I have got four beavers in three days set on a lodge exit. It's been two days since I got a catch, safe to say I got them all ?

How many were there when you started trapping???? Just kidding

Lower the water level and continue to look for any activity if you want to be sure you got them all.

how big is dam ,how big is lodge , what size were beaver that you caught ?

The sizes of the beaver you catch can give you an estimate of numbersThe first year beaver pair up in the spring/summer,but dont mate until the following winter normally,so until the following spring when they have their young,there will only be a pair of beaver.
The following year a good estimate would be 6 beavers.+ or - a couple
The year after that you could have 8-12 beaver.
All age classes will be different sizes.
The most beaver I took out of 1 colony was 21.The lodge looked like a duplex.
Size of the lodge,feedbed and cutting activity can all allow you to guesstimate a realistic number.

First two was a male 40 lbs. and a female 52 lbs. Next two on consecutive days were 18 lbs and looked like twins. Lodge is built on the bank of the small 5 acre lake but there were two dams built on a drainage ditch/creek inlet about 50' apart, one then the other. The lodge is about the size of a VW bug.

Probably got 1 or 2 more 18 pounders there.

Told land owner I'd give it another week , should get what's left by then. Did get a bonus 20 lbs, otter and a few rats too.

Can back up Boco on the 21. In late fall 1983 I had the priveledge of trapping with Canadian trapping legend the late Paul Millette. The man that invented the submerged 220 Conibear otter set just above the small dam break/outlet in an otherwise frozen beaver pond. Another thing Paul was famous for was refining frost scraping beaver and other skins to a fine art. And then there is (no BS and well known in northern Ontario) the year he trapped over 1,000 beaver. Prices were good and he used a plane for part of that. Paul told me the most beaver he ever took out of one colony was 19 so in the same league as Boco's 21.

Did you get the otter in the lodge exit too?

Couldn't find the entrance , but have one set in the run between the food pile and the lodge.

On a 1/4 mile section of man made swampy Creek, with many lodge sized dirt hummocs ; the Beaver had made over 2 dozen bank holes. .. along with Two old lodges and one big Active Island lodge. That early winter I took 20 beaver along that stretch. That was in 86' I was using BMI Magnum 330's back then and setting them by hand .
. I thought I'd trapped it out over a two week period . I re set the big lodge again in late winter and took a Medium 5o# male and a 69# female.

I've never trapped that many Beaver in a small section since that winter back when.

It isn't uncommon to whack a few and then spook the others and have them hole up for a few days.

Yes! This is very true!

Most I have encountered was 22.Male,86 pound female,10 youmg from last year and 10 young of the year.
Tom

I got 13 out of one lodge. Next closest lodge was two miles away.

Up in this country 8 to 12 beaver out of a lodge is the norm on a managed trapline,trapped under a 3 year rotation.As long as there hasn't been a freezeout event like happened in the 90's.One trapper(Yvon A.) flew his trapline to adjust his quota and he went from over 80 live colonies to less than 10.It was similar all across the north that year.

Beaver are just like us they don't like to go out ....or for a swim and get wet...and come in a dry off when it is really cold outside. There not being in the house it cools down and now you have taken 3 heaters out of the house it takes longer to heat up. Some learn just to dip their rears in the water and release their waste into the water at the exits when cold. Those are not Tooties rolls floating / suspended in the water. The bacteria in their gut system produces a lot of heat for them just to sit there. Ever notice that beaver get FAT longer into the winter frozen period.

Indiana location so are you into hard water and for how long now. A mile under ice water is not to be ruled out for beaver movement

Beavers are coprophagic and actually expel 2 different kinds of fecies.The one they recycle by eating is mushy and soft.The second time thru the system it comes out solid and pale and looks like compressed sawdust.

Beavers have not much problem handling cold weather,in their house it stays quite a bit warmer than the outside.The bigger threat to beaver is not being able to acess the feedpile they die of starvation or predation when they chew out the air hole.

Got another one this morning , look like the other two about 18 lbs. So two adults and 3 kids so far. I'm going to keep setting till I'm sure I got them all. To bad the little beaver aren't worth more, but my daughter is getting plenty of practice.