Drowner rods.... gotta be a better way

Have only used drowner rods a couple of times before and had to barrow them from my father when I need them.
Well I am my father's son and i dont like barrowing anything from anybody but at the same time have a hard time when asked if someone can barrow something of mine. He uses the typical rebar setup in 8 and 10 foot lengths but also has the ability to join rods if he needs. My question is, is there a better way or material I've heard guys using fiberglass rods but I have no idea where they get them, what the life is on them or if they require any special care. The reason I ask is there has to be a better way when it comes to rods, cable and a chains i got down to a science and I have multiple set ups for different situations. But I have one gentleman that calls me every year to take care of a beaver problem and he sets very strict stipulations I'm only allowed to take 5 beaver by drowning rod only my access to the property is by foot only and is about a mile walk from where I park and I have a window from 615am to 740am to be in and out..... if he didn't own the 540 acres I deer hunt on id probably tell him to find someone else..... thoughts.

No deer is worth that.

Rat that thought has crossed my mind many times. I honestly think he doesnt want the rest of his family to.know what's going on. Shall I dare say they are of the upper upper class kind of family that is well suited for life in the more suburban, urban lifestyle not the rural population 600 lifestyle. parents live here yr round and thier 2 kids have built houses lake side on the same property I think they each appraise at 1.5 -2 million not bad for their weekend home. 2 yrs ago now he had beaver deceiver pipes put in cause they like to watch the beavers until they started to eat the shrubbery now I get to come in all covertly and remove them as long as the kids dont find out.

Why all the ridiculous stipulations?

I bought my 10' fiberglass rods all set up from Mike kelly on Here. I dont know if he still sells them...but they are very nice with the top set up for double staking and the bottom stop adjustable. I painted mine brown and green. I just didnt like how whit looked in the water.

sounds like your his side chick and only wants ya when he needs something.

you have to take off the dress or dance pretty for him.

your choice,i'd still be laughing at the guy while trapping and hunting somewhere else.

You set the terms,not them! If they want a job done then you decide what terms.

Chain, cable, wire to a feed sack full of rocks.

i don't walk in if the landower want beaver or yotes caught, and i dang sure don't let them pick the trapping gear.
i got some drowning rods from trapperjohn on here that are really good rods.

thanks for the plug Cotton!

Swampy, mine are 3/8" smooth rod so weigh bout 25% less than normal rebar, BUT you MUST make sure the deep water end is secured well or they can have it up on the bank twisted like a pretzel. It has happened to a couple customers of mine.

In THAT situation, I usually carry or sled the rods into the property ONCE, then leave them so they are there every year when I need them.
If/when that property is lost, carry them out once and for all.
Used that strategy on a few places doing full time ADC work back in those days.

yes, a plastic sled attached to a deer drag harness that hooks to a D-ring at the base of my back, so my hands are free and my legs pull the load...work smarter, not harder.

I know this doesn't answer your question but I'd be telling the guy to kick rocks. I don't mind hiking in but those other rules are outrageous. We wouldn't want his precious lite family to know anything about wildlife management, that would be terrible!

x2

tell that dude to fly a kite, high on a hill.

but, to answer your question. carry some tie wire and drowning bags in, and a small shovel. pretty light and works.

i hope you are charging him enough. if i had to carry even a kit beaver back a mile to the truck for an ADC job, I'd charge enough to make the owner consider letting me drive, or either firing me

I got my drowner rods from trapper John and they work great.

I'm sorry to see this thread go south.
The OP is looking for some help with a difficult situation.

Some background first. If you notice his location , Connecticut. It is very , very difficult here to get permission to hunt deer here. This is why we have a deer over population problem. To find a piece of land 500 acres to hunt on is just pure gold. I would bet 100 hunters located here would be lined up to get that permission with all the PIA rules and would be glad to get it.

My current location in Connecticut there is no private land that is 500 acres in size unless you drive at least an hour away. A piece of land 10-20 acres here is very hard to find , let alone 500.

Bet there isn’t another trapper within 50 miles of you.....that would take care of his problem. It’s my way or the hi-Way

The thread is like all of them ... a little hash with a little truth... He could try mike kelly a member here...I did tell the OP that I liked my Fglass rods

X2

Cant use 330's if not are there any half way straight trees you can use for poles attach wire or cable for a drowner to the bottom end and top end shove in mud and secure on the bank Some oldtimers used a dead spruce with the limbs trimmed of except for a couple nubs down at the bottom to keep the chain ring from coming back up for their drowning poles Hope this helps

I would use the cheapest set up. Paint the rods and hide them there. So, that’s at least one thing you don’t have to bring in.

I work with land owners and see what the terms are and if I do not like there terms are, I walk away. Getting ground to hunt deer comes after. It is him who have the problem not you , If he only wants the number of beaver take out that means he dose not want to have the problem take care of fully. That tells alot there. Also for how is stated to use to drown the animals will work. Depends on what you really want to do. For me I would not deal with someone like that , I also understand for the area you are in,I was brought up in the state of MA and had people like that I dealt with and I know how some part of CT is beside in MA. It did not got any better since I left the area just got worst. It is all up to you what will do .But I would not put up with it from the person they need you more then you need them. When they are the ones with the problem.

Look up tree stabilizer rods. I think that is what you are looking for. I can't answer the care or other questions but I have looked at fiberglass as well.

If I had to jump thru all those hoops, he would be paying plenty per beaver.

This Is how I trapped beaver when I first started out. We didn't have BGs at the time so It was foot holds only.

We staked out In deep water with a steel fence post. We used 10' of chain between the trap and the stake. Then we attached a rail road tie plate or a sash weight as close to the trap as possible. Those weights weighed about 5 Lbs to 10 lbs each. The beaver would be caught and head for the deeper water but with the trap and the weight hanging On It's foot It soon tired out and drowned. Most of the time they made at least 2 turns around the stake before wearing down.
We tried to target a front foot since you can drown a beaver In 2' of water. If you have deeper water then I would try and target a hind foot. A beaver will tire rather quickly with this set up.
We never even considered a drowning rod or cable slides. If you go this route just leave all the gear behind and then you won't have to keep hauling It back and forth.

He's looking for help locating
Fiberglass rods

No need for all that stuff.
When I read the initial post I assumed he was looking for a simple drowning method.

I cannot find someone selling the kit shown here ( with) the hex key stops

I went to Mike Kelly's site and it says sold out.

Heres his pictures https://www.wildrivertraps.com/

Whole different ball game in this state. There is some VERY well off people here. I had a gig for a gentleman who owned at least 6 houses scattered across the world. Bond trader/hedge fund manager or something like that.
He had contacted me about some ADC work , lots of hurdles and hoops to jump through , had to be available 24/7 for this client.

He paid me $2200 to remove 4 raccoons , 1 possum. He was very happy and paid promptly. Job took 5 days.

Hope he calls again. I love jumping through those types of hoops.

Hiding trapping activity from people who don't understand it is the reason it's being banned by more states and municipalities every year. Take the time to educate people out in the open, or tell them to find another trapper willing to operate in the shadows and allow the folks that NEED trapping to pretend it doesn't exist, and let their kids continue to be ignorant.

You can make drowning rods out of 1/4" rod. You need to use a loop on each end with a cable stake to hold both ends solid. Not as easy to use but a lot lighter than 1/2" rebar.

amleo.com

They sell the 10' 3/8 " fiberglass rods.

So to elaborate alittle more part of the problem is he had another trapper on there before me who apparently morals and ethics were not a top priority. He used chains, cables or wire and didn't properly weight them down and his family had to bear witness while they ate lunch to a very mad beaver that had pulled his weight up on shore and tangled in the wire when the guy showed up be proceeded to bludgeon the beaver to death with an axe. While I'm going to guess this family watched. On numerous occasions they caught said trapper using their property as his own to hunt fish trap and bring friends along. So I can understand why he is very weary on letting people in so if it means playing his game with his ball on his field to try and restore faith in trappers or the locals in general I feel it is my duty to take the beating. I will say that this gentleman has given me more and more every year this year is the second year he's allowed me to hunt his property. Which he offered to me I did not ask for that right. The first year working for him he accompanied me on every check and the setting and removal of traps and he kept detailed records of my doings. For those of you who answered my question thank you. But please dont pass judgement on a land owner that one of our own took advantage of.

Great post. I enjoy when landowners/managers get involved as well. I even enjoy sleeping in a little when they want check my sets on their property. I enjoy the questions through text or phone calls. I enjoy the pics they share showing me where they see critters. I enjoy them getting involved with it all. If they eventually start trapping themselves and I don’t get to trap their property, then that’s fine as well. I talked to the “kid” checking my traps in the mornings and told him if he ever has something else going on that I can check them. His response...Heck Mr. Mark, don’t take my anticipation and excitement away from me, I look forward to checking traps every morning!

I have had to trap on properties with regulations but nothing that tight

Swamp Yankee -

Yes I see this is old.

You have a very good arrangement with that landowner! I love those jobs so long as they don’t try to infringe on my morals or ethics (rare). I welcome their specificity because I can meet their terms, impress them, enjoy the work, and charge them for it.

He offered the deer hunting precisely because you did not ask.

Did you get set up with drowning rods?

Best wishes.

Gator foots suggestion of leaving them onsite, if an option, is good one.


If it were me in typical conditions I encounter here, I would use 1/2” rebar stakes, 60” long with an annealed nut smashed onto it a foot off the bottom and a crosspiece near the top for a deepwater stake. If there isn’t a bottom that would solidly support a stake there, scratch deepwater staking and stick to rods.

I would carry several adjustable cable sliders per stake. This would allow making multiple sets per deepwater stake. The shallow anchor point can be stake or earth anchor. Each adjustable (important part) cable would be rigged with a cam lock and a flat stock toggle for the slider and a cam lock with loop for the adjustment on top. The toggle allows for easily swapping out traps. The adjustment will make your life much easier when setting them up. 1/8” 7x19 cable is what I use. If you use this setup and keep it taut, you get use after use from them. You could replace the sliders with wire if that’s how you do things.


Just trying to give suggestions for lightening the load carried. Good luck