So today I went back to the beaver houses and looked for the vent holes to see if they are active. It looks like two are and the third not. I took some pic's of what I think are the vent holes but I would like some feedback.
Pic of the first house


Vent holes? The frost around them was bigger then the surrounding trees.



So is this what Ishould be looking for? I didn't set it yet. Got an order in yesterday and was busy cranking out snares.

The first vent hole looks good, probably two adults and some juvies in there. The second and third, I am assuming are from a different house. Maybe have a bachelor staying in there. Go get em!

My experience is that an inactive house can still have somewhat of a vent hole from the warmer air. Plus if the 2 houses are only 100 yards apart it may be one family using both houses with only one cache. I'd set them both as the worst that can happen is empty traps/snares. Sometimes it's the big male that uses the "old" house.

You have to be ....... to trap beaver under the ice.









Thought you guys would enjoy seeing this.

Ouch! I have had that a few times and it sucks.

-TJ

That's why when I go after beaver through the ice maximum check times are two days

Holy buckets man, that's serious ice on that guy I look for the vent holes too and also I check for their runways and if I get that fast gush of stink air come up from under the ice than I know beavers are using the huts. Just something I learned not very long ago.


Nick

Yeah I did that once too Brandon, problem is I wasn't as smart as you, I used a chain saw.

You can probably predict where this story is going, but to sum it up: Filleted beaver!

That was several years ago. In todays market it wouldn't have hurt the value much. I used it as a home tanning experiment.

going out tonight to set a house my self i tried last night but the 18in bar didnt cut it headed back with the auger saw and rock bar, also im going to set entrances i have never had any luck with bait sets, im gona try and use my scuba light to locate runs then get a 330 right in the door way, man i wish i would have marked them in the summer, so will see how that works.

Picked up a nice beaver in a swinging coni today

How far under the ice did you have ot otterman?

HFT AK,
Thats what they look like. I'm not sure of the locations from the pictures, but that's what they should look like on the top of a snow covered house if they are active. Doesn't always mean that there are beaver in them, and could be either otter or a bunch of muskrats, but most likely beaver.
The first picture you have of the beaver house looks like there are two runs coming out of the house, and I'd go look for a bank run or feed station by that tree that has fallen in the water. They like using upturned root systems as feed stations and that one appears to have a slight hump near the base.
Here an active house would have much more mud on it, but sometimes an old bachelor doesn't mud much and that may be what you have there.I've not trapped beaver in Ak (my wife won't let me go) so am not real familiar with their building patterns.

one way to be sure a house is active is to check the grub pile and if its green its active..if dead sticks..then not..they all have breath holes that frost up regaurdless..

and like Otterman..I never go longer than a two day check in cold weather.

HFT it was in a narrow little creek the water is barley 3 feet deep I bent the bottom spring up towards the trap and left the other one straight out and the chain was just under the ice with the bottom spring hitting the bottom. I use the set a lot and generally like to have the trap like described above even in deep water situations with the bait on the free jaw

even green feedbed dosent guarentee beaver are there. Our wolves are gettng better at targeting beaver i think, found two houses last year with green feedbed but no beaver. My theory is the wolves got them right before freeze up, or they were trapped in the fall. Didnt look like they were trapped at the houses, deep in private property.

Having a green grubpile,and ice bubbles around it, is the only way to see that there at least WAS active beaver in the falltime at least..around here that means beaver still in it unlesss a trapper cleans them out,like probably your case.
wolves do eat beaver,but cleaning them all out like that is unlikly IMO

I hear ya jeff, if they were trapped it would have to have been a long way from the house though.
Just dosent seem right. I'm talking about a couple small houses, most likely a pair in each, in about 3/4 mile section of river. Couldnt see bubbles or no bubbles, no clear ice.

Or shot. Have noticed since they opened the flats to shooting beaver in the fall, that we tend to find huts with a green feed bed and no beavers. At least once the air boaters can get to.

-TJ

I tried setting today.My little 18 inch chainsaw couldn't even get me close to water. After cutting 3 and 1/2 feet I started busting a sweat and called it quits! What the heck do you do when the ice is that darn thick?

i feel for ya hfk i went out today expecting to get a couple houses set up got out there started with the auger trying to find deep water around the hut to set runs well that didnt happen so i got out the chain saw pulled it about 100 times with no start so i ended up drilling 3 holes next to each other by the cach and beating the ice between them out and hanging 1 330 with pvc on the trigger and a nice pice of birch on the lower jaw im not expecting much with 1 trap but i only relly need 1 beav for bait so will see ill check it on sat. also using the scuba light to check things out under the ice works pretty good.