Curious your thought on setting beaver traps. Do you think beavers mostly stay at or near the surface? Understandably water can get pretty deep upstreams from dams. Sometimes so deep that setting BG's is tough.

If they are using the bottom set on the bottom.Dont matter how deep the water is.

If you find a channel or run It's because the beaver Is swimming along the bottom. Or like Boco likes to say they are walking on the bottom.

A question for you AJE? How do you keep track of all the answers to all your questions? It must be a overwhelming task. LOL

My deepest set has been 7 feet down. And I caught 3 beavers in it
2 kits and a 55lbs female

A channel between two ponds.

If the bottom is swept clean, set deep.

Set as deep as they are swimming. 5-6 feet deep is common to set for me. 2-3' of ice is commone here, and they generally have runs below it.

the only problem I find here if the water is over 6' deep it sometimes hard to fine the run.

How do you set a trap '7 feet down?

Two really long sticks.

Tee pee set.

Boco this is the only way I have trapped in deep water as long as I can find the run. I also use the 4ft H-stands that work well but in deeper water the Tee-Pee set is one of the only ways a person can get down to them, if you are trapping in the run.

4' stabalizer, 2' of arm, then there is only 1' left to drop it in place.

I disagree with most of you. If the run is deep I set the 330 half submerged on the surface, suspended with a stick through the spring eyes. It's a whole lot easier for me. Just because the run is deep doesn't mean they are always swimming on the bottom. Sometimes I put some lure on the bank nearby to help keep them on the surface too. I've caught countless beaver this way.

The tee pee set is good for setting deep culverts even when the bottom of the culvert is a foot or more off the bottom.You can raise the trap on the poles then tighten the wire to hold it solid right at the bottom of the culvert where the beaver will be swimming.Takes a bit of feeling around with a pole to guage the proper depth for the trap.
These deep culverts are easy to find after freeze up as there will be a bit of open water where the culvert is, due to current.
Paul Millette from Hearst spent some time teaching trappers in the northern states how to use the tee pee sets to take beaver under ice at den entrances in winter.Some of the older beaver trappers from Minnesota remember when Paul was there.I believe it was in the 70's sometime,maybe even earlier.

I use a single stick through the eyes of the spring and the trap sideways.

About time some one stated the easy set up. Spot on Michigan trappin.
Some people just have to do things the hard way. LOL
I always figured If there was a grove In the bottom It was made by the beaver so that's where I place the trap.
But Like Goldy said that set up will also work.

I know muskrats spend a lot more time jetting along the bottom than they do on the surface. I don't know if beaver are similar, but I'd be curious to know.

I would guess that when a beaver really wants to get somewhere they jet along the bottom. The few times I've seen them under a few feet of water they were moving remarkably fast; much faster than they travel on the surface.

Beaver move slow and deliberately at the den entrance,they will try and clear the run of any obstruction and if they cant move it,and it is blocking their way,like a beaver in a trap,they will walk around it in a wide run or over it in a narrow run,that is why you need a stable trap,and why you can set 3 or 4 traps or more side by side and/or in series to catch multiple beavers in the same entrance.Unstable traps on one pole results in fired empty traps or one beaver fouling several traps.Trigger placement is also crucial to avoid fired empty traps because of the beavers habit of trying to clear the run as well as for checking traps under the ice.

So were now back to saying that beaver walk around on the bottom of the pond.
I've watched a lot of animal Planet flicks on beaver and I have yet to see a beaver tip toeing along the bottom. They may be pushing off as they swim but they aren't walking.

I've used the teepee method and yes It works well but a single pole with the bottom of the trap In the channel will also work.
And If you want to shove 2 sticks In to the bottom and then let the body grip slide down that will also work. Then all you have to do Is use your hook to pull up the trap and your catch.
Or just use those extended H stands Like shown In the winter picture. If It's to short just zip tie a couple of poles to the stand to make it longer and shove It In place.

I have done something similar with 10'fiberglass rods. You can get them pretty deep with these. I used small hose clamps to attach them to the tall H stands.

There ya go lot easier then screwing around cutting poles and building a Teepee. LOL

The metal superstands have their place but if you read what I wrote before about trapping culverts they will not work where the tee pee set works.I don't know any serious beaver trappers that don't have a supply of tamarack poles in the sleigh for many uses.

I have zero Tamarack poles when beaver trapping.

I often have a good supply of small beaver chewed sticks along when trapping open water.

Some of us trap when there is ice. Your half submerged set doesn't work too well 85% of our season!!!

I will do the same in open water.

I always have poles,as do all beaver trappers here.Need them for countless applications.Pull up to the gas station with the truck,and see another with a few poles sticking out the back you know hes a beaver trapper.
You can see a few applied as block sticks in the multiple beaver set along with the superstands.

Aix,the reason we use tamarack is when they are dry they are light as a feather and hard as steel.They are also basically the same diameter for 10 feet or more and straight with no branches when cut in a thicket.1 inch diameter dry pole has tons of uses on a winter trapline.
I'm sure you have another species where you are,but like was said on here earlier unless you are trapping under ice there are other sets on the surface that will take beaver,so not really necessary to trap deep water runs.

Boco why won't those metal H stands work when trapping the mouth of a culvert?
I build my own H stands and they are built to fit different situations on my line.

Some of our culverts are 1 to 3 feet off bottom and under 3 feet of water.You would never know there was a culvert there if not for the two spots of open water at each side of the bush rd.
Should have some ice in a couple weeks,maybe I'll set up a couple and take a few pics.Its hard to explain but easy to show.

I understand your situation. WE have the same thing here. I just build my H stands with longer legs. The depth of the water under the lower lip of the culvert Is always the same. So building the stand to fit the situation Is pretty straight forward.

Do you guys wire your trap off to somewhere on shore or do those stands and poles hold enough to not fall over?

Just wire a 2 liter bottle to the trap extentions with a long enough cable or light wire.

When can't be secured on land or bush, and your in a boat.

I have a long cable attached to mine so I can stake it on the house, shore, or on ice if necessary. Kirk has a great idea if you can't.

In winter they freeze in,but we use a safety pole in case one gets caught before it freezes so he cant pull everything under the ice.
In open water,at the house,i use a 3rd pole shoved into the house and wired off at the cross.
At a culvert,just a wire to brush or stake.

WE secure a C clamp (beam clamp) to the lip of the culvert. Then we can put a stiffener out to the stand and also secure the trap to the clamp.

The first thing I did with my tall H frames was to add on about 6" to the legs.

I usually upgrade my stack of tamarack poles every year. I use them for beaver or snare poles. These are driven into trails before freeze up. Then I don't need to carry so much when the time comes to hang cables.