To lessen the chance of spooking other beaver, which is best procedure when setting a new site?

1) use footholds on a drowner rig...so caught beavs will go down and drown..outta sight/outta mind?

2) use footholds on long chains...so live beaver will attract others?

3) use snares (with extensions)...so beaver can get in water and attract others?

4) use bodygrips with extensions...so beaver can flop into deeper water..outta sight?

I have the best & most consistent results with footholds on drowner rigs, but other good beaver trappers use long chains or long snares and swear by them for repeated/continued catches.

Others like a bodygrip with a dead beaver and see no issue with spooky beaver.

Which ya'll think is the least intrusive to an observing beaver? The commotion of the foothold-caught, snare-caught, or bodygrip-caught beaver??

I'm with you, though I have seen the attraction of a live one and gang setting. The problem with a live one is that it's a one trick pony that alerts the entire colony. Best live has been in cages.

I'd rather slide in and make them "disappear" with footholds on drowners.

I've caught multiple beaver at well used crossovers using snares. They would get spooked of the crossover and start crossing over in a different spot. Just move snare and catch them there. Overall though you probably wouldn't go wrong choosing footholds on a drowning rig.

Bodygrips in a channel don't really seem to spook beavers much, but that's if you can make that set. Seems like a dead beaver on dry ground can spook other beavers somewhat. Never tried a live trap cause bodygrips don't leave holes in the pelt. All the holes in my pelts are hand made.

If I am on a ADC job I use footholds on a drowner every time if I have enough water. Body grips would probably work most of the time but I worry there might be a trap shy beaver and I don't want it to know I am trapping.

I'm always time limited (fuel costs) and a lot of sites here have a very narrow area with most of the locations in these thick piney flatwoods being right there or nowhere. The beavers refuse that location after the torn up area left by a snared beaver. But, I've used your method where it presented itself and the beavers showed me another spot b4 I pulled out.

Bodygrip in a channel (submerged) is good for outta sight/outta mind (after the catch), but my experience is that the channel location is killed too....for a few days anyway. Channel locations get used up quickly.

And I need to catch all the beaver....

Yes....I've leaned strongly in this direction too....footholds only.

All my beaver'in is ADC.

Bodygrips can be efficiently used down here only in winter.....turtle and otters...and an occasional gator, ruins the location fast in warmer months.

I need to spend the money and buy 3 or 4 beaver cage traps. May help me grab the local colony faster at some spots. I get many jobs where I can drive close to the set locations (or by using the SxS).

Keep the comments coming. Im always learning.

Watching a few of Dale Billingsley's YouTube videos got me to thinking about this topic.

Cliff Notes: Dale likes long chains & smaller footholds. And longer snares.

Beaver are stupid until they learn.
A near miss on any set is what they learn from.
Lure is probably number one on education in a miss….
A beaver in a long chain that made it to land is going to leave lots of sent.
A beaver that got slapped going under a dive pole,, is going to swim around if possible.
If the female is the last beaver, in my experience she will move upstream to a old den.
Always a good idea to set the exit points up and down if the area allows.
Kits will be far away in late summer building their own dam, if the water shed allows it.

Good info Vinke!

I've seen some of these beaver responses over the years.

Can’t go wrong with option #1. Sending a beaver down to Davy Jones Locker. They can’t be seen, won’t get bit up, and won’t be slapping their tail to spook other beavers. I don’t see live beavers in a trap as an attractant. More like a target. Drowning reduces the likelihood of theft, and done right, you’ll have nearly zero beaver escape. I haven’t had a live beaver in a trap in my last 150 catches.

If I can’t drown a beaver with 95% certainty, I’m not setting a foothold there. My buyer doesn’t pay for toes and feet.

I go back & forth from setting up a new job with no lure (pinch points, crossovers, dam breaks, etc) and then sparingly using sac oil at remakes as the days go by to setting up a new job with a castor based lure and all remakes with a little sac oil.

Some sets never get touched (both blind & lured), so after a few days there is a mix of sets. Like a lot of trappers, my lure inventory is well stocked. I keep about a dozen different commercial beaver lures on hand. And I make my own castor tincture and sac oil tincture. I also save the sac oil from brood females and keep it seperate for use.

I've had em get bit up pretty bad at the end of a drowner (probably occurred b4 it drowned). I've also been leary of the attraction of a live beaver in a foothold or snare. Other beavers sense the danger by seeing that caught beaver.

I dont have to deal with theft, but out of sight down in the water is always better.

I still snare several beaver annually. Some sites scream "SNARE!"

Sometimes those sites are in the water (between trees) and others are easily blocked crossovers with good anchoring available.

I got that vid “Teachers of the Night”…..if you google it, make sure to add “trapping” or you’ll get other cool videos. It’s all night videos of how beavers behave around sets at night. I thought he set a couple footholds, one short to keep it alive and the other on a drowner. Can’t recall, I’ll watch it again and see what he did.

The last 2 years I've used dales long chain/cable options and love it have caught multiple big beaver in the same sets.using earth anchors #3 bridger and 10ft of cable it's light weight and easy easy I make the beaver come to where I want to catch them.

Option #1 has been my favorite. I love having one down at the end of my drowning rod and seeing signs of other beavers continuing to work that caster mound throughout the night.

Thanks for the tip on that!

Ah yes, now that you mention it when I've gotten back to back catches in channel sets it's in icy conditions. You probably don't get that as often as I do and it probably makes a big difference.

If you have the time and resources you can start by trapping farther away from the lodge and then move closer as you thin it out. The male and the second year young patrol a wider area and you can hit them farther from the lodge. The kits you can trap closer to the lodge. And then you can set the lodge itself to get the female and or stragglers.

Don't know if I read that here on not, might have been in a guide somewhere else.

when I go into a new place[pond] I try to get the big female and the big male first night, I'm looking for spots, in their travel route where I can set 330 under water, Paul's dad in one of his books talked about a log 90 degree, out from the dam, where the beaver goes under, it that's the place to set, if you can't find one find their channel and put one a big one I have done this , remember that the beaver travel around their pond every night inspecting it , no lure or bait to start with, if you get the two big ones the rest will be easy,

In the vid, he’s got a FH anchored short near shore. The beav shook for a few seconds, then just sat there as others came in. Dead beaver in a BG half submerged didn’t bother the others at all. But they were all square shy, even backing out when they felt (or smelled) steel.
Really interesting vid to see how they behave around sets at night.

Just you being in beaver habitat can spook those beaver.
If I have the time I will go in a scout the area. I might carry in my gear but I'm not setting When I'm done scouting, I know what I'm going to do when it comes to setting my traps. I might stay away for several days. The less disturbance by you will get you more beaver.
Those small pound beaver can be really spooky. The other thing I have done is to use sac oil at my sets instead of castor.

I sometimes get what I call ditch beaver. The terrain here can have little narrow "hollers" just a few yards wide and deep with a narrow branch at the bottom. When beaver hole up in one of these you can't set foot in there without them knowing it. I start looking for trails in and out along the edges to hang snares. Ideally that can be Che ked from a distance.

I haven't been able to figure out how to catch the patriarch or the matriarch first. Many times I have captured them first but that's not a sure bet. Please expand on how you do this.

Rarely do I find a log in the right spot and I now resist the temptation to move large debris around to make a set. Oh, I've tried it many times and occasionally grabbed a beaver...then none would use the channel or approach the new log after that. Natural spots have better repeat catches, with all the commotion of a bodygrip catch and then a dead beaver being seen there.

I need to get that video.

Also have gave some thought about getting/compiling my own videos about this. I wonder which camera would be best for this?

Even though pond beaver are the easiest to spook, I see this reluctant behavior just about everywhere after a catch or 2.

Takes multiple days....multiple sets, different type sets, and repeated intrusion in and out. Sure isn't easy to remove them all quickly.

It's actually tough to get em all in these jungle-like swamp bottoms no mater how many days I work the area.

I do same thing where I can (distance checking to keep from walking all the way up to set.)

Most ADC beaver sites here are so thick that a lodge is never located. Even if its visible, they will be out of reach due to deep water and/or impenetrable rough. Most of the flooded drainage here are hundreds of yards wide and the trees, vines, and shrubs are so thick that you can't even see the water 20 yds in. Very jungle-like...if you can imagine that.

I'd imagine Alaska beaver sites are a bit different....lol

Im even reluctant to use surveyor's flagging to mark sets......if I do, I use green flagging to closer match the foliage.

I'd rather stick with these subdivision ponds rather than the jungle swamps even though I prefer the swamps.

You can't move in the jungle without everything hearing you coming and knowing you've been there. Subdivision ponds can be accessed from almost any angle and disturbance is an accepted thing by the beaver

But I'm like the beaver and would rather do my thing out of sight. The one thing I hate the most in urban work is always being on camera somewhere.

The best camera changes year to year because different models have different sensitivity What you want is the most sensitive. Beaver give off very little heat signature compared to other animals that the cameras are designed to detect, especially when swimming, basically eyeballs and maybe the nose. I went through a several year phase of running a fleet of cameras on beaver locations, and what mattered the most was sensitivity.

The second most important feature is being able to set the camera to only operate at night. The reason for this is that in many locations, when a very sensitive camera is pointed at water, the sun reflects off of the slightest wave and the camera detects that. So you can quickly have 250 videos of water with bright sun glare running down your batteries and filling up your memory card.

I have an external hard drive with categories of videos like catches, misses, Beavers interacting, beavers entering water, beaver exiting water, beavers repairing/building dams, beavers cutting trees, etc. When I would pull a card, I would put the videos in the folders as I went. It is a handy resource because if I have a question about something related to beaver behavior I can go back to the folders and usually quickly find relevant videos.

One interesting thing I thought I noticed at some point was that they tend to exit the water and reenter the water at different spots usually 2 to 10 feet apart, and they tend to exit the water with a “step up” bank, and reenter the water on a gradual slope. No idea why. But I went back and looked at dozens of videos and sure enough it is the case maybe 80% of the videos.

My beaver video library has been one of the most valuable learning tools I have. I havent been doing as much with the cameras for a while now because I have so much video that it was just getting repetitive, but I do still have a fleet of cameras and I do use them on occasion if something has me curious that I dont know what a beaver is doing somewhere. If I were going to get serious about it again I would research what current models are most sensitive and update my fleet, since mine are all getting to be 3 years old or so.

I do have a dozen or so cell cams that I mostly use to monitor locations so I dont have to drive to them every day, and also for the occasional sneakum who needs caught.

Loosanarrow,

Which camera do you consider is the best for this purpose as of today?

Also, I'm still using/testing the 2 Magnabeds. I haven’t forgot you. Have grabbed a several beaver using them. I'll have more use info at a latter date. I'll PM you.

Thanks for the info you posted. We are playing the same game!

I’ve had good results with Spycam and Tactacam, new and old versions, set to the lowest sensitivity. You’ll still wind up with pics and vids of nothing but not as many. It says they need heat and movement to trigger, but they’ve had no problems picking up beaver and rat in the water.

I think this is the same saggy belly (pregnant) otter I snared a few days ago (can see a tuft of hair missing on her hip where my cable cutters snipped it).

She crossed over same spot early this morning and thankfully avoided the snare that was still in place (just outta camera view to the right...where she is headed to). I pulled that other snare this morning to avoid any chance of catching her again.

Good informative post fellas, thanks......jk

I wish I could make em all come to where I want to catch them.

I dont fur trap beavers.....this is all ADC.

But, please elaborate....I'd like to know your tactics.....to make the job easier.

Great pic!!!!

Swamp - I wish I knew. When I was keeping my cameras current, I relied on the testing done by trailcampro. I have not even looked at the website for a long time, but I assume they are still posting tests. The last two I bought were the bushnell Core maybe 2 or 3 years ago because trailcampro said they had among the most sensitive PIR sensors. And I definitely had great luck with them, but I would still check the tests on trailcampro before buying one now because sometimes they change them year to year or another model takes the lead.

Two things made me realize I was missing them - beaver at the bottom with no triggering. And no way it was not above water when initially caught.
And repaired dams with no trigger of the camera.
I also found that it helped to stay within about 30 feet, even if the camera was rated to detect out 100 feet.

Not saying the cameras you are using would have that problem, but it got me paying close attention to the sensitivity rating on trailcampro. And when I started using the ones they rated as most sensitive that pretty much stopped happening. That was maybe 10 years ago though, and perhaps they have all advanced the sensor technology enough that they would do fairly well, so maybe it is not as big a deal as it was back then.

Hound, are you anchoring under the trap, or 9' up on dry ground? I don't have too many places where a beaver on a long cable won't be wrapped up in all sorts of brush, trees and vegetation.

I have a Bushnell CelluCore...but haven't tried it on beaver.

I have a bunch of cameras...5 cell cams..Spartan, Tactacam, Bushnell, 2 Moultrie Edges.

Also have 7 Muddy and 2 WGI...all 9 of these are sd card pull cams.

I need to start getting some beaver footage.

Reading along hoping to learn something, skipped over the yankee poster's as they have NO CLUE what this terrain is like in spring/summer nor how sulled up the beaver get when the temp hit's 90, was 92 yesterday where i was! Plus the female's have kits so they don't move very far. Finding a bank den/lodge is a joke now with this jungle green terrain. Best way ive found to locate a dam is look for the biggest pile of briar's grown up somewhere, dam is located down under that mess.

I got a kirk dekalb cage i been goofing around with for a few years now. Farm pond setting for lack of a better word to describe job i started on last week, hole in the dam with it set in it produced 3 beaver in 3 nights. They don't seem too spooked by it BUT none of those were the old female, yesterday mud was shoved in front of the cage so it was pulled and a cdr on a drowner put in it's place. Figure she is the last cause caught a couple in 330's and one in a lured snare set. The lure only came out after 3 days of checking, i usually put in the 'dumb' beaver sets, usual run of the mill 330 or snare in trail/ crawl over / channel sets then after getting what i can get work to more elaborate/lured sets.

Like you wish i could catch them all in one night and be gone but that hardly ever happens! About impossible NOT to spook them this time of year to answer your question.

Im heading back to feral hogs after next week, you can have the hot weather beaver, lol.

Iam putting my earth anchors up on dry ground but iam choosing the location where I want to place my trap so there's not anything for them to get wrapped up in. If that's not a option shorten your chain/cable so they won't get wrapped up into something.

3 ft. and 5ft chains work fine, i only go for the back foot so entanglement doesn't matter. Hardly ever have one tangled up for whatever reason.

Good stuff JTrap!

Thanks for posting.

I've got until May 13th to hit the high spots (easier accessed beaver) for the local timber company I trap for...then on the 14th having my bum left knee scoped and a fluid change. That might put me outta commission for a week or 2. After that, I'm likely done with beaver'in till late November, unless its an emergency flooding call.

Id stay off them peg legs all summer, emergency or not! Get healed up for next fall, I hear we are on the verge of the next fur boom and id hate for you to miss it, lol.

If I can remember to do so, in the morning I'll take some pics of several beaver sites I have set for comparison to those Yankee sites.

I use a mash rat boat moss of the summer, get you old of the vegetation and into the water for a beaver eye view.
The boat is probably 1 inch + draft….

Set hard…..l

I really need to, but its dang sure hard for me to sit around the house.

Why? They got such wonderful day time tv shows like the View for you to watch, lol.

For sure!

This video got me to thinking about this too...

https://youtu.be/qOX9p8pB2VY?si=lQ21f2zcZUOSRSX5

Anybody else notice that the beaver in the night video exits the water to left of the slide where there is a steep “step up” bank, but when it comes back it enters the water on the gentle slope of the slide? Its really a thing. Not all the time, but by far most of the time. At least for these here yankee beavers…

True. No telling how many I missed. Here’s one from last night, no vid though.

Deep South piney flatwoods rough. The waterways in these pics are old drainage canals dug in the 1960s to 1980s to drain these thick wetlands so pines could be planted/survive on more of the land area.







The last pic is what I thought was a large castor mound (water is low here now), but Im thinking its not a castor mound but a gator nest as there is a gator hanging around the area.

Grabbed 1 out of that mess today.

I'd like to be able to consistently catch beaver in exposed 330s like some of yall do (as in your pic). That set is totally useless here.

Even beaver here that have never been trapped are reluctant to stick their heads in such sets.

Might be a deep South thing as even our whitetail deer are much wilder than those I've hunted in the midwest....so could be a regional thing.

Blind set footholds on a drowning rig, with the drowned beaver not right in a run, if at all possible. Is the least likely to spook other beaver in my experience. Castor mound sets can be deadly and you can rack up the numbers with them fast, but they wouldn't be my first choice if I am trying to clean out all the beaver. Walking over bank dens, too close to lodges, pounding stakes, moving stuff to build trap sets, etc., basically any disturbance can spook, spooky beaver. Most beaver are easy to catch, but you get a spooky, trap wise one and they can be as hard or harder than any animal out there. Years ago, when I would run into trapwise beaver they were practically always foothold shy and a bodygrip was the way to catch them. Nowadays most trapwise beaver I run into are square shy and it is the opposite, a foothold is the ticket.

I've seen them a time or two where they were so spooky that if you came in there and made any disturbance you would swear they packed up and left, they'd hole up and not move for a week or two. The way I caught beaver there was to pull everything I had set, and look for a channel or two where I could set deep bodygrips, where they were diving under something. And where I could get to without walking close to any bank dens (you may not be able to see every den, but you can figure that they have to have ground high enough for them to have a living chamber above the water level, within a reasonable distance of the water, in order for there to be a den). Then in two or three weeks I would slip back in there and quietly place a bodygrip in those spots without driving any stakes or making any disturbance. I never cleaned the beaver out of those sites, even though one of them was on a guys place where he wanted them all gone, because the entire colony was wise (the guy gave me a shed full of traps the former owner left there, within fifty yards of the colony, when he moved. Giving me a pretty good explanation of why these beaver were so spooky). By the time I'd caught a couple beaver I'd used up the good blind set opportunities for hidden bodygrips. I got another one or two in footholds that were covered with leaves and blended underwater as carefully as I would a canine set. But getting them all was going to be more difficult than I was capable of, or willing to expend the time on as a favor for a friend of the family.

I've seen exit points on the river where beavers are climbing a 2 foot vertical bank as frequently or more frequently as gentler slopes nearby. I actually find castor mounds set near fairly steep banks more often as well. The first beaver I took in 330s were on a bank as well.

And here I thought swan nests at muskrat lodges was sketchy. Alligator nests? Yikes.

Good stuff there BC2!

FishingHoleFind,
You'd struggle to catch a single beaver here with that bodygrip slide/mound set in your pic.

Not one of these beavers here will fall for that. I'm envious of those dumb Alaska beavers....lol

Swamp the only thing you got down there that I'd want is the flat land. Maybe the sand if canine trapping.

Honestly I didn't think it would work here and yet I nailed two the first day I put out my sets. A real high to start my trapping career. I don't think I've taken a easier beaver than those first two.

I think it's a combination of low pressure making them less spookable and big game making enough noise that they get somewhat used to it. I actually run into beaver a fair amount while kayaking in the fall. They don't even slap their tails untill you're within like 15 feet and they'll surface and go back to their work within minutes.

I'd love to do a season with an ADC trapper I bet the experience would be a rewarding challenge but also an amazing learning opportunity.

About a 90% sand to 10% clay down here....does make land trapping much easier.

Those exposed 330 sets are illegal here. Must be totally submerged. With our NWCO license, we can't use drowning sets either. Which leaves us the submerged 330, or cages. Snares are illegal too. Our state likes to tie one hand behind our backs.
During the general trapping season, we can use the drowning sets. I can still use foot traps out of season, so the long cable method is interesting to me.

I also work in RI, 330s and cages are the same as CT, but foot traps and snares are both illegal. It would be nice to have the other options.

Serious restrictions you've got to overcome. My ADC charge would reflect those restrictions.

That’s it in a nutshell. I always steer clear of bank holes and lodges.

I charge hourly, including travel time, unlimited catches. As long as I don't educate them, which can be hard not to do sometimes. And will I even know if I did? I try not to run up a bill, but sometimes the beaver doesn't cooperate. The hardest part for me is trying to determine the number of animals present. 90% of my beaver work is for the state, so I get a little more leeway than if it's for residential or HOA properties. Either way, I try to be efficient and get it done, and move on to the next job.

Are you allowed to shoot them? I would think becoming a night owl with a thermal might be more effective than working within those restrictions. Here we get more options with a NWCO permit, not more restrictions. For instance with a NWCO permit we can use 280s on dry land, while regular season fur trappers can not use anything larger than 220 on dry land. Those are some serious handicaps you are forced into!

Yes, shooting is an option if distance restrictions are met. Usually a last resort for me, but I've shot a few.
Not exactly a trap friendly state (very blue), slightly above the cage only states like MA and WA.

I've got rough, impenetrable swamps to deal with and you have idiotic equipment restrictions to deal with. Not sure which is worse.

No gators or venomous snakes in my waterways. That's a plus.

No closed beaver season.

No trap restrictions.

But, we sure could benefit from a 48 hr check on drowning or lethal sets.

We currently have a 24 hr check on all traps.

In that DVD, dang near every beaver was super square shy. Out here I’ve got em swimming right in on vid with my phone. It hesitates a bit by set….then whack! I’ve shared it a few times.
Here’s a shout out to Dobbins Woodchipper from a few falls ago. Had em within 5 minutes of cracking that jar open…..lol.

Alabama is 72 hours. But they don't have our ten foot rule and anything coni larger than 5" must be in water.

72 hours in our heat isn't pretty but dead is dead when it comes to NWCO work.

Georgia's bodygrip reg of anything larger than 9" must be in water or within 10' of water is easy to work with.

Dang! Tame beavers!

Interesting post, and that muskrat lodge like thing is an alligator nest? WOW......jk

We also have a 24 hr check, and need to get a permit for every out of season beaver job. I have a stack of them in my clipboard. Permit is for two weeks, can get extensions as needed.
Can also set traps within the normal 10' restrictions of lodge.

Yes....sow gator lays her eggs there....covers them....protects them...covers them some more...daring any coon to bother the nest.

Those of us in free states don't realize how good we actually have it.

Sure Swamp, rub it in.

Agreed, no complaints on our bodygrip rules. My beef was with Alabama was 220s for coons. Doing NWCO work a 220 is a useful tool for coons in attics. I don't think too many free running dogs are going to be on a roof. Always thought there should've been some sort of work around like other states have done. Heck, we can do 220s on dry ground and it's not an issue.

Some of these state to state comparisons just leave you scratching your head.

swamp, we have an advantage over you southern guys, when the ice first forms and there is no snow one can see their trails, both bubbles and there runs, over the years I've learn that the beaver even during winter check their pond nightly, the same route every time, so it stands to reason that they did this in the summer, and over the years, I have found that they have a travel route just 4-8 feet from the dam, when I check out a new pond I will look and feel with a pole for this route, if I can find a place that they are going under a tree, great!!, if not I will set up a log and leave for a few days maybe a week, and then come back and set it, I found over the years that the adults, more often do this route nightly, sometime I find a few place where it's like this on a pond, just what I have that works most of the time,

This is a good thread Swamp. Reading thru i have learned a few things.I did not realize a beaver was that fickle about certain things.I do agree that most game or predators or more wary in the Deep South than other places I have hunted.

Didn't consider the ice up there. There would be a learning curve for me to trap in ice and snow.

I wonder why these deep South critters are so wary?

I only have north Missouri to compare them to, but its very noticeable difference.

Maybe because we'll eat anything down here, lol.

I love hitting the water at night with a flashlight. You can see straight to the bottom in ten or more feet of water, see all sorts of interesting stuff. Don't always find a useful trapping spot, but it's pretty interesting anyways.

Not always a wise move down here if you don't know our swamps. Check some of Swamps pics, he's down south with blackwater swamps. That's not hyperbole the water is black.

Critters move at night down here, including the ones that bite. You gotta know the terrain and if you smell something like cucumbers DON'T MOVE.

Swamp also has all six of our snakes that'll send you to the ER in his area as well as gators.

Great post.Very interesting to see beaver trapped in diffrent areas.Here in Maine trapping under the ice I have had alot of beaver poop on the backs of beaver caught in conibears set in channels.Trapping in open water you get a toenail in a foothold and that beaver is not coming back to that set and is much harder to catch.

Great thread Swampy.
When I first read the topic and who started it, I thought “why is this guy asking? He should be telling us!”….lol.
Like wolves, it’s crazy how they all behave differently in different areas. Time of year is also crucial. Reminds me of Hemo Korths wolf demo in Escanaba a few years ago. He kept stressing “ Keep in mind, these are my wolves, way up there. Yours are probably different.”. Rings true for lots of species.
There’s certain trappers (and they’re everywhere) where it’s their way or the highway. These trappers will never reach their full potential being stuck in their ways. These guys are the reason my phone rings to deal with beaver, and recently wolf.
Sometimes new trappers are great for picking up new tricks too, they’re usually thinking way outside the box. It just sucks when they ask a “stupid” question and get ridiculed for it, doesn’t happen often but it does.

I like to hear other trapper's ideas and experiences.

Sometimes you just lucky. Today's luck pictured below.

Was 58°F here this morning....nice temps for May.

Originally Posted by Swamp Wolf
I'd like to be able to consistently catch beaver in exposed 330s like some of yall do (as in your pic). That set is totally useless here.

Even beaver here that have never been trapped are reluctant to stick their heads in such sets.

Might be a deep South thing as even our whitetail deer are much wilder than those I've hunted in the midwest....so could be a regional thing.




It's not just a deep south thing. But here we have either the USDA ,or everyone else, setting non brushed in #330s. With that, I've watched muskrats suspend under water face to face with drowned rats in traps. I'm confident beaver to the same thing, studying what's attached to the necks of their kin, no matter how far, or deep, you get them out away from the set site.

Often times I have to foothold beaver with the same care we trap coyotes as I personally don't see much difference between a smart coyote and a smart ol female beaver, at times.

Drowning sets on slide wires always good in helping not spook them. But gang setting each colony is the key. You want to get them as fast as possible. When you start trapping them they notice right away that the others are disappearing & they go into that 'spooked' mode. Especially the larger ones.
A long ago friend said he always started by trapping the farthest active sign or trails to help get the biggest ones first. Then the kits were easy

Good tips!

I also try to gang set, but it never seems to work out that way. Nearly all catches are usually made at one main location (usually a dam or other water control area.)

I struggle catching the small beaver sometimes in footholds due to running a heavier pan tension to eliminate otters, coons, and wading birds.

I like this right here. I try and hit ‘em with everything right off the bat. One trip in and I leave my cameras up with a few sets out for a week or so after.

Very nice double

Another one this AM.....NoBS Beaver Extreme on a drowner rod & in a tray at a breach in a clogged road pipe.

Slowly but surely picking 'em.off.......one in a snare today.

Snare was in a narrow, knee deep channel thru a patch of rushes. Channel led up to road where beaver had pushed a half-hearted attempt of a dam along road ditch. I started not to set it last Friday as sign was old. Glad I did now.

Doing like i been doing, one at a time! I had a shooting gallery a few nights ago, REALLY got one spooked now, lol. Time to hang up the rifle shooting at night, eye's done got too weak to see cross hairs in fog. Be shotgunning from now one.

Clocks ticking as well, got to get wrapped up and gone tomorrow!

Decent haul today at this same nuisance area....

1 in a snare, 2 in footholds at dam breaks.