I caught my first beaver when I was 15. Caught these guys on my 60th Birthday last weekend. Missed a few years in there off and on but I’m still counting it as 45 years of beaver trapping lol. Just some ADC work for a neighbor. Here’s a few pics:

I always loved beaver trapping from a canoe on small rivers. The only rivers close to me now would be treacherous this time of year in a canoe. Looks like you’ve got a good partner.

Nice pics! Days like that will add to your life span!
Caught my 1st beaver in the sixties and my last one a few days ago. Next season I'll be 77 and already looking forward to catching a few more more.

That’s awesome!

Wow,,,, we all are getting old…

I hear ya on the canoe, I love trapping out of them. When I trap our river I use the boat. Canoes just too small for all the gear/critters.

I think that dog likes beaver trapping more than pheasant/duck hunting and she loves pheasant and duck hunting!!! Lmao

I was 17 when I caught my first. Had been trapping nutria the previous year and was getting excited about trapping in general. Our school library had Fur Fish & Game magazines and I read an article about beaver trapping. Shortly after made two sets in a local slough on beaver slides and 1st check had two beavers. Caught with Victor #4 DLS and window sash weights. Hooked!

Canoe trapped a local river during winter breaks during college with NewHouse114 (before he became a famous Ivory carver) for mixed bags of nutria, coon, rats and beaver.

After college I was running nutria lines and hadn't yet figured out how to skin beaver very fast so by now I hated catching them. Then something terrible happened...the nutria prices plummeted to less than $4 each! Had to start targeting beaver if I was going to make any $$$. And they weren't paying too good either!

Well, eventually I got skinning figured out and became fairly good at it. And like you Trapset, except for a couple of years serving my country, been trapping them ever since and I'm 68 now. The past season trapped 109. Lowest output in many a year mainly because of such a dry winter. Had three banner years where I trapped over 500 in a season.

Those are crazy numbers man! Congrats.

I like having my dog come along these days too. They are dang good company on the trap line.

Was that outboard on that canoe the one you started trapping beaver with? LOL.

Nice going trapset. Trapping beaver is so much fun. Im not a canoe guy, but I do love old outboard motors

First beaver trapped was a hippie beaver in 1969,Was 13 years old.
Still hammering them every year since.

I think I was also 15 when I caught my first one in a #3 victor DLS. Must have been in ‘73. Peeler could have gotten a jump in his beaver catching if he would have taken my advise about about skinning knives! I won’t even mention his first use of #330’s!!

I see you have one of those red dogs helping you on your trap line too. Here’s mine inspecting the morning’s catch.

Coming up on 50 years in the club. Back then this was a couple seasons catch instead of a 12 trap morning run. G.

Nice morning catch Ghost. Very respectable %.

You could go with a 19 foot square stern Grumman. I have one. I hunted with it in Alaska but haven’t trapped with it. I know it will carry two guys, camp and two caribou. Or one moose. Never got the chance to try it with two moose. It probably would have done it but freeboard would have been precious I’m sure.

Thanks. Two were caught in snares, two in 330's, and foothold on the other one. Have to stay versatile. G.

Awesome, looks like it in your blood, happy 60yrs!
I brought Morty my chocolate lab with one day for early spring ice beaver. Probably not doing that again with out a long leash…..lol.
At least he didn’t wind up with a foot in a 330 when he tried to walk across the 4’ square hole I cut the weekend before. There was about an inch of water on top of the ice so I guess he didn’t see the hole?……lol

Good red doggy is a big help!!

The motor is older than that. But I did run this exact motor as a kid in Canada. The ol boy that use to take me up there gave it to me years later. I put new coils and points in her a few years ago. 3 pulls with choke on when cold. 1/2 pull when warmed up. 1952 Johnson 3hp weedless, JW model.

I trapped beaver with my Dad in the early 70's. Limit of ten per license. Ten metal tags then tagged by C.O. We sold ten for 200 dollars to a fur buyer from Master Furriers from Duluth. I am 68 and miss trapping with my Dad every year.

Same age as you, I remember when we had to tag our beaver too. Metal tag thru the eyehole, 100 tag maximum per year. Had to tag it in the field just like deer.

I'm too young to have had to do that, but my dad was just talking about it the other day, at one time they had to buy those tags in Washington state at $2/tag and were supposed to tag them as soon as they got them in the field. Of course a small or bit up beaver wasn't worth $2 at the time. He said you learned to target large beaver and if you got into an area with a lot of bit up beaver you pulled your traps quickly and moved on. I think they also had a limit, but don't know what it was. Maybe 50, that was always my dads goal when I was a kid, he would take off a week of work when beaver season opened and trap until he had 50 beaver, and then start cat hunting. Always said that 50 was all he wanted to put up, but I wonder if it wasn't a hold over from when they were limited?

Our tags cost $1 each and you bought how many ever you wanted at the same time you bought your license up to 100 max. No refund on un-used tags. And yep, you didn't want any kits! I think one of the reasons I catch bigger beaver now was learning to recognize and avoid all those little trails up in the pucker brush that kits were using, and/or denning areas.

Oregon did away with the tags in 1978 as there were just too many beaver complaints.