Ride along on my line today

Today was typical on my line. Lots of miles and a handful of beavers. It got up to around 67 degrees, started off cloudy and turned sunny.

Drove 72 miles to my first site.

I have taken all the beavers out of this site except one. It wouldn't come to anything, and it wouldn't respond to a break in the dam. Monday opened this dam up to pretty much drain the place. Tuesday there was a small patch in the break. I made a dam break set on Tuesday where the patch was. Wednesday there was no action, Thursday there was no action, but finally it came back last night and I was fortunate to get this last one.



Drove 4 miles to the next site on this same tract.
I set a snare in this trench made in front of the riser. The beavers have been using it to go through the pipe. The beaver got wrapped up beside the pipe. You can see the pigtail of the snare left where I cut it. This should be the last beaver here also. I'm hoping so anyway.



Drove 43 miles to the next site.

I had made two crackerjack lured sets here yesterday, and I just knew I'd connect. There was beaver sign everywhere. They have a good size lodge and lots of water because the pipe is plugged.



However, when I checked the sets today, they were untouched. I did some more looking around and found what looked like a #3 Duke wired to a metal stake. I didn't touch it. It looks like someone from the hunt club has been educating the beavers. This is going to be a tough one, I think. Time for footholds and blind sets.




Drove 2 miles to the next site on the same tract.

Make two sets yesterday, but only this one connected. I used a curiosity lure to draw it in.




Drove 26 miles to the next site.

The beavers have a 48 inch pipe plugged up. The pipe is about 6' down. I'm standing on the logging road taking the picture and the water is right up to the road. The water is about 2' deep out in the pine plantation.



I had a snare knocked down by an otter and a beaver in the body grip at the next set.




Drove 41 miles to the next set and it was empty.

I think I have all the beavers from this site, but not sure. I put a hole in the dam in the riser to find out if it will get repaired.




Drove 101 miles home. Total miles for the day - 289. That's why the Yota now has 661,000 miles on it - lol.


Here's today's catch. Not a big catch, but a lot of miles. Note the blue bucket in the back in case I need to make that famous blue bucket set.

The old beavers can sure keep you busy,thanks for the ride along Paul.

Very cool Paul! Always wonder how other guys do it, and how they trap animals I don't get to trap. Thanks for sharing.

Taking a few notes from you on this one. I have a beaver situation similar to what you are talking about. Small dam and first night took out a 40 lber but certainly not the only beaver there. 330 in the slide down from the dam. then cold turkey no action. Broke down dam set it and nothing. Was iced over so i couldn't get into to much else and am limited on the number of traps i got to set and type for beaver as well. After a week of blanks i pulled the traps and then a week later the landowner called again and said the beaver is back. came back out and set it and cold. Really need to go blind sets but no leg holds for beaver so i gotta figure it out with 330's. I have always been good at getting the 80% everyone talks about but when the landowner wants 100% sometimes i struggle

very nice--thanks.

Thanks Paul appreciate the tour, are leaving your wallet in truck when checking traps nowdays?

Cool pics, thanks for posting!

No Snakes ?

The Adventures of Culvert Trapper, lol. Glad you caught a few beaver's while you were 'loafing'.

Thanks for sharing.

Had a job last spring where I found a couple of 1.5 coil springs tied to a tree with rope Ended up catching a couple of beaver missing a front leg.

Nice.

Those smart ones are the ones keep you thinking and on your toes. I had one this year that was ,it seen one in the snare and it would take down the snares with out getting caught then a Game warden show me how to set 220 on land for beaver in the past and did get some that way I try that on this one it did not work .So I took a bloody up coyote 4 coil # 3 . and set that in the water I use 4' stakes cross stake them . and made sure the beaver did not get on dry land or any where, I had it the next day wait for me.Thank you for shear your line.

Cool pics and story. Thanks for taking us for a ride on your line

Cool post Paul, romantic!

Nice work!

Paul
Thanks for the ride along!

Interesting post Paul, thanks for posting it. Nice to see you carry a blue bucket with you.

Thanks for the ride-along, very interesting. Could you explain what the risers are for because I have no clue?

Same here. Thanks!

It was warm enough, but I didn't encounter any.

The risers are to control the water level in the ditches. Boards can be put in the risers if higher water is wanted in the ditches.

LOL - This kind of loafing gets tougher every year on this old man.

You should make more posts like this one, Paul.

30 here--temp and windspeed----you hirin??

I'm usually going full tilt to get to all the sites I need to and don't even think about doing this. I did this once before on here. I thought about that last night and though I'd give it another go. I put my camera in the truck last night so I would remember to do it. Otherwise, I'd have forgotten all about doing it.

Here's the one I did about 9 years ago. I didn't realize it was that long ago.
https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthr...age-day-on-my-line-pic-heavy#Post1749150

9 years ago? Dang. Time has sped up.

There's a lot of your father in you Paul. Thanks for sharing. I felt like I was in the passenger seat.

Neat ride along ! I have many similar days in ark/la lots of driving not big catches...12 yrs control work for one company...now just maintenance.

Keep taking the Camera

You da man paul!

a year only takes 3 months now jap
thanks for the ride along pappy

"Keep taking the Camera"
X2
Question for ya Paul how much flooding can them pines take before they die?
Dennis,

Thank you very much for the ride along, appreciate you taking the time and hope you can do so again sometime.

How do you know if there is one beaver left to catch, or that you have them all? My beaver trapping knowledge is preschool level.

Cool. Thanks for taking us along.

Enjoyed the ride from the seat in front of my computer .Now I wish I could go along for real !

It depends on the age it seems like. The younger the trees the quicker they tend to die from their roots being submerged.

Enjoyed it Paul. I'm not sure if I'm to old or the ice is to.thick up here. I sorta miss season long open water trapping.

In that first place, after I caught all the beavers that wanted to be caught easily, I noticed a cutting now and again. So, I figured there was another one there.

When i was at Eielson, I caught beavers in open water in January. Now mind you, the water I caught them in was 72 degrees coming out of the power plant and not a normal stream. Beavers made a dam just downstream of the plant and the water was backing up into the plant. I was asked to catch them, and I did.

Paul,
Those water control structures, they appear to have slots to insert boards to control depth, but do they also put screens or grates in front of them? The shape seems it would catch everything going through them. How large a culvert runs through them?

Nice Boss Man ! Be thank full Yous ain’t dealing with ice....I’ve been at a spot for 2 weeks now...first 3 days was heavy rain...then it froze up for a week...now it’s thawed out ....got 3 so far...thankfully its only a 6 mile ride ,on my way to work.

Yes, there are slots to put boards in, and there are no screens or grates in front of them. The pipes are normally 36 inch, but I've seen some that are smaller. The only time they have trouble is when beavers decide to put a dam in the front of them, and naturally they put all kinds of sticks in there which extend into the pipes.

It's a great job, isn't it? I've been with this company for 28 years. I'm into the maintenance phase too, but covering 12 counties of maintenance is a full time job.

Had any ball joints break with all the miles you put on them Yota's? I had one pull apart and another snap off. That ruins your day.

Not once. At about 350,000 miles my mechanic said the ball joints look like they need replaced. We put Moog joints in and have had no issues.

Moog was the one that snapped after 1 year. Clean all fresh break. Our county road we have to run looks like the impact area of the tank range though. Got a bunch of pot holes over 4" deep and wider then the truck in several spots. Even had one on her 4 runner pulled apart without warning. Thinking serious about getting a mule maybe LOL.

Thanks for the ride along Paul.

Changing a couple balljoints on a rough backroad trapping truck is basically just maintenance.I consider it that anyway.

Awesome day and post. Felt like I was there on the ride along. Thanks.

Wow, a lotta miles. Very nice.

Beaver stew for Thanksgiving!

thanks paul ,for the ride along ,how is the caster in them beaver ,lots I hope

Thanks for the ride along Mr. Paul. Keep taking your camera, it might answer a few of my dumb questions...... lol

I appreciated traveling on your line with you and I did not even have to get cold, wet, or tired. Thanks for the journey.

Thanks for sharing. Those beavers can give a guy a run for the money at times.
Thanks
mac

I like the green bags mine are all white.

I'm disapointed .
No gun fights or tater rake duels with cottonmouths , no bears running off with or eatin beavers , getting stuck , going in over your waders, getting caught by the wallet in C.D.R.'S , ETC.

No Mark, it was a rather uneventful day - lol.

Still the ONLY person ive ever met to catch a wallet in a CDR, luckily unlike mine it stays packed with bills in it, lol.

Timber co. land with culverts built so you can stop them up to flood out area's doesn't make much sense to me.
At least you have decent culverts, wyer tract I worked for 15 years they NEVER did replace a dinky bent up one
the entire time I worked there though it was smack dab in the middle of the property and EVERYTHING had to
drain through it to get back to the river.

I was happy to see this one yesterday. Lot and lots of rain this summer. These beaver came off the river and dammed up a row crop field drainage. Owner has dug dams out with a backhoe and all the usual stuff. Course the beaver just put it back . I got a BUNCH of coyote and cat permission to get rid of them. I think there is one more. Hoping I dont have to break the dam and then sit down there all night with a rifle.

It sure is a pretty site, eh Danny?

Jtrapper, they're good here about replacing damaged culverts. They stay on top of the ditches and roads pretty good.

When it turns -40 up here is there room in your cab for a snow bird ride along on a trip.

I had a friend, Jack Febrey, who came down from St. Marys, Ontario every February and road with me for two weeks. He enjoyed getting thawed out - lol. He passed away a number of years ago, and I miss his humor.

Oh so you like Canadian humour then

You have some of that Canadian humour too, eh?

Very Much enjoyed the ride along story and pictures!!!

Boy, that's more miles than I've ever gotten on a single vehicle.

With the way fur prices have been lately...you have to have something to smile about humor of humour about.
Auto correct is set for American spelling, but you talking about beaver Castor canadenenis