1st check of the season.

WTG!

Nice catch and great pic John.

Alright YJ, glad to see you catching a few, looking like I'm going to be working all winter, I'll be following along.

Looks like a nice day to be trapping.

wws

Great job! Blue skies and t shirts sure looks nice

Looks like you and your son are having a good start to
the season.

Just a little guy today (20 lbs), son caught a little coon but it was blue. Let's see all of yours!

First sets of the year, set 3 cages side by side. Caught 7 more beaver this week for bobcat and marten bait.

Great job, I sure do have a certain amount of respect for you guys that are limited to cage traps!

I've been having some luck catching beaver.






My biggest one is 68# and I caught one black female and
a black kit.
My son has had some luck with beaver he's caught 5 also
with one at 62#, and he called this morning said he had
caught a otter, that was a nice surprise.

Bowhunterks, you got some hogs there.

Nice catch! My first catch was today.

EVER? If not, still awesome! You got some pigs there!

My son and granddaughter got a big surprise checking
beaver set.



He got lucky and caught a 24# otter and another beaver. I told him that he might have a chance to catch one, where he traps is probably the western edge of the Missouri otter.

Yes set my first beaver traps Sunday. Checked Monday one trap had a stick in it and the other was packed in mud the others not touched. Reset the 2 traps and on Tuesday had them 4.

Pulled my traps off the creek where i caught the black beavers,
it's been a couple day's since I caught anything and they
haven't repaired the spot I opened up in the dam, go back
in a few weeks to see if there's any activity. I caught 3 beaver at
spot there's another dam on this same creek 1 1/2 miles down stream that I will set up in a few weeks.

Caught this 23# beaver on the other creek I'm trapping this morning
this makes 4 from this spot, might pull these sets tomorrow if
I don't have any activity.

Way to go.

Finally got some fur on boards, 2 coons of my son's, and 2 beavs.

YJ, looking good.

Set up a road side ditch yesterday that has 2 dams and a hut, set a
ts85 on the cross over of one dam and had a 46#er this morning.

Nice!

Caught a 64# female this morning on the same dam cross over
that I caught the male on yesterday in the road side ditch.

Set one 330 on that dammed section of creek that was down
river from where I was trapping.

Nice work! Love those footholds for beaver!

Good looking coons there, I need to try putting some up one of these days.

That's a pig bowhunt. TYT don't be scared of those coon, once you get the hang of them they're not that hard. Been mentioned alot, but Coon Creek Outdoors has the best fur handling vids around.

2 today, I believe the big one is my biggest yet (will get a weight later). The small one had a bad day, tail all chewed up from another beav.

Nice! That big one looks like it could be pushing 60#
are the snapping turtles moving around this time of year, didn't know if a beaver would do that much damage.

58#, idk if snappers are still active or not, but the tail is shredded!

Lookin' good there Yukon. Good to see you guys getting after it.

Son's (Tyler) 1st fox...was hard to not turn her loose, but it's his 1st and quite possibly only one he will catch. If there's a next one, if female, she will most likely be turned back.

Wow. I've trapped a lot of beaver and never saw a tail that chewed. Bet it's swimming would really suffer....but you fixed that lol

Nice fox! First one have to have it tanned for him, with the
feet on they look alot nicer that way.

Set one 330 on this creek on sunday, monday had a tripped
trap reset it and had nothing yesterday, today had a 54#
beaver.



It's been two day's since I caught anything in the road side ditch
thought there would be at least one more, probably leave them
couple more day's then pull them.

It's been 3 or 4 days since I caught anything on the other creek,
going to let them set maybe until the weekend i think there's still maybe one beaver left.


It's suppose to warm up for a few day's hopefully the ice melts
off the creek's, its starting to break up now I need to get in
and set some more traps where I caught this one today.

Yeah, that's my plan. Keep after those beavs, I never know when to pull my sets seems like I always have to come back later no matter what I do!

Caught a 54# beaver this morning, same creek and trap
as yesterday's.

Putting the hammer on them, nice!

Third check third beaver, looks to be a kit.




Pulled two body grips off the road side ditch and left the
foot holds on the dam cross overs.

Checked the other creek I'm trapping I thought there was
at least one left, he been going around the side of my trap
he had chew sticks pulled up in the hole so I readjusted the
trap.

Nice job, right there. A heated fur shed is my dream.

That TS 85 is a nice piece of equipment, I currently run Bridger #5's, but I am interested in picking a few of these up.

Nice catches! Keep on rolling.

Those TS-85's are a good beaver trap, I don't use mine a whole lot so I only have a few, but they've been good to me

Caught a real purty one the other day. Starting to prime up nice.

That looks like a good one. Why use a cage trap?

It's illegal to use any kind of body grippers in WA

That's a nice sized beaver, and a nice job on the fur handling.

Nice catches.Congrats

Oh dang, I thought that was just a California thing. Could you use a foothold or snare?

I trapped with a friend down there in WA a couple years back, but we're both native and we were trapping on the colville rez, I'm guessing the rules are different off reservation?

Slick looking beaver Musty!

When you pull up to the ADC call and smile




Someone else had been called in first and tried to snare this guy in open water, broke the snare and ruined the pelt.

Musty,Nice put up on that beaver.

Saskfly I have had 1 beaver break a snare, and it about made me sick for a week...luckily I was able to catch it in that time, and put an end to it.

Never had one break a snare, but I did have one pull the anchor and take the snare, support wire, and rebar stake. The stake got him tangled up next to the dam and he drowned about 200 feet from where the snare was. I learned a lesson about staking into marsh muck that day

Yeah stuff happens......trying to figure out who it is. Just want to touch base and maybe pass on some knowledge. We have all been there starting out, I know some conversations with more experienced trappers helped me out. The other guess and probably the right one is a landowner watching to many discovery channel shows decided to try his hand out.

Finally caught this beaver, I new there was one left I figured
out there was room enough for it to go around my 330, so
I put another trap right next to it 3 days ago, and finally caught
it this morning.

49# female

Always feels good to get that elusive one, congrats! I'm on a little break right now, gonna set another spot in a couple days.

Nice catches

Hey Musty, good to see you out there working 'em. You going to Glenn's Ferry in January?

Thanks beaverpeeler. Have you gotten going on your beaver line yet?

No, I unfortunately won't make it to glenns ferry this year. I will be shipping fur out there for their January and March sales though. How about you? Are you going out there in January?

Good to see some cage pics on here Musty! Today’s check was a good one.

Very cool. I've only used a cage trap once (for about a week) I was waiting for my trapping gear to get a ride out to me from a different island, and I had a marten problem. My neighbor let me borrow a cage trap he had, and it worked really well. I just threw egg shells, bacon grease, and bones from whatever I ate in the back of it and it caught a marten or two a day the whole time I used it

Good job TEpnw! That otter looks like a real nice one

Nice catch TEpnw!

Yeah Musty I'll be headed to Glenn's Ferry in January. Hopefully I'll have something to bring....just put out some traps today. Water is waaaay too low but river is supposed to raise 3-4 ft day after tomorrow so I'll have to pull after two checks.

Day 1 of my trapping season. Caught 8 beaver and 1 nute from 15 sets today. One of them was held by one toe in a Belisle (of course). The fact that it twirled around and wrapped the cable around it's tail helped hold it ....or it would have been gone.

Great first check BP! Looks like some dandies.

Picked up another 4 today and pulled. River rising fast.

Stack em up BP
Looks like a strong current in the river.

That's the Willamette river. First trapped by white men from Astor's Pacific fur company in 1812. Boco, can you imagine trapping that river in cottonwood dugouts with 6' of chain on those traps? I can't...or barely can, but first winter they managed to take 17 packs of beaver caught by 6-7 trappers.

I often think of stuff like that when trapping on the Abitibi,and Mattagami rivers on my traplines.Both are major tributaries of the Moose river where the HBC set up the first Trading post (and Ruperts house on the east side of the bay)at the mouth in 1670 and the rivers were the main trade routes until the rail line reached Moosonee in 1933.Fur brigades ran the routes between Montreal and Moose factory right up untill the early 1900s
Lots of fur trade history around James and Hudsons Bay.No change in the landscape since then either the area was never settled and once you get north of Abitibi Canyon the country is the same as it always was except for the single rail line from Cochrane to Moosonee.

Pretty amazing beaverpeeler

Hope we're not kidnapping the thread with our history lessons, but I sure enjoy hearing about the fur trade in your area too Boco.

Nice mixed bag check.

Those look like some very decent sized rats! Nice catch. (Doncha hate it when bobcats plug up you beaver sets)?

Yeah some good rats for sure. Cats are a byproduct of beaver trapping lol.

Nice pics everyone keep em coming.

It's an all-inclusive thread. Nice catches TE!

Not a beav, but got a little pond close by with several 'rats. Whoever says they're easy to catch is lying! Lol, not a rat guy, and even though they give me fits, I like catching the little buggers.

I love catching rats. Not that many of them around here since nutria took over.

No pics today but I did get back out on the river. 7 beaver and a nutria from 13 traps.

Love trapping muskrats.Caught 70 this year

Tyler caught his very 1st bobcat, although she is small, she's not as small as the pic would make you think! He also caught 2 coon, and I had 2 rats at that pond (previouslymentioned). Set some beaver traps today so hopefully be posting pics soon.

Lol, idk if we even have 70 in our whole county. Definitely learning alot, my experience is extremely limited.

2 beavs and a coon today, no rats. Did find a good rat run under the ice though, guarded by a 110 now.

YJ, keep after em looks like you and your son are having a good season.

It's been fun, not working at it too hard, but we're learning alot.

Congrats

Nice catches Yukon and Tyler. Congrats!

My day's contribution to the thread: 10 beaver, 2 nutria, 1 muskrat from 16 traps. Muskrat suitcased in a 330...... Oh, and two fingers in the corner of a 330 Belisle. Didn't know what hit me! Just shoving the trap into place in a brushy spot and next thing I know I'm wearing it. (Sorry, no picture).

Nice catch of beaver and ouch on the belisle 330

Another 11 beaver and a nute and pulled my line. Time to catch up on skinning.

Nice catches guys. BP can't believe how big some of those nutes you get are. Sitting out the beaver season myself. Terrible drought for two years wiped my spots out. Giving what's left time to recover if we ever get much rain and snow again. First time I say out beaver season in quite a good many years

Love the open water

Stacking them up BP! 2 rats today, and no beavs. Did find fresh otter scat today, so fingers crossed.

Turtle, that kind of sucks to have to sit out a season. Sorry for you.

Yeah Bruce, open water is all I know. We haven't even gotten a frost yet this year.

Yukon, good luck on your otter. I hope to connect with some once I get over to the coast in a couple of weeks. That's where the good populations are.

Male otter, and a coon. Beaver slapping their tail at us as we reset. Wind was in the wrong direction last couple days, fingers crossed for tonight.

Nice otter

I love catching otter. Nice one!

Merry Christmas beaver, and Tyler caught a coon.

Nice! Looks like the road crew yellow striped that coon though. LOL

Lol, yeah we get some off color ones.


Mr Otter that I boarded yesterday.

Nuther beav, pulled everything to see what weather does. Got another place to go when it permits.

Nice catches

YJ, keep catching em.

YJ, nice pin out on that otter.
I also love that sled

Lol, doesn't work worth a darn for snow sledding, but hauls critters just fine.

Nice castors on the river beaver I've been catching lately. My first batch yielded 2.65 lbs semi-dry from 11 beaver.

Don't know what this batch will yield:

Nice bunch of beaver caster

I'll throw in...today's catch

BP, that’s nice looking castor.

Some real big ones coondagger! Good work

Nice catch of beaver

Nice, keep it up dagger!

Looking good coondagger.

Put up 16 beaver today. Kind of tuckered out. I'm gettin' lazy in my old age.

I'm averaging three per hour. Here's a blanket and super blanket I just finished:

You sir, are far faster at peeling beaver than I am. I suppose your name is earned lol. As much as everyone fusses about otter, I can actually get them done quicker than I can a beaver of any size. Beaver kits don't count, that's like skinning mink lol

Don't give me too much credit. That is just the put-up time. The skinning is also working out at about 3 per hour. Of course that includes castor removal and cleaning.

Skinning we're about even, I'm slow on a fleshing beam though

No fleshing beam for me. Clean skinner.

I'm extra slow if I do that lol

Good looking castor and put up Carl. You know how to do things up right.

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.