Keep in mind if you are breaching there dam..you can freeze the whole family out,and they can die,when the water freezes below there hole in the house..not a good practice IMO

I only drop the water a few inches and as long as there are beaver in the house it will be repaired. Most places I trap have a steady run of water through the dam all winter I have never drained one of any significant level.

I see that on a regular basis.. Here if theres is water you got beaver.We have a very high population of beaver it is not uncommon to see in ponds 3 houses and numerous bank dens in use. Usually only one with a feedpile at it.On most smaller creeks there is 4-6 houses with feedbeds per mile.
3 yrs ago on an adc job in the fall I took 50 beaver out of a stretch of creek maybe a 1/3 of a mile in length.
Btw I really enjoyed this thread In particular Rallys snaring bit.

Your post and many of the replies motivated me to get out yesterday and search for some beaver. With a little help from my brother and the land owner I found this spot where the beaver have been exiting the water to chew on the trees.





There is a 330 set under the water in the above photo and another that is set with a piece of PVC zip tied to the trap as bait. I'm excited at the prospect of pulling my first beaver out of the water and will be headed out to do trap checks after I get off this computer. Thanks again!

Looks like you could get a double if you snared their trail and put the snare on a drowner wire.

Len,
Beaver clonies can be anything, especially if they are trapped regularly. I've taken 28 out of a colony and the friend in the above picture took 4 out of the same colony, for a total of 32.He was setting bank dens with conibears and I was using snare poles. They quit going to bank dens after 4 days. The lodge was huge, about 30' across the base with two "wings" on two sides. There were three sets of adult beaver in that lodge and one huge queen bee. This lake was close to a road and was trapped by road trappers in the spring every spring. Heres my theory.
Quite often here, the big beaver push is in the spring. When prices are decent guys really set about anything deep enough to submerge a 330 to the spring eyes or deep enough to drown with a foothold. The vast majority are scent mound sets with a castor based lure and bait pieces or mud or both. Here, in the spring, the adult males travel alot within their home ranges. By staying away from the lodges, the vast majority of the beaver caught will be 2-5 year old males. I normally run 75-80% male over female. The later into the spring season, or while doing ADC contracts in may- june, that % will start swinging higher to female, as dispersal is in full swing and I thin the males down. I can only catch what is there, and if the males are thinned down that leaves a higher percentage of females. Since the males do the majority of traveling and protecting of the colony, they are more susceptable to being caught during the spring season, by road trappers who are setting at the bridges, as a convenience, rather than them going to the colonies, and exposing their sets to the entire colony. It is common to go into a winter colony the following year, in colonies close to the roads, or on major travelways like rivers, and find the adult pair to be of a different age class, usually the male being at least a year younger than the female. I have found in this case, and if there is ample food supply, the female will not chase off, the then almost 2 year old offspring. She has already been bred in lodge the previous spring, will pair with a traveling male, and her then 2 year old offspring will often stay and build lodges close, sometines as "Wings" on the existing lodge. Consider also that since the adult male is gone, that the 2 year old females can then pair and stay in the colony. I've not noticed as many males in these colonies as females, so am assuming they are either getting caught at a higher rate, or are moving out to establish their own colony. And also consider that beaver are rodents, and that it would be likely in this scenerio, for the adult beaver moving into this colony to breed several females. Infact I've trapped colonies that indicated that, by catching up to 11 yearlings in what I believed to be this scenerio. I see no reason why a traveling male that establishes with a colony that has no adult male wouldn't breed all receptive females.
I've also trapped huge houses with small feedbeds and only caught a single scarred male too, so all bets are off as far as colony dynamics are concerned in my mind, in colonies close to roads that are easily accessed.
However, alot of what I trap are miles and miles of bog. The beaver dig out ponds, usually near an island of popple, and build houses on under water tree root wads, tussocks, small sand points etc, that would hold a house. They are surrounded by miles and miles of floating bog, with little worry from predators by way of land.A few pups mat be taken by eagles or otter but for the most part they have pretty safe life. Access to them for a trapper is by many hours of drag, push, or pulling of a canoe, or by snomachine.Most will die of old age. These colonies are usually an adult pair the first year, six beaver the second year being the adult pair and 4 pups, then the third year will be 10-12 being the adult pair, 4 1.5 year olds, and 4-6 pups, depending on the fertility and food supply. I have found it rare to be much more than this as the food supply really determines what the pond will hold and the adults will let stay. These beaver often are living off popple islands and have somewhat limited supplies. It behooves them to push the first years pups out to maintain a healthy colony.It is common to see these colonies expand in the same general area, by that I mean a few nautical miles, as is evident by their colors. I have several colonies that are pure black, I've farmed for over twenty years. If i trap about 40% of the colony and leave it alone for 2 or 3 years, it bears these black beaver consistantly. I have some colonies I won't trap at all, but just trap the surrounding ponds.I learned in my younger years that killing these colonies is not in my best interest.

Thanks Rally that was an excellent read.

Never do I remember getting multiple large beaver in a house.

FT first question I have for you is what's definition of large?

Mine is 60 inch plus.

When the beaver population in a water shed gets high any kind of population dynamic goes out the window.

I had a house about 4 5 years ago on a pretty good size lake that had probably 4 different lodges with feedpiles on it.

One of the houses I took 6 blankets with a total of twelve beaver in three traps.

I've taken 3 4 blankets several time other times.

Set a house 2 years ago I would have bet you my best chisel was gonna be a pair.

Set 2 traps, first check 1 60, second check 2 60 inchers, third check one more 60, than I pulled. I was leaving that area.

Is there a big difference in the quality of beaver fur between now and the end of march? A couple of you guys have brought this up. I am wondering just how much of a price difference there is and if it's worth waiting for.

I am not an expert but I believe the fur is best right now under the ice and starts to degrade when in the spring. That said though its not a big difference and probably will not show in the price.


Rally,
I appreciate the fact that you are willing to share your past experiences I am just starting with the experimenting of different materials and locks and planned to spend the next 20 years or so learning it the hard way!

This year I started out using the 1/16 7x7 with micro or washer locks. I had lots of knock downs but eventually they connect. After reading about your success with the 5/64 7x7 coupled with the fact that otter season runs parallel to our beaver season I decided to change over and try it for this year. This was the first snare pole I had set with it and I spent a good portion of yesterday changing out my poles with the new snares on the rest of the ponds. Still got a few more to do.

Can someone elaborate on how the cables are used to secure the snares to above the ice? I set one up the other day but when thinking about it I realized I could loose a beaver with the way I had done it.

In the past when I have seen this done the cable is run through the loops of the bottom snares and through itself lopping it tight around the pole. Then its run up the pole through the loops of the top snares and continues up to above the ice. Is that correct? If so could you not end up having a catch on the top snares that slides part way down the cable and then have another beaver come along and cut and take the pole leaving just the cable and in doing so make it possible that the snare with the catch on it could slip down the cable and off the end of it over both the other snares?

I hope that makes sense.
Its possible I just done understand the correct way to do the cables. For now I have continued to just use wire. I suppose I could run longer cables and bring both ends up to the surface but that seems like a pain.

Brandon-
are you using Rally's set up? if so you take the safety cable he provides, one end is adjustable the other not, you run the loop of the safety cable that is not adjustable throught the bottom snare end and back on the safety line making it secure to it, then run the adjustable end up to you rother snares then to a safety pole up on the ice like, a dead- dry stong stick.

Hope this is some what clear to uinderstand. Not rocket building here but you can think this one out.
Good Luck!!

Nope I made up some of my own snares from the 5/64th. I have not seen Rally's safety cables so I did not totally follow what you were saying but like you said its not rocket science and can be thought through. Seems to me you need a continuous loop of cable running through all the loops on the snares coming back to itself so they can't come off. So the safety cable goes down the pole through the snares back up the pole through the top snares then hooks to itself. Do I have it right?

p.s. I like the nails I have used them in the past but this time around I am putting a second double ferrule on the loop of the snare and crimping it to the cable on the top of the loop. Then I can wrap a piece of wire on the pole and slip the snare over it using the none crimped side of the Ferrule. Makes the adjustment of the snare very easy.

For a safety wire I take a length of 12.5ga wire and secure one end to a 5" piece of flat bar that has a hole in the center. Now take the tag end of the wire and thread it though all your snare end loops. Then wrap the tag end around the pole that will stay on top of the ice. Now the snares cant slide off either end of the safety wire even if they break the pole..

Next simply attach snares to the pole however you want, nails, fence staples, zipties.......

Brandon,
My spikes have a small loop on the spikes or brackets have an eye built into them. Either system will work with my safety cables. It looks like you have real large loops in the anchor end of your snares where the second double ferrule is at. With loops that bi it would not work with my type setup, as the hole rig would slip through those big loops and all the snares and beaver would be lost.
I;m just going by the picture you have posted, but am curious as to why you have such big loops on the anchor end of your snares? Are they crimped on one side and opened to go around the bait pole?
If you look at the pictures of my bait poles you can see the small loops on the beaver spikes at the anchor end. I usually put four snares to a pole, with two up just under the ice and two at the bottom, with the center of the bottom loop being 18"-20" to the CENTER of the bottom loop from the bottom. My safety cables have one adjustable loop end and one fixed loop end. After my snares are on the pole where I want them, I run the fixed loop end of my safety cable through the loops on the bottom two snares, then run the adjustable loop end or the safety cable through the fixed loop of the safety cable and pull it tight. I then spin the bait pole while moving the safety cable up the pole(barber pole the safety cable)and then run the adjustable end of the safety cable through the loops on the top two snares while turning the pole in the same direction. Then I make a deep gash in the bait pole above where the top of the ice will be(there is a picture on this post somewhere)and pull the safety cable into this gash, which holds my safety cable tight on the pole, to make it easier to work with and to keep any cable loops from forming in the safety cable below the ice or in the hole where I'll be chopping later. I then lay a dead pole on the ice and open the adjustable end of the safety cable and pull it tight on the pole laying on the ice. Then I roll up all slack cable and use the dead pole to keep my bait pole positioned in the center of my hole until it freezes in place.
When a beaver gets caught and chews my pole up or in half,or sveral pieces, the bottom two snares and the safety cable are pulled into a tight cluster at the end of the safety cable, and the upper snares are all threaded through the small loops on the end of the spikes, which cant be pulled past the bottom two snares, which are clusted with the safety cable below them. Even when the beaver eat the whole pole, which I hope they do, the snares wwill just be hanging below the ice. I'd prefer the old bait pole is gone completely for two reasons. First it tells me there are still beaver in the colony, and second because it is easier for me to just pull up cable and a beaver and remake with a fresh pole, rather than strip the snares off a half chewed and then remake a new pole.
With the large loops on the ends of your snares they would just slide over the bottom snares if you used my type of safety cable setup.
If your snares are capable of tightening down to a small loop, you could also use them as is, by just running a safety cable through the adjustable loops and pulling them tight on the safety cable on the upper two, and through the loops of the bottom two and through the safety cable bottom loop like I do mine.
To eliminate the second ferrule you are using for a support, try just forming W's in the end of your support wires with your lineman pliers. Then just wrap the cable of the snares around it and into the bends of the W's just behind the locks. It would save your self some money on the extra ferrules and you wouldn't have to crimp them in the bush. Most beaver are able to pull the cable out of the W's but sometimes the little ones will noit be able to and will wrap on the top of the poles.

Rally,
I don't have a good answer for why the loops are so big other then to say that I was cutting my snare cables at 43" after making the 10" loop the remaining 9 inches was being used to make that loop. That way when the snare was completely open to the loop it was the correct size.

I see what you mean about the adjust able safety cables but are your snare loops adjustable as well? It seems to me that even if the snare loop was made small it could "in theory" still slip off the end of the cable.

I should have been more clear on the ferrules used to support the snare. I crimp them onto the cable but leave the other side open when I build the snares then just slip them onto the wire. No crimping to the wire that way the beaver can easily pull free and hopefully sink away from the ice on the top snares.

The loops on the snare are set at a fixed size on my spikes. The loop I was referring to was the anchor loop. It has to be small or when the beaver eats the pole, the upper snares can't slide over the bottom two snares and safety cable.
I was looking at your picture and it kinda looked like one side of the double ferrule had been closed and the other looked open. Optical illusion I guess. LOL

OK I finally got some snares in the water and had some success. I wanted to thank everyone for their ideas. Here is the set up that connected




Believe it or not I still have a bunch of questions. The spot I set up is close to home and I've been checking it every day, mostly because I was wondering how well the snares would work. First check I caught the beaver on the first of four bait poles. Second check one of the poles was knocked sideways and one of the snares messed up. Third check no action. I'm probably being a little impatient, but I thought I would have done better.

My first question is how often do you guys check your traps and what kind of action do you expect to see. Do you try moving your poles around if the beaver are not going to them after a couple of checks?

I didn't boil my snares in baking soda or anything. Does that make much difference?

Rally, I noticed that you don't make much of a mark on your bait poles and wonder if the marks were bigger, the beaver would see the pole easier or would it just create more snares getting knocked down.

Not sure if I am seeing it right. But it appears that your bait pole with snares is pretty short. Is that right. Maybe a foot of tree below the snares. That is a pretty good sized tree to have to chew through for the amount of goods they get to carry away. Perhaps they don't like what you have to offer. Especially if they have not begun to eat it up yet. Is it a favorite food species. It looks like our alaska Alder. Which beaver don't care for.
So my first advice would be something smaller in Diameter an more delicious looking. ;0)

I can see I've got a long way to go. Never crossed my mind that a beavers intent would be to cut a piece off and take it away, just see the white and investigate. The pole is maple, the only other type of tree in the area is alder and that's what I used for 2 of the poles. I guess I'll change things around a little tomorrow. Thanks for the input Family Trapper.