With trapping season here, I figured it was time we shared pictures of our beaver snare sets so that if anyone is wanting to learn, they’ll be able to see how others make their sets.


If I’m using sticks for holding my snare support wire, I prefer 14 gauge wire, because it’s so easy to work with. I hammer or push in a piece of a branch or beaver stick until it’s fairly solid—-don’t want it moving. Then I take about 18” or so of wire, wrap it twice then twist it down tight. One of the wires will be for my Snare’s collar, and the other wire will be wrapped around it to add strength then to keep any slack cable from getting in the way. If I’m using some sort of prepared support, such as rebar stake or comparable support, I like using the heavier wire such as 9 gauge or 11 gauge. If I don’t have sticks or stakes handy, I’ll bend a piece of 9/11 gauge into a lowercase h and push it into the mud. This tends to be the least solid support, but an option when options are limited. Everyone does things a little differently, these are just the ways I do it.



These are some of the beaver snare sets that I made today. One is in a roadside ditch. They’re swimming under a pile of debris, so I measured the depth, tested how deep the snare support would need to be driven in to be secure, and then I attached my support wire. I drove the support until it was strong, and that put my snare a couple inches off of the bottom. The other sets are dry trail snares. I chose to set where they were already walking past a clump of small stems. I cut a small, strong branch and hammered it solid to attach my 14 gauge support wire. I then cleared the majority of entanglement away. Most of the branches in the picture are either rotten or small. I generally try to keep my beaver snares in the water, but this was a situation where I have to work within a 30 foot wide right of way. My trail snares are several inches off of the ground. My submerged snare is a couple inches off of the bottom and right below the debris.



In this day, almost everyone has a phone that takes good pictures. I hope others share photos and tips from their lines.

Was hoping you'd start posing snaring pics again

Thanks Aix, I always learn a lot from your posts.

Thanks, great topic. keep posting good pics. it helps me a lot.

Here’s another....support wire secured to small tree. Snare partially submerged. I wired a small limb above the snare to put a little lure on it. They smell the lure and swim through the snare, bingo. This is a very effective beaver set used by many across the country.

Good share Alex.

Mac

For a little old guy like me, who can’t swim, this is how I leaned to trap beaver. I bet I’ve snared hundreds of beaver bank side.
Crossovers at dams, bank slides either existing or made by me, caster mounds with a slot for snare leading from water to the mound, lists of places I’ve hung snares successfully for beaver.
Jim

Jim ! Can I get more pictures with a description ?

Aix , is that normally how you set snares in the water? A lot of people say two thirds submerged , yours looks much less. I have snared a pile of beaver but most on land. Just asking what works for you.

Ok, this is coming from someone that has never snares anything and wouldn’t even know how other than looking on here, but where exactly do the beavers get snared (body wise)? And are they still alive after snared?

Well I always hit the obvious spots. Dam crossovers, naturally made slides/trails from water to nearby cornfields, etc.

You can dig a channel with a spade and made a mud pie castor mound at end of it. The channel is a nice funnel to keep beaver centered through the snare. Peeled sticks and beaver lure help too.
A little weed fencing if necesssry too. Like this…



One spot we found on a small creek once had a farm implement roadway over it with a large culvert tube for the creek. Fenced it down slightly with a little brush to guide and hung a snare. Took a big beaver here.

Those two pics I first put up. This one has snares at these two circled spots. The beaver were crawling up onto their lodge at these two narrow spots in the weeds. These were blind sets, no lure or bait.



The other is a crossover at a dam. This is the downside where they were sliding down. Snare is in the narrow spot and got two here before they destroyed it to where I couldn’t reset here. This too was a blind set no bait or lure.


Aix Sponsa thanks for starting this thread.
When I was first starting out I didn’t own any 330s or large footholds. I was set up mostly for coyote trapping. I tried snares for beaver and was hooked. You could carry a few snares in your jacket, some wire and a pair of pliers, small bottle of beaver lure and ready to roll.

I taught my boys to snare beaver when they were very young. No big strong springs to mess with just their creativity and learning about beaver. Really simple way to catch large beaver.

Gunner when he was really young and a blanket beaver he snared. Snare was between those willow trees and he attached an extension cable around the tree for anchor. The extension allowed the beaver to get back to the water.



No two beaver setups are identical, but most have some similar things to look for. Beaver leave a lot of sign and just look for where they are traveling. Slides, trails, narrow spots through little streams, runs out of bank dens, and trails where they are dragging cut trees or corn back to the water.

Jim

Hey Aix Sponsa do you have any pics of those short floating pvc torpedoes with snares I remember seeing on here somewhere? Those were a pretty cool snare tool for beaver, whoever posted those.
Jim

With a lured set for beavers, I like to set my snare barely submerged. I say 1/3 submerged. When you think of how a beaver swims, front legs tucked, cruising the water more or less like a snake, having the bottom of the loop shallow does two things. First of all, it means that they hit the loop early, like with their neck or chest, and secondly, it makes the loop appear open. I don’t like the idea of anything being in their face. That applies for body grips and snares as well. Whatever I’m using, I want it to appear to be a window that’s easy to swim through.

Setting snares 1/3 submerged or less has resulted in the majority of my snared beaver to be neck snared. That doesn’t mean body catches don’t happen, because they do. Water levels fluctuate, and that’s what usually causes body catches in my case—-beaver are able to get farther in before touching and firing the snare.

Setting snares deeper is fine, but it means I need to keep my loops on the smaller side, because I don’t want them getting too far in if I can help it.


The only times intentionally set surface snares deeper or possibly less would be if I’m anticipating water fluctuations. Example: I’ve cracked the dam and it’s a small waterway. I know the water level is going to drop, so I’ll set my snare a little deeper in hopes later that day my set depth will be appropriate. I’d do the same thing with 330s.


If I’m setting on the land, which I won’t do unless I have to, I set my snares a few inches off of the ground.


Other people’s mileage may vary, but this is what has worked for me.

Jabne, I’ve enjoyed following your posts for years, and you’re right, snares are great. If a person doesn’t have traps for a specific target, within minutes they can build snares.


I’ll find some pictures of beaver torps and send you. It’s more of an idea than it is a specific device. Any floating platform can be made to work. I’ve used pvc and I’ve used round fence post. I actually prefer wooden fence post. What matters is that whatever you use is balanced. It has to have a ballast weight to work properly as a stand-alone. For wooden posts, I staple a piece of rebar to the underside of the post. For pvc, I put the rebar inside and fill it with foam. I’ll get you some pictures.

It’s fine if you set them 1/3 submerged. If you use a loaded snare and set it 1/3, my experience has been that most of them are neck or chest snared. If you make sets on land or in the water where they’re taking steps, you really need to decrease the loop size or you’re going to have more bodysnared in my experience

Do you guys put hinges on the drowning system?

I only got a few neck snared ones over the years but I always made a little bigger loop and if they are walking make sure it’s very close to ground, beaver have very short front feet. If you get their head and at least one front leg in you got em, so need to make the snare fairly stable too until they are in. They don’t really have much of a neck per se.
I have also caught them in odd ways like snared by the tail (which was perfect no marks on hide whatsoever) and quite a few by a leg from or back.
I think 99% of the ones I caught in snares were quite alive just restrained when I checked sets.
You can make the snare a drowner set up just keep the snare length short barely long enough for an appropriate loop and little more to the lock.
Beaver can be on small side, or they can be super blanket size. I always set for biggest so loop size accordingly. I may be doing it incorrectly but I generally went on larger side of loop sizes.

Jim

What size loop do you make 8,10,12 inches ?