Looking good there Musty, are most of your beavers drowned when you get there?

Thank you. Yes, I use swim through traps fully submerged under water so they are already drowned when I get there.

BP, you do a great job.

Musty, your beaver look great to. You almost needed a bigger board for the one on your left.

That last beaver I did was a real fighter, wow.

BP, id really like to see how you do it. You do a great job.

Musty Awesome work! What a tank you got on that board! Your put up looks beautiful. Cage trapping fascinates me, but I hope I'm not forced into doing it by my government.

NF, sounds like we're all needing some fresh fur to put up.

I'm waiting on this weather to pass hopefully get some ice here but typical pa weather it will freeze one week an be in the mid 30s an 40s the next...yeah great job on the put up musty an hats off for doing it all with cages ...BP I'd be really Interested in those pics of your method around the legs that's the area I struggle with as well

I dont find skinning around the back legs is any different than the rest.
I can give you a tip on the frontlegs though-Instead of cutting them at the joint,lop them off about 3/4 inch above the joint,way easier to skin them right out.

Musty what type of nails are you using and how big were the 2 beavers that took the whole board?

I'm using horseshoe nails, city head 7's. I didn't get a chance to weigh those beaver. The bigger one was maybe 50 lbs?

I thought those were horse shoe nails by the way the heads looked .

I saw a demo at one of our sales putting up beaver with horseshoe nails. It is highly recommended because of how easy they are to use (on your hands) and easy on boards, plus last forever. I've always balked at the price though and stayed with 2" brite box nails.

Last time I checked on their price approx. 10 cents each.

Just weighed the 13 castors (4.5 lbs) I reported on earlier; after 1 week in the drying shed they now weigh 4.0 lbs. Roughly 3 castors to the lb.

Actually did a little under ice trapping, got a little one. Don't know if there are any more, just have to see. I'm assuming there is, but I think that they get kicked out when they're a little smaller than normal around here.

BP, I have castor envy

Look like some good well handled castor there BP

I only get maybe 25% of my castor that looks like that. Get lots of shells here.
And yes that castor is very well handled BP

Thanks guys. I'm probably going to let that castor stay in dying room a little longer before I ship it. It's been so cold that my dehumidifier hasn't been functioning very well in the drying room. Usually the heat that it produces is enough to keep the room above 60F....but not when it's in the teens outside.

I'm thinking it is, but does this look like typical otter activity on snow covered ice?

John, sure looks like there was some party going on there, looks like otter to me. Go upstream and down and see if you can set some pinch points in the stream.

Well, I just got back from the big river and recovered my traps. We got hit with a nasty ice storm and couldn’t leave my house for most of a week. So my line has been underwater all that time. I caught 13 beaver and a nutria in 19 traps. Beaver are silt balls for sure.
Got to get them skinned before tomorrow afternoon ‘cuz I’m headed to the ITA sale in Idaho.

River is coming up fast right now lots of debris and downed trees in the river today. River forecast is for it to rise 5 ft today. Most of my traps were 2.5 to 3' under water. Was lucky I could find them all.