC

Wow, that's a great thread, I was planning on setting some snares this weekend but then 40's and rain washed away what little ice we had, but it's supposed to not get above the mid 20's the next couple days so who knows.

I would never tie my snares to a green pole in fear of the beaver getting the bait pole chew off and away with my snares. I tie my snares to a dead pole and the beaver has to swim between the bait pole and the dead poles ,The dead polse are the guide sticks ,It is a little xtra work but I don't loose any snares ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Can you use these sets in open water?

Northcountry, that is very similar to the setup Darcy Alkerton uses. I wish someone would have the gumption to search back several years to pull that post back up (unfortunately, it may have been pre-Trapperman-crash). Coyote snarer, note the crosspole... the snare cable runs up to the crosspole, thereby being inaccessible to the beaver to chew on. They can cut that pole to pieces but the snares are still secured above ice. Rather than cutting enough ice to run three poles, you only have to run one pole. Note how small the ice cut is on Northcountry's hole. Of course, you have to cut a much bigger hole to get the catch out! Catroon, with open water the beaver can go cut their own food, so there are undoubtedly better places to set snares than trying to bait them with a pole.

CS, as for swimming away with the snare, that type of setup is like rally runs and you run a cable down around the whole pole and it goes through a loop on each snare and connects securely above the ice. If you didn't have that, YES, you would loose most/many beavers and snares if you just hooked the snarres directly to a green pole!

Catroon, Running "these" sets in open water would be next to impossible.

Happy trapping. ScottW