Well... finally got on to some property with beaver... since tomorrow is last day for everything except coyote, beaver, and otter, I figured I would try my hand at beaver.. it's a shallow creek...darn near every tree for a few achers along this creek is chewed... found 2 mounds on the bank.... there is a slide about every 40ft I seams like....and the dam is on this property too... I don't have beaver specific stuff persay except I do have a 330. I do have a hand full of Duke #4 offset jaw 4 coil traps...figure make some downers and target front foot at these slides.... might do a break in the dam and put one there.. any advice for a beaver noob with no lure and shooting for blind set only... I got a month to figure it out... I only want 4... for wall hangers..

Find a crossover, or well used slide and blind set with your footholds. If you get one, well now you have lure. Good luck. Blend that 330 under a log also where the water narrows. Stake well!

Make sure your weight if you use them on your drowners is plenty heavy. With front foot catches they have both back feet and the tail to propel them. It's hard to believe sometimes how powerful they are.

Good job getting permission, sometimes that can be the hardest part of trapping.

Please share some pics of your first beavers when you catch them.

Good luck!

Some peeled sticks and cinnamon would work for bait if nothing else was to be had. Blind sets otherwise are very productive.
Good luck

15#-20# u think would be good enough??
It was easy to get permission for this spot bc I do business with them... but yea... u usually got to ask about 30-40 people before u get a yes or maybe. To many others have ruined it around here... mostly goose hunters and guys rutting up the fields bc they don't want to drag a deer a couple hundred yards...

Lowes has fiberglass rebar 1/2" and 3/8".. what one to get? What yall use for the end to stake down?

30 lbs sounds about right. I have sand bags that i fill on site with gravel or rocks. Have even used cement cinder blocks.

I would use a metal stake to secure slide wire.

If I use weights, I always figure fifty pounds, maybe overkill, but it depends on the type of weight and the type of bottom. I've seen blanket and super blanket beaver pull fifty pounds worth of window weights up on the bank with a smooth solid bottom. That is why I won't use window weights, they will roll on a smooth bottom. I prefer a stake on the drowning end if you can drive it the bottom, I use wood ones cut on site, no need to pack anything in.

Rather than making a break in the dam, find a spillway on the dam, there is always at least one, usually two or three, and set your trap there. I will usually set every spillway, Every time the beaver cross the dam they will cross at a spillway, great blind set.

If legal in your area I would set snares on all the run. They are cheap easy and work very well for me. We only have 4 beaver size foot holds and 1 330. Only trap them now and then when that are problems for friends. But for the cost of a single trap you can set 20 snares.

I will take some pictures inorder to help yall help me determine the best options for my area... It is a soft mud bottom for about 1 ft then clay below that...the dam is right under a bridge going over the creek..

Well.. I figured out how to make a grown man cry..... forget to flip the safety on a conibear and have a beaver set it off, move the trap.... very disappointed in myself for forgetting something so simple.

We've all left the safeties on at least once. Lesson learned. Now it's second nature for me. I also police the area before I leave. Easy to leave a hammer, setters etc.... laying there.

Have left safeties on twice that i can remember. As Turtledale stated do a quick search around. Some things i have almost forgot are a glove, stake, wirecutters, bottle of lure, ...

I usually run them trigger down for that purpose.. js incase I forget.. this time I had to run it trigger up and forgot... it's not the first time I do it, but the fact I missed a beaver over it bc I was rushing the other day to set it out and get home b4 kids go to school is what got me... rushing usually leads to mistakes.... hopefully I didn't educate this beaver on conibears.. time will tell... I've haven't left tools out.. think that's from working aircraft for 14 years... always check my tools b4 moving on... there is a place for tools and I know when something is missing b4 moving on.

Downers are a great way to target front feet, so your plan for using #4 offset jaw traps at slides is on point.

Setting a trap in a break in the dam is a good idea, too. You could consider creating a pocket to place the trap, so the beaver has to step on the pan to get through the break.

For a blind set, try to make sure your trap is bedded well and is stable. Use the surrounding environment to guide the beaver's foot into the trap.

Couldn’t find my safety when I got home one day last fall. Checked the pics I took of my sets……..

There it is!
Or I pull it off but leave the other spring arm safeties on….lol

I took the removable one off, but forgot the ones on the springs.

make a habit of when you put the safety setter on the trap, you take the spring safeties off

Got some 1/2" rebar to make drowners.. now gota weld everything up and make locks tonight.. we shall see this week what we get.

Made me some beaver rods.. got ahold of some stainless 1" tube with 1/8th inch wall for the lock..