So here's the challenge. to remove a Beaver from a highly used public pond. Now when I say public I mean public, this is a main pond in downtown with people walking around it all day and into the evening. my first thought was to use a snare pole and push it into the mud. but then I thought about the ducks and geese. I think I'm way over thinking this, I just don't want to end up in the paper and with a PETA protest. Any suggestions would be great

I kill a lot of beaver in front of the pubic and never get seen,,,,, #5 on a drown wire....... set at dark and pull in the morning,,,....

If you want to be "politically correct" I have signs that say "beaver relocation project for wetland enhancement,please do not disturb the caged wildlife as this will only stress the animal and cause it further detriment,contact wdfw for more info xxx-xxx-xxxx",,and use cages..

Just like Vinke said...Do it under the cover of darkness..it's not so bad

I know the USDA uses cages in Texas in public ponds.

I agree with the covert plan. Set up late check/early. I disagree with the sigh idea. The less people who know what is going on the better.
I have had people sit out all night to protect the beavers. I would suggest cage/Hancock type traps. If and when you get found out, you would have taken the most PC approach (This is what professional do) and will look the best for caring what the public thinks. This is not the place or time to try to educate the public. It takes more work so charge correctly.
Don LaFountain

On the bright side, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If the worst happened and you made the front page, with PETA and HSUS

all over your butt, you would still get ten times as many jobs from the exposure.

X2

If you use benign cages you can sleep at night and won't worry about kids and dogs et. al. If you use castor you can set where you choose. If you use a swim through double door cage under water no one will see it or the catch. If you set late you will unlikely to encounter non-targets but will take beaver quickly. If you stick around you can watch them get caught, ask Don LaFountain. If you pull before daylight its doubtful that anyone will ever know you were there. We will be in Syracuse next week speaking on urban beaver trapping.

I would use cages and set late and pull early, charging accordingly for the inconvience.

Yep...cages at night and you can sleep well.

thanks for all the info fellas.

I have cleaned out entire beaver colonys in city limits in conservation areas highly used by the public,- birdwatchers,dogwalkers,research biologists,etc.I used chest waders and set after dark walking back into the pond and setting bodygrips heavy,submerged in underwater den entrances and runs.Check early just before dawn.

Boco is right about setting body grippers deep. They will work fine and if set deep should not pose a problem, most of the time.

However, even with that scenario with deep, cold water at ice out, I I have a story about what could have been an incident. I set in back of a high school a few years back in April, some ice and snow still on. I was going to set a very deep run in the middle of a 20 foot wide area with tag alders in a stream. Instead I opted for a castor set with a conibear on the backside, down stream and soooooo glad I did. In checking the next day, as the kids were getting out, I was in total disbelief as I found the strangest most unexpected sight you could imagine, a kid, up to his chest in 40 degree water at best, in his school clothes, no boots, snow on the edges, wading exactly where I had planned a to put a 660 conibear in a 4 foot deep channel set. My heart sank, how lucky we both had been. A good chance he would have had a 660 on his leg.

Even with deep runs, I caught a trapper in a BMI 330 years ago in a completely hidden set for otter. He said, "I didn't see a thing," which I told him later was the idea. Even though the traps were on Lefler Stands, completely submerged in a very deep run, I got him. There are so many weird scenarios that can play out, stuff you couldn't imagine or make up, so I'll still go with the least dangerous every time. Good for both perception and for those times that "one in a million" can happen.

Last year I had a golden retriever swim up and down the stream channel where the cages were placed. Could have been ugly with conibears.

My best friend used to set his Conibear in a long muskrat run and tie it to his casting rod. Whenever the trap snapped he reeled in

the trap and muskrat and then reset it. His best day was five. You could do the same thing with a beaver run. Of course you'd have

to use heavier gear and if the beaver was still alive, you'd probably draw a crowd, bringing him into the landing net.

That would be just my luck..I like to sleep at night myself. Being as the op said it was "highly used", I would be imagining a dozen teenagers skinny dipping all night long.

I imagine that all the time too, but removing the beavers in that situation can be pretty important.

Thanks for posting. It cracked me up. That movie was released four days ago and has already grossed $29,133. Obviously a box office

smash. I'm going to start filming a sequel immediately. I'm calling it Zombunnies. ( I'm going to need help from Playboy on this one )

The kid I saw was in school clothes, but if you going to have a dream, might as well be skinny dipping.

Looking forward to a bit warmer weather. Thinking of the guy who tried to jump into a frozen pool in his back yard on TV last year, trying to do a cannon ball. Jumped and bounced, ice was too thick, didn't even crack, like concrete, which sent a shock wave through all that saw it, ouch! That's what it is here, frozen solid, 9 degrees this morning here, 11 below an hour up north. Only rivers beginning to open. Sill hoping to set a few before long. Sometimes ice out in the mountains is well into May.

Another issue is people who don't keep their word, as in "sure, I'll keep the dog in the house while you are trapping." I once had some snares set about 2 miles from the house with that promise. I told them I would be a only a few days. Same day they let the dog run to the brook. He got snagged, of course, in a beaver crawl out while they watched. At least they were able to release him unharmed form a washer lock, but were still irate saying the crawl out was a "dog trail." Can't be too careful. Lots of devices are great for catching, but not much close to 100% benign.

This morning I had an experience with beaver that made me think of this thread. DO IT IN PUBLIC ALL IN THE DARK. I had one this morning that the drowning wire slipped up and I had a face off with Mr B. I won, but in the dark no one knows what I had to do to win. So yea. DO IT IN THE DARK IN PUBLIC PLACE

that's funny right there. I finally got Mr.Beav in a 4 snare under water set. I'm glade that one is done. Now they want muskrats removed. I'm gonna go with colony traps.