well today is last day of spring beaver trapping In u p of Michigan an late spring again has stop most of it ,lots of snow in woods yet an half of the ponds are still frozen over creek and river that are open are to high to get near to be safe ,its been this way 8 out of the last 10 years we been trying to get the dnr to put season till end of the month [april] or second week of may but no luck with them ,how is it with the rest of you northern guys

Frustrating ain’t it?

yes they [ d n r ] just don't get it

I am just getting going here myself, and a little farther north than you, but pond ice is everywhere and ice on the edges of rivers too, and enough snow in the woods to stop travel with a pickup. Season will end the 15th of May.

Thankfully the WI DNR didn't go along with recommendations from some to shorten the season in NW Wisconsin a couple of years ago. Skinned a nice blanket yesterday that was still in great shape. We have two weeks left.

Best thing Illinois ever did for us was extend the beaver (now otter too) to March 31 from February 28. That March extension is great!!

End of season related: I got my second and third beavers (ever) on second to last day of beaver trapping in NY this year, April 6th (https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/29044.html). It's already warm there. No snow.

Do you really think it’s considered “late” spring in the UP right now? Maybe late winter?

Ha, exactly

and when they did extend it to the 30th last year it was almost classified info I hoped it would be permanent with all the damage complaints and road commissions getting permanent permits Guess we just have to leave them pay

I remember that Jeff. I wanted to catch a few so I would have some more beaver for coyote bait. Just a little hope they still do it today.

Jim

Took a walk this morning to check out a couple of beaver lodges I'd been meaning to trap. Still 18" of snow on land, and ponds iced over, no sign of beavers in the little bit of open water that was around.

Two weeks to go here, some are just starting to make catches, mainly at road culvert/bridge crossings, but probably another week before most of the beaver come out to play where I'm at.

Maine legislature controls ending date of the trapping season, but passed a law this session to give the MDIFW commissioner authority to extend the season based on weather conditions.......if these late winters keep up, we might be trapping beavers in May next year.

Good luck in getting an extended season in your area. Landowner and municipality complaints to legislators seem to go a long way.

I took a ride yesterday and looked over three ponds near me. All had open water and the streams were gushing. Saw a couple ducks but no beaver. I pulled my last trap two weeks ago. Saw four geese flying over and I'm pretty sure I saw two robins. Eyesight ain't what is once was.

Don't forget Jim you had to have your traps SET on the 15th last year

Yes the way I read it you had to violating to be able leave them out another two weeks.

Never have been able to understand why someone would want to trap when the fur is not good?

First week after ice out here the fur is still good on about 80% of the catch.After 3 weeks if your still trapping about 80% will be shedders or dmg.Fur/pelt quality of the resource goes downhill pretty fast after ice out.
If you are any good at grading and have an alternative market for finished product,you can trap hard for a couple weeks after ice out and ship the repairables to the tanner for self manufacture,and ship the good big hvy's to the auction to pay the tanning bill.

Designated trout streams in UP are open until end of April unless they changed that but it was anyway. I don’t live up there anymore so don’t follow it. If so your good on trout streams yet

Late freeze last year made them extend to those who already had them set in N Lower Mich. I busted through a mess to get mine out on the last day only to find out if you had them set you had 2 extra weeks left. The Beavers I pulled this Sunday and sold today were still getting near prime $ and ice out was about a week ago in my area on the larger lakes.

Still getting some good ones here yet. Hopefully the lakes will open up this week. Creek beaver are getting shabby need some fresh ones let go.