I am no ADC guy, but my uncle has pressured me into trying to catch a beaver in his backyard, and he wants it caught alive and relocated to a river. I've told him I've never caught one alive, and I haven't a clue how to even attempt it. Will a foothold hold a beaver? I'm really only a coyote trapper and our regs are very small traps on land: 5 3/4". Is it possible to use a #2 laminated 4 coiled bridger for a beaver on land. A little more info: we've gotten a picture and it is indeed a smallish beaver.

Catch them with a snare and transport them in a barrel.

I caught one in a large raccoon cage trap. Made a small castor mound in back of trap. Had a beaver the first night.

On of the better known ADC men here in Montana catches a lot of them in the bigger Comstock cages. But it can be tricky to do, and he only does it as a last resort.

Kirk, how do you use a snare live catch? Thought snares were all lethal? You put a stop so many inches from the end? Or a foothold snare?

It is easy to do,,,

X2 metal garbage can and ratchet strap the top on. Thats pretty dang cheap. $.75 for the snare, Fuel and a can

I use a 3/32 5' snare with a large washer lock. Tie it off low with only your support wire sticking up. If you tie to a small tree he could get entangled and killed sometimes.

Just cut wire and pull him where you want him to go. Here they won,t attack you. Up north there is a good chance he may try to get you when you are leading him. So be careful.



Very easy to catch them live 12x12 double-doored cages on land or in shallow water. The trick is getting there before the cold or heat gets to them.

Nathan had a good one, the point he made about the larger cage even with a pan. That could save you some money, and a cage won,t tear up the run.

reinforce the trap with extra clip and at the door........

If it's a small beaver, why bother trapping? Chase it into a portable dog kennel with a broom or stick. I've done it a few times with no problem. Does he have a stream or pond in his yard? If not, that thing isn't going to stay there long anyway. The calls I get for "city" beavers are 99% groundhogs, but once in a while I get calls from people who actually have a beaver in their garage or on their porch. Typically after extreme rainfall or when the 2-year olds are getting booted out of the colonies. They are very easy to "guide" into a large cage.

Hey ron, yeah i didnt give any details about the layout of the land. He has a small pond adjacent to a somewhat bigger small pond. It has a small stream that regulates the height of the pond. The beaver dammed up this little area and has built himself a house. It is a small house, but i've no knowledge of how to catch one alive. Snares and box traps seem to be the consensus. My uncle thinks' he's going to scare it out of its house right into a cardboard box.. I told him that's not at all going to happen, but he's trying not to "hurt" the animal as much as possible. He didnt like my footholds i had. Im just down for putting up a camera and enjoying the show, but I thought i'd ask everyone here first! ha

Okay, now it makes sense. I thought it may be in an area with no water nearby. If there is a den, you could make a large colony-type trap that is tall enough that the top is out of the water. Whether it is in or out, it should swim into the trap as it exits or returns. Stake it good so it doesn't tip over to prevent drowning.

I would tell my uncle or anyone that if they think that much of the beaver they should learn to live with him. It is not very neighborly to turn a beaver loose on someone else to deal with. The only way I would do it is if your uncle owned a river or had permission from someone who had a place where other beaver had a welcome wagon program. My point is there is n o welcome wagon in nature and a relocated small beaver is going to have a miserable short life. It sounds like he has a good place right now with no problems except your uncle. Your uncle doesn't want to share responibility for what he is about to do to the poor little beaver or his fellow man. I would get some good beaver recipe's and or offer to send him to fox furs to be made into a hat to clear his concious. If that didn't work I wouldn't either.

Time of year is doubtful for a solitary beaver, possible but not likely. Beaver pair for life in their second year when they are evicted from their parent colony in the spring of the year. After mating they produce a litter that can be up to six according to the literature, I see an average of two to three. Followed by another litter the following spring and from that point forward the two year old litter will be evicted prior to the birth of the next litter.
So based on time of year you likely have a mated pair of at least this season's duration. Litter size unknown due to natural mortality, could be full complement to anything in between. Of course it works the other way as well and could be the sole survivor of the litter/colony due to natural mortality as well. Never say never with critters but again knowing beaver as I think I do I stand by my original surmise.
The only way I know to determine this is to get out there and eyeball it myself. You can read beaver sign like any other critter. Track sizes, tooth marks, slides all can be indicators of different beavers.
BTW, one common scenario of the solitary or hermit beaver is the older adult that has lost it's mate and former colony site.

I am also in full agreement with Paul Brooker. The only answer for beaver does not include relocation.
Just today I visited a site I tried to trap about four years ago and found the beavers had done just what I said they would in their city sanctuary behind the city chain link fence. I told the fellow I was speaking to that if I was a property owner within a five mile radius of that clogged up drain and I ever had to have beaver removed that I'd tell my attorney where to send the bill.

The most inexpensive live trapping beaver is done with snares. We moved hundreds of beaver that way 20 years ago before the policy in New York changed to "only under extraordinary circumstances," which just don't happen. A 40 inch snare worked fine, 3/32, 7x7 cable, with a relaxing lock. Have used 1x19 stiff cable also. Worn Thompson locks work and Byron Riecherts washer locks or offset washer locks. It doesn't hurt to load the snares.

Hook the snare to a long extension cable, 5 or 6 feet or so, with a quick link in between the snare and extension. I used large ring door traps for transport cages. I usually set the snares in the water near shore. Once the beaver has been caught, put the transport cage upside down in the water facing shore, hold the cable with beaver in tow and allow the beaver to swim into the cage. Flip the cage, unbuckle the snare at the quick link. If you use a small rod with a hook on the end you can loosen the snare from the beaver without a lot of trouble. If the lock won't slip you can hook the cable and pull it to the side of the cage and cut it with cable cutters. Sometimes snares will fall off on their own.

You can clip another snare into the quick link and extension and reset pretty fast. If weather is warm, make sure the beaver can get into the water. They overheat easily. Make sure the beaver can not wind up on roots or the like on the bottom. The dangers are in overheating and drowning.

Cages work super, even easier to set, with the upfront cost, but with the advantage of reuse. Snares are a one time deal, but super cheap and very effective, while doing no damage to the beaver if set properly.

Does anyone have a link to the relaxing lock? So the snare gets really tight, but doesnt kill the beaver? I dont know how that works. The relaxing lock does all the work?

Most snare locks get tight as the animal pulls on the cable. Relaxing locks loosen just a little when the animal quites pulling. So the animal does not kill themselfs.

I couldn't agree more!

To start with, if you release the animal elsewhere, you need permission from that land owner. Good luck getting that! If it's PUBLIC land that your releasing it on, you'd best check and see how many local, state and federal laws you'd be breaking to do that.

Relocating an animal in a new area where others of his species already are is doing that critter no favors! Release him alone in an area void of his kind is not helping him either. In a new territory, he'll be more subject to predation, starvation or territorial offense. If your Uncle is so concerned for it's well being, then he should just get use to having him around.