Goggles?......I'm chopping ice not swimming

Posco if you cant chisel the ice for a beaver set, they arent swimming there.... enough to make it worth it. Our ice gets thick, and I've used a chainsaw, but no more. Theres better travel routes.

My spud starts every time. You too will change your ways when you pack a saw both ways and don’t get to check your sets.

There's only ten inches of ice on the pond right now but I was cutting through more than two feet last year. That was in March. The beaver are there and I don't suppose the lodge is more than ten yards from the feed pile. My traps are between the two.

Husqvarna 445 I bought new six or seven years ago. Never fails to start and it's stashed at the pond I'm trapping.

You cant catch numbers of beaver under ice with just a chisel and make a proper job of it.
When we used to go out to do a run we had all our traps,poles and two chainsaws in two sleighs and two snowmachines.Would set 5-8 houses in a day being prepared.
A chisel is fine if your only setting one or two houses with baited bodygrips to catch a few beaver.
Even that,a chainsaw is much easier.

Bull feathers! I've caught at least five beaver on poles I just sawed out holes for, and was working on another pole when I caught them! I even had a young otter crawl out a hole I just sawed open, while I was standing 20 feet away.

Bob-Iowa,
Put a length of heater hose over the handle of your spud, hurts a lot less and works as a shock absorber when your chiseling.

Can you point me toward your beaver snares, I intend to buy some.

I've had Beaver spook, stay in their lodge 2 days. Drove to Shell lake ,Wi 37 miles doing Township work. Different colonies react differently. Those beaver I caught on day 3,4 and 5.

I dont say you haven't had different experiences.... but my opinion is mine.

Are you guys using the pole as bait or wiring bait on a dead pole.

I know I've spooked these beaver but I've used the saw on other ponds with no problems. It doesn't seem to be a proximity issue. Individual critters react differently.

I only trapped under ice beaver for one winter, and I chipped holes with the spud bar and used the chainsaw. Chainsaw is best!

i can't believe you have ICE

IMO A light weight sharp spud is best for early season. The ice is always thinner by an active beaver house.
A chainsaw later in the season. I always carry a spud to sound the ice.

I have used an ice auger before (manual). I don't have a spud and I need to get one. I use a long handled axe, usually we do not make the ice you northern guys do and using an axe you can get wet. I need to set up a pothole at the landfill along the road and it already has significant ice.

160user had the best spud I've ever seen.
He offered to sell me one about5-6 years ago...but I was saving for my Brownie hunt in Ak.

Wish I had bought that now

I'd have to own a lot of saws if I stashed one at each pond!

Both, but have found a green pole catches more beaver and attracts more beaver. If the water is real deep or I want the beaver to work a small area, I use short bait pieces nailed to a dead pole, but that's pretty rare for me. It also seems I get more rats working small bait pieces.

I bought a heavy duty manual ice saw, but I haven't tried it yet

What I’m doing is just a few beaver to get them out of a drainage ditch.