22 will not go through water the velocity it travels at causes I to break up I believe. The two times I've seen beavers here one was jumping off the bank and swam under and this one surfaced for a nanosecond I think I migh have to try my hand at snares in the ponds. Put them on a drowning rod and see if I can get them that way maybe. Swans won't get stuck because we have to have a stop on our snares

You might want to think that one through some more.

Once the beaver plugs that pagewire fence,it will be near impossible to open that culvert.
I would put the boots to whoever put that thing there.

No I don't. I gotta catch them beavers. The 330 is a sure death to them. I'm fairly sure I can set the snares up in a way that the swans won't set in them. If the swan heads down the rod evantually he has to go backwards I hope

Yea. That would be the county road commission. They were also suppose to remove the dam from inside of it. But they only took off the top foot

Also makes it hard to set the runs they have in the creek bed as the water is still 20" too high.

They do the same thing here.

Snares are deadly on birds of all sorts,be careful where you set the snares.

Ok I get the point that snares might kill the dang swans. So what I need is advise on how to catch the beavers in these ponds without catching the swans.

I did one job were geese were using pond for a loafing pond and I would set traps right befor dark and get there at first light and set them off. I really don't want to do that here but maybe I will have to. Any suggestings would be appreciated. My contract goes until may 1 on this site with an option for 10 more days at my discretion

Getting them slowly. One at each site 22# at lake. 19# at culvert location

Got a 48# female a large lake this morning that was carrying four kits, this should just about complete this colony so should lead to more jobs with county drain commission as well as nearby counties I hope

Congratulations on the gig. Good luck with everything.

14 beaver caught so far at These two sites. The dispersal of the two year olds seems to have started here. Seeing dead ones On the roads. So maybe I will get some of them to show up at sites and stick their heads in a 330

You have done well. Don't know what you run into there for dispersal. In the Adirondacks where feed is poor dispersal at two years is the norm. In lily pad ponds they seem not to toss the two year olds, but can all live in one lodge, several generations, 15 at times, due to the abundance of feed. Have seen beaver that weigh in the 50's, 40's 30's, 20's down to the teens all crammed in one lodge, always lily ponds. It's a good idea to keep cognizant of what you are catching just to have an idea of what might be left, but do get fooled from time to time.

Actually went out in canoe today at site with culvert, A lot of feeding taking place on lily root/ shutes and other aquatic vegetation. Set some 330s in these feeding areas. Look like they are after roots because ther is a lot of grass flooting on top with white shutes eaten off. I think there are some still here. Got a couple of good leads for fall/ winter pelt trapping for beaver today from a local taxidermist

At lake site it looks like maybe something came and started working on dam last night. I will know in The morning.


And I do keep notes about the size of what I catch as well as type of set and location of sets. I know it will make sense when I sit down and compile the info

Just caught a we little beaver this morning. 11#. Along with a 21#. Makes 16 on this contract. The dang thing is so cute. Almost makes me want to not catch them. Almost Now I know that the ones on my trail cam are surely beaver. As I had nothing to size against in photos. Thought they might be muskrats. Had one jump off the bank. When walking this morning so I know there are more

That little thing was in a #4 drowning rig. He only went about 2 feet down the 15 foot rod

Now that you mention it, I've seen lots of pet wild animals including fox, raccoon, skunks, mink, otter, and opossum. But I've never

seen a pet beaver on a leash. Just imagine dinner time: a bag of wood chips for supper and a log roll for dessert. I guess you would

have to be careful when you bathe him that he doesn't dam up the tub. I did catch a large male in a snare and gave it to a friend who

owned a wildlife zoo. He was amazed at how fast it adapted to captivity and ended up in a zoo in Green Bay. ( Probably wearing a

Packer uniform )

Looking good!

Got trail camera photos yesterday of beaver on the edge of the guys pond, so today we are fencing his swans in to a smaller area and start trapping his ponds. He knows if we don't, the ones left there will rebuild dam. It's good having property owners who cooperate with you. They guy on other side of dam is going to take me to the back of his property this afternoon too. There is another dam back there that is up stream from the culvert

The 21# beaver I caught Monday I believe was not from this colony he appears to be one that was drove out of another colony he had a lot of bight marks and his coat was different from the ones I had been catching. So that makes maybe one dispersing beaver caught at this site

Wish we had as many beaver to trap as you do. Just went to an "emergency" spot in which the beaver had made a big mess, but were gone. Must have been trapped over the winter. All the town saw was the result. Very difficult to judge, triage, which to attack first. One calls with "huge" problems that are nothing, one tree, one stick. Next guy says to come when you can and it turns out his whole place is flooded, dams everywhere, perceptions.

Jim, it's that time of the year. Everyone sees all the old muskrat holes that caved in because even if you were blind and couldn't

see them, you could still fall in. Fortunately I've been able to catch at least one on every job, so my reputation stays intact. I

have the distinct feeling that I will be returning to nearly all of these locations by fall. The people that call early are actually

pretty smart. If I take out the adults, no babies! ( Except, of course, the new ones that crawl in from other waterways )