Knocked out 30+ beavers on this ranch last winter. Took about 6 weeks to get the first one this winter. It’s all about managing them now. Had this 330 on a swim way next to the feed pile and about 4 feet off the lodge. Got him by both front feet.

Close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and 330s!

Looks like you had it submerged and he tried to swim over the top of it.

That would be my guess too.

Either way it's a a dead one. Neat catch

Definitely submerged, about 3 feet deep under the water. Had it bedded pretty solid.

Correct

I firmly believe that had that 330 not been a Belisle, I would’ve been screwed.

Luck was the theme of the day. Had to wait until this afternoon to check the traps I had on another property (still within 24 hours), and found that a beaver had gotten its tail caught in a lesser quality 330. My suspicion is that the beaver saw the trap at the last moment and banked to avoid it and got its tail caught. Had to pull that beaver out of its bank den entrance by hand and be ready to shoot it with my .17hmr. Thoughts gentlemen?

How are you stabilizing your traps?

This one was extremely difficult to get fully stabilized. This was in the Yellowstone river and it’s nothing but stone bed. I tried to get it stabilized up in the bank with stout sticks through the eyes of the springs and mask the trap with fencing. I’ve never had a beaver by the tail like that. The one by the feet earlier this morning, that trap was still anchored exactly where I stabilized it, that was in sand bottom spring creek.

Maybe you have a really loose trigger. Too much travel before it fires will allow the animal to be too far through before it goes off. Is it or was it the same trap?

Different traps. The trap from the morning with the beaver caught by the hands, that was a Belisle 330, relatively new-ish. The beaver by the tail, lesser quality Bridger 330, trigger is some what loose, but not to the degree where I could see a beaver of that size blowing through to the tail, but maybe.

Those Bridger's close pretty tight. I've caught a couple a few years ago by the the tail and one by a back leg. With our trigger regulations in Southern NY we have some awful big beavs swim through to the tail. Our trigger wires must be twisted together, 6 1/2 inches long max and 8 inches off to the side.
I've seen tail catches where I'm sure the beav made an "about face" in front of the trap and whacked it with it's tail and got caught

I've caught a couple like that over the years

Congratulations

That’s

That’s my personal opinion on this beaver, it making the about face move. It’s tough to say for sure though. I’ve had thoughts of posting a trail camera (totally legal here) just to see what goes down.

That beaver did not recognize that change in his domain. They don't like change. They know where every knob, rock, and maybe even pebble is supposed to be. He decided to wack it with his tail out of spite. Still sucks to be him though.

That’s an interesting perspective. Thank you.