Mike Marchewka wrote a great article talking about how to determine when it's time to pull beaver traps. You can read the article on the MTP website HERE. He always does a great job.

Luke

I pull them ...when the fresh piece of poplar at the waters edge..

Hasn't been touched after 2 days

Depends if you are fur trapping or nuisance trapping.

The article is about nuisance trapping.

A fresh piece of any food source at the water's edge won't catch many beaver down here.

Pretty much the same over here.

Baited sets here are a waste of time

Nessmuck's beavers must be hungry.

Yeah........but his bait sticks might smell like sourdough. Could probably catch most of the guys on here with a loaf or two. G.

If nuisance you never pull traps until all the beaver are gone and water is restored to natural flow rate.
For fur trapping minimu, 1.5 per live house and no more than 2 per live house for maximum long term sustainability.

The only time I caught 1/2 a beaver was when something ate part of it.

Me too. That 1/2 a beaver must be a Canadian thing......lol.

If you have 40 live colonys on your line you take minimum 60 beaver maximum 80 off your line.

It is impossible to count colonies here on west coast. Every high water they move. No ice so they can get a bite to eat anywhere.

Yea I hear the west coast is weird.
But where I am and across the vast swath of NA that is boreal as well as the deciduous prime beaver habitat that is a proven method to manage the resource.
If you cant find a colony then obviously your sool
Easy to find the colonys in the habitat represented in the pic at the top.Classic beaver habitat.

A little different down here. 40 colonies would be spaced out on 30 to 50 or more different landowner's properties.

I knew what you meant Boco, I couldn't help myself.