so i set up my first beaver job under my adc license and caught 2 smaller sized beaver this morning. now one is smaller then the other in body mass bit tails look identical so is it possible the little one is just a runt of last years litter ..id imagine the 2 year olds are gone so should i figure there to be 2 more adults and another kit ? just lookin for a lil help is all.

Smaller than what? Do you have weights or lengths or something?

the littlest one is like the length of my size 14 boot without the tail, probably 10 pounds,other bigger ones maybe 15 hut nowhere in sight, have word its about 200 yards up the opposite bank on private land

You caught yearlings. There are usually 3 or 4 little ones to a colony with a litter, but could be 1 to 7 yearlings at times. You still have two big ones, probably 40 plus pounds. Could be some two year olds in addition, but that often goes with the amount of feed and how long they have been there. Two year olds might be 25 to 30 pounds. You don't need to know where the main hut is, only the main dam. They will maintain the main dam frequently, often every night.

yes ik the basic sizes and such just wasnt sure why one yearling would be larger then the other. have all 3 channels to the dam set and caught those 2 yearlings

they have rebuilt the dam 3 nights in a row after DOT tore it out. no work on dam last night

I've got two ADC jobs that I have only been able to catch last years kits at
7 at one
5 at the other

The one with seven I have some history with. As I had been catching the one year olds there for the past three years and the male adult the past two (haven't got a male yet this year) the female has been the most challenging I have ever went after

The spot where I caught five the property owner says there have been beaver in his lake for 22 years but they never came down the creek and dammed it up until this year. (My theory is that someone has been trapping his lake without his knowledge, but with the lower prices I think they backed off and now either are more picky about trapping it or have been waiting for all to get prime before trapping)

What does all of this have to do with the original post ?

Maybe someone has removed the larger ones and it's only the smaller ones left

Just a thought

When ever I caught more than 4 kits I have always eventually caught another female or found that one was shot or trapped. I was always thinking a female could have more than four kits because of what others have said in the past and pictures here recently have shown.

Several Gov. agencies trying to promote themselves have used beaver autopsy to show how many kits they had in the litter that year. I always laughed at how gullible the listeners were. They used the show as a tool to win over my competition from counties and cities preying on the limited knowledge their listeners had.

I am sure that more than 4 is possible, but it has been my experience that it is extremely uncommon. At least where I live.

Region whether conditions and impoundment makeup make a big difference. The original "post" was from Maine. I would think water temperature would always be cool there and beaver would be aggressive, coming almost every night to patch what was open.

Where I live their are hundreds and in the adjoining counties "thousands" of irrigation ponds. Most have limited shade. If the pond has a shallow rim and a large over flow area that is less than 3 feet deep, it is common for the water temperature to be over 90 degrees in those areas. That means a beaver, if he has to do much repairing, is going to be working in 90 degree surroundings for minutes at a time. He can not dive to get to cool off. The low for the night may only be 80 degrees. He just can't cool off or he might die.

If there is no rain, or inflow, activity stops. It may be for over a month for any activity to take place, depending the situation, and still have several beaver in the pond.

Conditions and region should always be a factor.

I always take notice when a post is made and the trapper says he always gets them all, before he leaves. I know he is lying or not from here.

well i caught another kit and an adult about 45-47 pounds thjs check. actually watched the kit swim into.the 280 which was cool but there was minimal activity at the culvert with only a fe sticks in the culvert. so hoping thats all 3 kits

Three or four yearlings is most common here, five sometimes. I have found females carrying 6 and 7. Rally Hess mentioned as many as 8 or 9 I believe. When addressing an ADC beaver job I find it best to orient what I do to the two adults, the larger beaver if I can. If you get the big ones the small ones usually come pretty easy. Sometimes if you get the small ones first as the big ones watch, that last big one can be a pain. When I leave a job there is no activity, no beaver. The majority of the time the last one comes with me, but at times they just end up leaving from the pressure. Certain sets will end the job either way with a catch or driving the last one away. Like to catch the last so that I don't end up with him somewhere else to deal with a second time. I still have one missing in action from last year. Missed her the past two years. At least she is absent now. Probably come back in the fall again and bring a friend. Usually get the friend first, which tips off the smart one. There was one last year that got driven from 4 locations, got him at the 5th. At one point I was 6 feet from him in a canoe, in the beginning. In town, so shooting wouldn't have been good. Don't care how many you catch, there will always be tough ones that get wised up, not from doing anything wrong, but just watching the family disappear.

Its only after the fact, like the other day, when you learn about "some young guys who set footholds at the dam and missed the beaver the winter before," as well as others who tried but failed in the adjacent pond. Guess if it was that easy everyone would do it.

I blew a dam with one beaver left in the colony a couple of years ago. Fought all winter with that beaver trying to plug the dam. She kept plugging it up and I kept tearing it out. When spring finally came, it took me a week to find out where she was cutting all the brush to fix the dam and I had her overnight with a bodygrip in the run to the woods. That dam has been beaver free for over a year and a half now. Jim is right. That last beaver can be tough. I am working a job right now with one left and he has seen some family members disappear and is getting smart quick.