would like know what kind of wood to use to make hoops and best way to do them .thanks

Traditionally willow was used but with some of the larger beaver I have gone to using grape vines.

Tamarack is traditional for hoops here.It doesnt warp and look like a potato chip like willow when the skin dries.
You also get a perfect oval.

I have been using wild grape vines for years now. We don't have some of the more traditional wood choices where I live. The vines are plentiful and you can usually find the diameter size and length that suits your needs without much searching. Another reason to get me out in the woods.

They are easy to clean and you can work the memory shape easily over time as they dry. I enjoy more of the outdoors while shaping and bending the hoops over time.

Many birds are flying in and out of my wood shed looking for insects and working thru the wood pile. Some curious deer usually walk by being nosey as to what I am doing.

I have several hoops of vine drying now hanging in my wood shed for next springs projects.

Long young bird cherry branches are the wood of choice here to make all sorts of hoops and arcs (including handles and barrel hoops). Bird cherry wood is as flexible as willow yet much denser and stronger. Branches are cleaned and heated in a banya/sauna, or by a stove in any room with high humidity, which greatly increases their flexibility. Here's a link to some pictures from a late colleague's workshop (no beaver hoops, though, but they'd be easier to make because they don't need to be as thick as these):

Zharovsk barrel-makers

I've used willow. Made a jig for them on old beaver boards. Put bolts around ever other beaver size on the board. Then I hoop my willow around and secure with zip ties. I let them dry in the barn over the summer. This way I have a few different sizes and the are already made like the pelt was stretched.

Tatiana: Those barrel makers are fantastic craftsmen

I've never worked green Tamarack, I made some bridge timbers and some T&G out of it years ago but that's been about it for me.

What's the smallest diameter at the butt end you can get away with using?
Will it bend green and cold, or does it need some heat or steam?

It's some tough stuff when it's dried. The paneling I made was hard to bend into place if it was warped, especially compared to Balsam.

We use the long thin tamarack shoots that grow thick.They are 1 inch thick all the way up.Hoops are made in 2 pieces to get the correct oval shape.When green they can be bent with your knee and a cord holds them in shape until dry.
Once dry plane the ends with a crooked knife to fit together nice and either nail or wrap with babiche.
I got one downstairs,I'll get a pic.

Thank you very much for the info, I really appreciate it!

That's a little smaller diameter than I was assuming they would need to be.
I've got a couple thick dog hair stands of Tamarack in mind already.

That hoop is 32 by 40.
Most I have are all that size for stretching raw pelts.
Not many beaver will need a bigger hoop than that.

thanks guys