Set up a job for the city this am. Beaver have a culvert dammed up that crosses I 90. Chain link fence separates boundaries....I notice 2 steel fence posts positioned about 10 inches apart in an old channel....so I drag my T-bar stake across the gap and hear a metallic sound....yep a sprung 330 rusted up with bones in it. Oh oh what I’m in for?

The shotgun can save a lot of time and frustration. Just be sure to use the right load. I've skinned a lot of beaver with pellets under their hide...even some between the hide and skull. If it comes down to shooting them, it's hard to beat a xtra full choke 12 gauge with heavi shot dead coyote loads. An elevated stand gives better penetration.

I just shake my southern sweaty head when i read northern trappers post about using a peeled stick behind a trap to catch a shy beaver. Down here....forget that.

Also forget making a castor mound set. You might have a chance at one of the beaver's mounds....might.

Have fun Mike!!

I got to point in the last 5- 10 years to ask the tenant/farmer/landowner if someone TRIED to trap the beaver before me.

When the feds purchased the land in Northern Wisconsin where the Iron River National Fish Hatchery was to be(and was) built, they did so because of the pure water in two spring fed streams. On one stream, about 1/4 mile below the cedar swamp where the spring fed Middle Creek broke out there had been for years a beaver pond with a female rather famous for turning out six babies each year that were large mediums(56 inches stretched) by the start of winter season(no fall season back then)and several different local beaver guys had been removing the young, any carryovers and each year the new male that would show up and they all said there was no danger of catching the female because she was uncatchable. Plus no one wanted to catch her because she was the goose who laid the golden eggs. When the feds got possession, the beaver had been mostly all removed but they asked me to remove the remainder because they were going to blast the dam and then remove all the debris that had been used to construct decades of dam. I took a couple that were left and then they blew out the center of the dam and brought in an excavator. I attempted to scare her into moving out, she only would have had to move a 1/2 mile downstream and resume housekeeping but she could not. Was a tough catch with almost no water and her in total panic at any sound or smell. I have no idea if she was as tough to catch as some of the famous coyotes or wolves who have been taken because I know that I likely could not have caught them, but she really challenged me. She had two large multi-entrance lodges(by large I mean 10-12 feet high with the water gone), at least a half dozen bank lodge entrances and all running with spring breakout water. I finally took her in a trickle from a bank den where I could see her tracks on the bottom in something like 6-8 inches of crystal clear running water. I snuck in as quietly as a human can and buried a #14 Newhouse with canvas(what I used back then) pan covers top and bottom and then everything buried in mud about 1/2-1 inch deep. Still feel bad about it all.

A really smart beaver is not catchable - he will move out and relocate- anyone that thinks he can catch a beaver like that is kidding himself!!! If you catch one you consider that smart he wasn't that smart was he?

Definitely some truth in this statement^^^^

Had some I never caught..

I can honestly say that I haven't found one that is uncatchable. Some have been extremely challenging, but they eventually showed me how to catch them. Some took many months to catch. I just had to pay attention.

Caught a male and four little ones out of a pond. I knew the female was still there but the landowner hired a hoe to open the dam. I walked out in the mud and set four snares in lodge entrances. She stayed in lodge for 11 days, with the pond completely drained. I think thirst finally brought her out.
I agree Paul, a beavers nose is way under estimated, and going into a pond and pounding stakes and changing the general appearance of an area, is like leaving flags on a golf course. Sometimes a bad storm, that leaves many downed trees and limbs, can be to the trappers advantage, mother nature changed their environment.
I also agree they are all catchable, if we put in the effort.. I think most often we get into the rut of setting where it is convenient for us to set/check, but not always where the beaver is traveling. Can't catch them if they aren't there, might require a canoe, might require contacting a different landowner at the part of the flowage they are working at that time, wind might be blowing wrong for a week, landowner might have been shooting them near that dam/culvert/water control structure, wolves might be hunting that shore, landowner may have sprayed that shore, DNR may have put a water gauge near that part of the dam that has them spooked, your partner may have taken a leak there last time you were there, might be a secondary dam they seldom visit, might be a territorial female otter with pups in the area, etc. etc. Might look like they are there, they are probably not far away, but that is putting the odds in their favor setting where it is convenient. Sometimes you just have to go where they really are, even if you have to open three gates and walk awhile, or you can set where it's convenient and wait for them to return.

Mike,
Good luck, at least you know what not to use.

If you think your a really good beaver trapper, have a super duper lure no beaver can resist, or have a fool proof set. Go find a river during spring migration and set several sets on each side within eye sight, then sit there as long as you can stand it. If you set six traps and six beaver go by you should catch them all right? I'll take that bet. LOL

IME, most landowners are honest people, until you ask them if they tried to catch the beaver, even the preacher!

Lefty, I can bring you some to TTFHA Fall Rendezvous in Brownwood Oct 9&10 if we get to have it.
But only if you really, really need them. No charge for the beaver, just transport cost.

If you charge by the animal (as I do) the first thing you have to do is remind yourself of the previous high profit locations and that you're going to lose money on the educated one. It's the cost of doing business. For me often It starts with an investment of time monitoring and watching the animal (if shooting is not an option due to location or lack of opportunity.) A well concealed back foot hold drowning set at it's favourite resting locations set blind with no attractants has worked well for me. Relatively deep water along the dam has worked best.

A little sac oil will sometimes do the trick.