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.