i don't think too many people are baiting,,,,,,, but we don't have much ice on the westside

runs,,,,bottom edge sets,,,,, den entrances

I've seen guys try to bait colony traps for muskrats under the ice but haven't seen it work yet . It would be nice and I'm all forit working

I will bait colony traps for muskrat on dry land.......

Never tried it that way or seen it tried that way

Bernies swamped and only getting a few out.

You should be able to bait them just like an under ice beaver set with a peeled stick above a foothold on an angled pole.
Does that make sense to anybody? I've got the pic in my head and have seen drawings if it.

Anyway just tie the stick to the trigger rod, beaver grabs the stick pulls the rod and doors come down.

I am going to try putting a tube on both sides of the trap so it floats have sumerged, and bait it with a green stick and a food lure or castor kinda like a floating 3330 set. I think it should work also i would think it would work baited with fish for otters, going to try that also.

Just saw this. Thought I would post a few pics of my traps.
10x10x48 power doors I made them for otter and beaver but especially for otter. If you want to miss otter they are not the thing. A few minor design changes for this year but basically the same trap I had good luck with last year.

1x2 wire 14 guage, never had a problem with it but my traps are always set under water so the beaver or otter doesn't last long. A must here IMO because we can go to a three day check with an underwater trap.


The door, I used 1x1 wire on the doors with 1/4" cold rolled rod frame


The trigger, This is a sweet trigger system, resistant to bouncing around but fires easily and quick. Catches rats fine.


A close up of the door hinges.


Here's what the animal sees

Now show them how many you made Bruce,,,,,, LOL,,,,,, I hope i did not create "the Monster"....

Dave they're not all swim throughs. New cat traps and civet traps too.

you are a gluten for them beaver,,,,,,, Good luck this year! and be safe my friend.........

Humptulips or Vinke: could you please show the trigger set up for the power door cages your building? I build a few cat cages and have been thinking about a power door like your using for coon and beaver. Thanks in advance.

Check my pics out. I believe he is using the same trigger system.

It seems to work best when the trap door has at least 4 " of clearance from the bottom of the door opening to the water level. In a northern state I believe you can get by with a lower or smaller door opening and peeled sticks for bait placed under water if a lower hieght trap.

The opening needs to be 12" wide or wider, I have found, to work best.

The shorter the trap, the better, also. But you, can get by with a longer trap as long as the opening is bigger, or a larger trap volume to seem less confined or enclosed to the animal.

I know of quite a few doing this now. Seems to be no different than a floating body grip set, just that he is alive waiting for you.

I believe this set would work well with live bank sets, having the floater anchored 10' or so away from the bank. Sure ought to keep the wagons circling.

Here's a picture I took today. Maybe not the best pic but if you put it together with the other pics I posted you might be able to figure it out.

A couple of guys from Tower and Soudan MN used funnel type colony traps for beaver in what now is the boundary waters. That was when you could haul stuff in with a snowmobile. I worked with one (Johnny Akins) and listened to his trapping and fishing adventures from the 50's and 60's.

The traps were made with heavy chicken wire, 1 inch mesh. They had a mink ranch and used the same wire for their pens, the wire was very good, I have a couple of the 40 year old cages and they are useable.

They hauled the mesh up on sleds and made the traps on the spot, using them in beaver runs through the ice. They were made just like large minnow traps, 14-16 inches in diameter and 4-5 feet long. I don't recall if they had a flapper door for the funnel. They caught the heck out of beaver in them and John said sometimes they had trouble pulling them out with a few beaver inside. The remains of some of these traps are still up at Trout lake north of Vermiliion , near beaver houses that have been in use off and on for decades or more.

How big was the funnell opening on the small end?

Or what do you recommend?

I think the openings in the funnels were only 9-10 inches and pointed towards the bottom of the trap, I guess the beaver would tend to work the uppermost part of each end trying to get out. They must have stuck some kind of stake through the cage to keep them from rolling it. I should have asked more questions, but I got the story 30+ years ago. If they could figure it out back then, we can now. I know the opening seems small but a swimming beaver is like more like a torpedo than a blob.

Thx got the jist of it. Much appreciated.

Do you know if they had an access door that they were taking them out?

They just had a square of the heavy chicken wire covering an opening in the bottom, wired shut. Pretty crude, but it worked for them.

By having a hard time pulling them out, I meant pulling the trap out of a hole chainsawed in the ice when there was two or more beaver in them.

I wish John and Herman Klun were still alive so I could stop in and pick their brains like when I was a kid. I'm not sure the method was legal as there was a limit on beaver back then and some of the old timers were "bootleg beaver" outlaws and had the dollar an inch hides flown out by ski plane to who knows where. 50-60 bucks per put up beaver was real money back then. Trappers made more money than anyone in town.