How heavy of a weight should you use on the deep end of a slider for beaver?

Depends on the bottom. Hard flat rock, maybe 40-45 pounds. In soft muck a single 20 pound brake rotor can be fine. Most sandy or firm dirt bottoms I find 2 brake rotors (maybe 30 pounds) is fine.

Also the type of weight matters. I use brake rotors, but on hard rock bottoms I do think a bag filled with sand would “grip” better and require less weight.

I use a cement block on my cable end. If I go any distance I use drowning rods which are much lighter to carry.

It varies depending on what type of bottom you have. I have mostly very soft bottomed ponds that I trap, and if I'm using steel or iron weights that are pretty dense, I usually only use 15 pounds and don't have any problems. A couple cricks that I trap are very hard on bottom, and I use a lot more weight to keep the beaver from getting to shore, probably 40 pounds or so. This has mostly been negated for me now, as I mostly use rods and they work on all but the rockiest places for me.

I have seen beaver swimming with a single cinderblock before. Both times were hard bottom. Also depends on front or backfoot catch. Those back legs unencumbered produce a lot of power.

If it ain't too terribly far to the other side, I just run a baling wire from the weight to a stake or tree on the other side. You can get by on less weight that way.

Take the current and depth of the weight into consideration also it’s a judgement call every time. With locations you trap every year it’s common to leave the weights stashed along the line.

In some of my beaver locations there are lots of rocks. So, I just cut 3' squares of chicken wire. Food it up and carry to the location then pile the rocks on the wire and then fold up the ends and wire it shut and attach it to my my drowning system. This will work in most locations the only problem is you need rocks.

The other system I use is I just long chain my beaver set ups. I stake in deep water and add a weight at the end of the trap chain. Those tie plates or sash weights attached to the trap chain will have that beaver tired out and drowned in no time.

For soft bottom, it's hard to beat rods. They are pretty easy to drag through the woods, especially for just a few sets.

I agree. I switched to rods a long time ago. It was rare that I ever ran into rocky or hard bottoms where rods wouldn't work.