Finally got to some traps this morning! Was able to get to two bridges and luckily no lost equipment. Of course the traps were sprung from all the flooding so I got them reset.

Water should continue to come down just in time for the snow/cold front Wednesday. Hoping for a good week

Little kit beav in the set pictured above ^^

Still liking the duke supermags

I made some sets on a new pond today, I haven't had any luck on the other pond I set, it's only about a 3 minute ride on a snow-go from a road, so it's entirely possible someone has already trapped in there this year. This pond doesn't have any signs of anyone having been there, so hopefully I connect with my baited #14 sets

My hat's off to you for the work it takes to catch those beaver.

I managed to get 26 sets out today on the river. Water has been up and down all season but I should get two checks before it shoots up 5 feet again.

I don't have enough hours in a day to make that many sets under ice. I'm averaging around 40 minutes to saw, chip, saw deeper, and pull the blocks of ice out of each hole. Then I have to make the set and dig up snow to bury it in hopes of it not freezing in too bad

I hear ya AK. Good for you. Getting two or three sets in would wear me out.

But actually I kind of got wore out today pulling big ol' beavers into the boat. 17 beaver and 1 otter from the 26 sets. Put in two more sets today so tomorrow I will have 28 to check and will pull tomorrow as well.

Sorry the picture isn't too good. Don't have that white sheet Mud has. LOL

Very nice, I'm gonna try to devote some time to getting after beaver once the water opens up a bit (hopefully late April)

Nice run. The sheet looks dingey this year lol. Not going real hard on beavs this season and didn’t get motivated enough to clean it up.

I have to say peeler that Your catch ratios are pretty impressive.

I'm off to the river to pick up my line. Took the otter and a couple beaver into the shed and then decided to take a pic of the rest of them that will sit out today and dry a little before the next front moves in tonight.



WBG, I pay a lot of attention for whatever reason to my catch ratios. I'm always trying to improve them. I almost always only set on smoking hot fresh sign (castor mounds) so that will give you that high success rate.

Today:

The upstream run, 5 beaver:



And the downstream run, 11 more...total of 16 and had to pull the line.

B.P, how do those river sections treat the prop on your outboard?
That's my favorite way to trap beaver here in Wisconsin when the conditions are right.

I'm awful hard on props. I had a skag protector on at the beginning of the season but noticed that it was gone with almost the whole fin yesterday. I hit stuff all the time.

I'm sure glad I don't have those old outboards with shear pins anymore. Drove me nuts!

BP, have you had to replace your "rubber hub" that replaced the shear pin yet?
I don't hit much with my prop on my outboard nowadays but as a kid I replaced quite a few shearpins and dove off the boat looking for the prop before lol

BP you are getting after them!

I have been keeping the otter honest

That sure looks like a great pinch point. Wish I had water like that to trap!

These days otters like that are bring me $65-$70.

I sell mine for a $60 a head flat rate, green. That's why I have been targeting them more than the $15 beavers.

That location is one you just have to set. It's a steep bank will a fallen tree creating an extra large dive stick. The water is super low there now. A week ago all 3 barrels of that culvert were flowing good.

Another catch today in the same set as shown above ^^

Coondag, you sell your otters to a local buyer?

No, I ship them green frozen. Believe I have sold to buyers in 7 or 8 different states now. Farthest I have sent them was to New Mexico. I package them up with insulation and they are good for 3-4 days before they will thaw. Most of the time when my buyers receive them they are so frozen they can't even unroll the pelt.