Finally getting some down time from work and looking to finally start trapping. In SC, there is no public land trapping, so I'm using google maps and OnX to find some properties that may hold beaver and calling landowners. Any of you got advice for aerial scouting for good beaver waters other than calling every landowner with a pond or lake on their property? Any tips or tricks, what to look for? I'm in the Upstate mountains region of South Carolina if that helps.

Dams stick out pretty easily on the maps. Around here the maps are useless for swamps and lakes as most beaver here have bank lodges and.almkst never stand out.

Like Sniperb said, I just look for dams. I was going to try to screen shot some google maps pics of the dams in my area but I guess they just updated the map. The new satellite pics are during our last flood so everything is underwater haha.

You can use the timeline feature to go to older images.

If you have algae or vegetation in the satellite photos you can see travel ways. Not sure in your area but here the paths are usually beaver made.

A couple shots from google earth of beavers on my trapline.
If you're doing an actual aerial beaver survey for fur harvesting it should be done in the fall after the leaves are off.
Spring,before the leaves come on is a good time to do a survey for inland water impoundments(live or dead) that pose risk to infrastructure.

Google earth did not show nothing but trees on most of my lines.

I use Typo maps. They give me the "lay" of the land.

Where do you find current maps online? I did some searching on google earth and they are several years old. We built a camp 4 years ago and it is not on the maps, therefore they are more than 4 years old. Thanks!

Your not gonna find realtime maps without some $$$.

When using topo maps for scouting, a good drone can save ya a lot of walking most of the time