any one that long chaines a set for beaver will lose a lot of beaver if not deep enough for slider use 330.and is the 3 my choice no but i use alot of them in high risk areas .i agree with buzz give me 1 and a half coils with sliders ill catch beaver in 95 percent of snapped traps

I have been catching Beaver with #3 ever since I started trapping. Front and back foot, as long as there is enough water to dround them in your good. Jon

oh Buzz !! you can teach me how to beaver trap if it makes you feel better

im serious man ... i dont get to mess with em too much anymore ... i think they all packed up and moved away ... well, at least the ones that didnt die did

I want to thank every one for their information and the repartee ... and I am glad there was no blod spilled ...LOL!

Now we will see if an "Old Fart" like me can put the info to work and catch a couple of beaver ... Thanks again ...

Oh yes, for those that are curious about the photo in my signature ... I was an actor and that was from a stage performance in the early 1990s .... Garry-

I use #3 Bridgers since I can double duty them as yote traps too. I use about 4lbs pan tension, and short chain them to a drowning slide. Set for front foot,but have caught them by back foot too. Use bump sticks as mentioned to get them to put those feet down. I've also added what I call a crawl over stick on occasion.It's just a short water logged stick about the thickness of a toilet paper tube, just before the trap. I think it's helped in shallower water to get them to step over it, right into the trap. Setting for a front foot in fluctuating water makes more sense to me personally, since a deeper set trap set for a backfoot would really be deep with rising water, but the shallower set would still have a chance. Definitely agree with the trap being set to one side and turned with the dog to the side.That made all the difference in the world to me when I started trapping beaver. As much a pain in the butt as they are to flesh, I still love trapping them, HATE carrying them up slick muddy banks, but love trapping them. Best of luck

In the fall I dont care if I catch coons so I run 2.5-3 lbs of pan tension, in the spring 3.5-4 lbs to avoid non targets.

It is obvious that you have never tried long chains, the mountain men almost wiped out the beaver with long chains running on ave 6 traps a day . Too many guys have a phobia about live trapping beaver it can be done !! Just because you haven't done it don't mean it cant be !! I will leave it at that.



I agree with you there.

Buzzy most of the beaver I take are filling there stomachs with willow not corn. I do use snares, but my favorite foothold is a #3 even though I own alot fo them high $$ traps 660s, 12X10s, & #5s of all types, give me a #3 and long chain.

why would you use 6 ft. of chain and what gauge or kind of chain? how do you place your poke sticks or how far in front of trap? 4 or 5 pounds of pan tension, may cut down on nontargets but not much, if your after beaver with beaver lure and sets,that is mostly what you well get

I am guessing that you havent used castor in the spring much, rats and coon are all over that stuff I have even taken yotes in late march with castor. And yes 4 lbs of tension will stop MOST coon and I have yet to get a rat in one. I used to get a dz or so in a month before using any tension.

Buzzy i wanna trap down south where ya can set a trap about anywhere and pick em up ... all those channels, ditches, small streams, etc .... here in my area, its a bit harder, add to that there arent any left

how do you go about using poke sticks for a front foot catch

I like a berm of clay/mud more than I do poke sticks but the idea is the same. A beaver swims with its front feet up against its body when it hits the bank or what it thinks is the bank it drops those feet down and walks in to your set instead of swimming- wammo right in to your #3 long chained trap

I have seen the same problem Buzzy mentioned. And that is why its almost a waste of time putting swivels on my beaver snares. The beavers are usually wrapped around something between the swivel and the beaver making the swivel useless.

A dead beaver at the end of a drowner can't escape! A live beaver at the end of a chain still has more than a fighting chance.

how deep do you set for a front foot catch? should the mud be heavy like clay? i dont think sandy ground works good,it runs down on trap,or is to soft and small when beaver hits it, sometimes they come charging in. i have used rocks with some success, how much water should be over the top of the mud in front of trap?