Thanks Bob. Even though prices are not what I would like I still can't break myself from giving the pelts the same amount of care as when they were worth a buck an inch.

Same here, I take pride in everything I do. I'd rather not do it at all than not do it right. Fortunately we have a fairly strong craft market, so a lot of fur stays in state and people are willing to pay a fair price

Had a nice window to frostscrape some fur just before christmas,but now the weather has gon to crap.
Supposed to drop back down to minus 30s at night in a few days so should be able to get back to beaver boarding mass production again.
Need to get 40-50 put up in time for the LRD(jan 10th) for the march fha auction
Got 40 marten already in the bag along with some cats and fisher.ready to go.

AK, back in the mid 90's I shipped beaver fro a couple of seasons to Alaska for the sewing trade. Got double what I'd been getting in Oregon at the time. Which wasn't saying much. After my first shipment my buyer's comment was he loved how big they were but where is the hair? I guess they only had about half of what Alaskan beaver have.

Boco, you have that fur raised up off the board a bit looks like? My latest run of put ups I had to raise all of mine up the nails a little because of some fur dampness.

You got a good eye BP.When I dry them at room temp I have to raise them up a half inch or so on the nails.
Frostscraped beaver dry overnight and will pull out at the nails.
If I have time I like to dry them in the cold room,no need to raise them up if they dry slow over two days in the coldroom(10c).
Since we dont get long stretches of very cold weather anymore because of the climate change I have to take advantage of the two or three day windows of 30 below
Probably in feb we will get a couple weeks of minus 30 or minus 40 then I will be able to get everything done.

Got around 25 here done over the few days of cold before christmas
Should be able to get another 25 done if the forecast for a few days of cold around new years holds.Then Ill be good for a while and can start filling the freezers again.



Those are mostly fall beaver,got some more fall beaver and a bunch from last spring to do yet.

Nice stack of beaver there Boco.

x2 looking good

Nice pile of beaver.Much lighter colored then beaver caught here.

Yeah PA beaver ain’t a really pretty beaver most are red backs. Also can’t use beaver size traps or set a lot of traps some wmus allow ten traps and some allow 20 but when trapping multiple wmus no more then 20 devices total. Also only allowed so many beaver in certain wmus some limits as low as 5 and others as many as 60. Also most wmus no more then two 330s aloud set at a time. Lots of rules to go by when beaver trapping in PA but makes it fun I guess.

That is a crazy amount of rules. Sounds like your beaver regs would fill our reg book cover to cover.

Beaverpeeler and Boco, you guys put up beaver exceptionally well!

I know it takes practice, but gosh dang those things are sure labor intensive for me!!!

Fellas, I figure this is as good as place as any to ask this question, I was texting Hammer about this earlier, maybe you all would have some more ideas

In my part of the state we have odd conditions where conventional trapping equipment doesn't work well, particularly 330 stabilizers. Lots of rocky bottoms with mud or sand beneath the rocks. Lots of deep creeks, say waist deep or so. Lots of stream restoration projects in towns where they have placed rip rap and boulders on the bottom.

I feel like if I could set 330's everywhere I wanted to I would be dangerous

Hammer has a rectangle shaped 1/2" rebar flat stabilizer that me and a buddy made some copies of, and it works good if the bottom is perfectly flat, but with these rocks that isn't usually the case. And of course in deeper water it doesn't work, at no fault of the design

H stands work well for me when I can get them in, but often times I need the trap up off the bottom if the water is deeper. I am trying to catch beaver and otter coming down the creeks, they aren't swimming on the bottom as if you are trapping a beaver house/beaver runs, they are swimming along the surface

Even trying to set runs up onto the bank in shallower water the angled rocky banks make things difficult

Has anyone ever made 330 beaver stabilizers similar to how folks make the adjustable muskrat stabilizers?

I am thinking a long 1/2" rebar rod, say 4 foot long or so, with a T handle on the top. A stakilizer system welded to the rod for the trap to clamp down on, or maybe somehow put the stakilizer sandwich system on a wingnut screw platform and slide it up and down the main rod.

This should allow me to find a gap between two rocks and go to town with a 4 pound hammer driving that rod in. And if the water is deep I could raise the trap to just below the surface.

Thoughts on something for this application?

Sounds like a place for 330 floats.
I dont particularly like floats for beaver because of their size
But in spring when beaver are travelling heavily,the ground(banks and creek bottoms) are still frozen solid with ice(impossible to drive any kind of stake bar or pole) and the water fluctuates up and down with the weather floats are the only option and they work great on beaver.
I make mine in the bush with a couple 3 inch dry wood,and a few nails and when done for the season(when the banks thaw out) I cache them up past the high water mark for use every spring for a week or two for when I go back there in subsequent years.
Some guys who trap out of trucks make beaver floats out of scrap lumber and haul them around as needed.

I can't really answer your question, but have a situation where I have a run that is 4 1/2' deep and can't get my H stand driven into the bottom. I'm thinking of making an H stand with a heavy base (something similar to a RR tie plate), that I could set in the run and tie off so it doesn't disappear. Any thoughts?

I got rid of all my H stands for body grips as our rocky sandy rip rap banks rarely allow them. I mostly use 3/8ths rebar and pound them in with back of my hatchet in an X pattern on each side of the trap supporting all 4 corners of the trap. In some extreme situations I've used green willow to flex into place. Most often I just look for a better place to make a set.

I use KB stabilizers quite a bit they work good until you get into big rocks, then I fashion something out of big branches or small trees I cut nearby

Do you wedge them against bigger rocks? I've done that successfully from time to time.

Yeah I've done that before. I don't do it alot because to get it all situated I have to get my arms in the water longer than I would like to during our trapping season (I actually had a close call with frostbite on my fingers recently from exactly that) so I usually use wood because I can wire or nail it all together and put my trap(s) in and then I just have to flip the safeties and put the whole setup in the water and it's set, anchored, and stabilized all at once