I'm doing a beaver job for Blount co. It's in a industrial park and this is the 3rd time I been here in 2 years. There are 2 creeks that come together and at the Y is where the bulk of the activity is. I monitor this location for the county through out the year. 7 dams sprang up since last check. These are bank beavers and I have spooked them last year. So this time there was enough water to float in. I canoed in and set mostly slides and made a few castors mounds. I stayed away from the cross overs because of turtles and now there are otters in there. I figured a female and kits. The first night I catch 1 10 lb kit. For 3 nights nothing, no activity. The 4th night I breached the dams and let it rest for 2 nights. Today I came back and absolutly no sign of any beavers. That 10 lb kit could not have built all 7 dams. Some of the logs were bigger than him. I have seen this before, Vanishing beaver. Winter time I have not seen this. Any Ideas?

I don't know where they went but this the first year that we haven't got a single beaver call so they didn't come up to Sussex.

Paul I set my first trap in Sussex. Right at the end of Friess pl. I would trap Boyds farm Off of Tamarack rd. Do you know the place?

I probably do but I'll make a note of it next time I'm in the area. Quad Graphics is my main Sussex customer.

I've got a similar problem in a drainage pond in a housing development.

I came in there with castor lure. It may have spooked them

The two most common mistakes I see from adc beaver trappers are

Not setting hard,,,,,,


Not blocking the exit ways,,,,,




smart beaver?///




I have seen beaver stay in a bank Dens for over a week...
I have seen bank den complexes with there own underground pool....




Maybe not just the one kit, but kits dam building fools!!!

Beaver often leave in summer, very transient. May move but a few hundred yards away, then return weeks or months later in the fall or near winter. They don't always deal with pressure in summer, especially a male left alone if you take the female. Females are most apt to hang tight. I am dealing with beaver that left in June and recently returned. Often take one, one leaves, then they pick up a mate and come back together. You catch one and think you are done, only to find the dam up and solid the following day. With the warming climate there seems to be a change, less predictable and they don't get ready for winter like they used to. By now they would be doing a lot of work, don't see it much any more. Its still pretty warm and they can be pushed out even this late it seems.

I believe it best not to begin with castor depending on how you are setting it up, foot trap or body gripper, not so much if snaring or cages. If they get spooked at a castor set with a sprung trap you may have a beaver, trap shy, location shy and also lure shy. I have found it works well to use one or two tools at a time in sequence so as not to blow the whole thing in one shot. But, if you get into a mess, drop it, pull out and let the dust settle until the beaver drop their guard. You can return and put in one or two good sets, quietly, a few week s later to pick up the last one with more or less a clean slate unless he picks up on your return, in which case you could be in trouble again. I don't fight them much any more when they are keyed in every move you make.

Vinke, I cleaned them out each time I was there

Jim good advise thanks. I think I messed it up with the back breaker

When this happens to me,I usually find that there is a main colony in a small pond nearby or downstream and those need to be trapped out to cut off the breeding.

Those are called job security beaver, ha, always a new supply each year. Some of those back in colonies, not far away, have provided work for a number of years since no one called for them to be trapped.

Just had another beaver leave today and was planning on it, very late, and the reason I waited so that would not happen. He is next to the river, so not good, an easy exit at any time as the river is open a lot of the time. Been busy all summer so never got serious with him till now after taking some dumb ones, and thought he would stay as it is October. However, these dam creatures, phantoms as they are sometimes called, do not mud up a house, no feed piles, not much to look at in a single beaver, just eating and building one dam, seemingly impossible to locate. To date, I think I have located but one beaver living alone in these situations in summer, though I doubt they are more than 100 yards from the dam, no sign. Love to have some clear ice.

I had a plan that got interrupted by the highway guys who suddenly showed up and took the dam down more than I wanted. He sprung a Bailey, then must have seen a snare and that's all she wrote, gone.

Lots of differences in individual personalities of beaver too. One dam was heavily brushed up every day, caught one, now just a little mud and small sticks, no brush at all. They are all different, maddening at times.

I have a condo complex that gets beaver in the pond 1-2 times year I set it and BOOM they are GONE. Tried just blind sets, tried lured sets after, nothing, not cuttings, no nothing for 2-3 weeks then I pull (it is by work so easy to check), and they stay out for 6 months or so

MikeD

I've noticed that vanishing beavers have plagued a lot of trappers . They also took them to the bank . I'm with Vinke gang bang your beavers and take them all out the first night

Not trying to sound rude,,,but, how do you know?

uterous scaring?


Try to pattern the ghost beaver......

When does it come back

what did it do the last time it was there

what was the weather

where did it come in from

There was no activity for a few months after I pulled the traps. Whether I trapped them or scared them. They were gone for some time. All I can go by is what I see.

I would do also like was said set hard the first day and check for the main dam and then check where it all comes from and empty into and then you will find your main source is and then go from there. The smart ones put there den where you would not think there would be one . I have had that problem in the past and when you have a place that you are not able to trap and then you see where they all come from after and then that is the sopt area that you set up and hit them hard i have .Some places i have set the source is above the main dam where I was not able to trap and I just keep gooing there year after year.Also change the way you do things since they got smart on you,do not use a mound .I useally just put caster from a differnet area that I got the beaver and just have it on a stick that they can smell it and can not see where it is coming from and it draw them in and also the oil too.The fastest I have clean out 6 beavers was set on a sunday afternoon and early monday morning before work I clean them out and that was it .the biggest was 60lbs.I used footholds and conibear and snares .i set it hard.hope this will help