County beaver problem.

Have some beavers causing some problems on a county road near me. I guess, the got my name from the DNR and called me to help. I set 5 traps yesterday. And the results are:




80% isn't bad, but I should have had 100%. Had a 750 at the bottom of the drowning rod, but it was empty.

It may have been one of the others you missed in that one but caught in another. That's still impressive.

good job

Excellent result. I had a similar experience this weekend with a 3 out of 4 success rate at a road side job. The kicker was my 4th was set off, a 330 belisle and the trap was jammed by the dog. Never seen or heard of this before, when the trap fired the dog spun around and miraculously caught the bar on the tip holding it open a good 2 or 3 inches and the scene clearly suggested the beaver had struggled to free itself. Curious if anyone has ever heard of that happening before.

Oh, and I had a first today. I caught the biggest one by the foot in a #330, Duke Magnum. It's the first Duke Mags I have used. In fact, every trap I set still had factory oil on them. All these years of religious trap prep just to find out the beavers dont give a rip!

Good Job trapperkeck!

Good job,any left? or are you done.

Great job Keck. Towards the river?
Seems to be where they come from down in that area.

Osky

Well, the DNR only permitted me for 5, so I'm thinking I will be pulling them tomorrow and the road Department will be out to pull the dam. I'm pretty sure there are more beavers, just hoping I pull enough out to keep them from rebuilding the massive in the triple box culvert.

Yep, within a mile or two.

Jealous!

What's the DNR scared of? They scared you will solve the problem if they turn you loose? A permit for 5? You should explain to them they are causing trouble and need to go. Some how it doesn't make sense to me. But good job on your part.

Well, to be fair, the officer asked me how many beavers I thought were there. I replied, at least 5, figuring a standard 2 adults and 3 juveniles. I did not expect him to put a limit on them. He seemed pretty gung-ho and, awfully, proud of Minnesota's rodent population.

Yeah, I'd like to hear the rationale behind that. Sounds laughable.

Update, see the reply now.

I guess you know to tell him 47 next time. We do not have a closed season in the land of no trees. We can trap them year around.

When I lived in NE, I would just call the local Game Warden and let them know I was taking care of some problem beavers near whatever town was closest. They would then thank me for letting them know, in case there was a complaint. Never had a complaint, special permit, or any other kind of problems. I have only met two DNR officers here in MN, outside of the office and both seemed pretty paranoid. Like I couldn't, possibly, be out enjoying the great outdoors without breaking some law or another. Weirdest thing.

If they’re only allowing you to catch some of the beavers causing problems, they’re going to have to get used to having problems.

True that^^^^^

I guess I never thought about the DNR limiting the number you could take, if they were plugging something that need to be opened, since I don't have to deal with it. Here if someone calls me about beaver, if I want to deal with it, I just load up and go. The only way I get ahold of anyone else is if the beaver are on the neighbors land to get permission from them. It sounds like NE used common sense on it. You can not keep out of fur season beaver in MN if doing damage work, can you? Complaints should go up if fur prices stay like they are.

Correct, all the carcasses were left for the coyotes and eagles. I also have to notify DNR of catches every day and location of carcasses, in case they wish to check it out. Gonna be a short "special season" for me. Two whole days. Oh well, I did find out how out of shape I am and it's supposed to freeze hard tomorrow night.

How many beavers were there? I do a lot of nuisance work and have for many years. Looked at a roadside culvert job couple weeks ago and thought......probably a new breeding pair. Took 9 before I was done.

I am new to this big water trapping, so I'm not really sure how many might be living in this particular area. It is backed up a long ways and I cannot see any lodges from the main dam area. The county guy I talked to thought there might be two lodges in this flowage between two lakes. Could well be 10 or more, for all I know. I do know, they contacted the fella who usually traps for them and he declined because he thought a boat was necessary. I'm sure he knows more than I, he lives within a couple miles of the area.

I was thinking you had to leave them, but wasn't sure. We have been down in the single digits for a half a week and will have it again tonight. It shows a warm up starting good Tuesday. I should maybe go test some ice and see if I can go spearing yet on small water. I like cutting thin ice a lot better than thick.

If its thin enough you dont even have to cut it-just stomp it.

So, what was in it for you besides getting the thrill of getting an 80% catch ratio (much better than I could have done) and making your local and state gov guys smile a bit...? Or did they pay you some cash? If I couldn't have gotten the critters for my own use, I would have declined the offer. They'd better remember you for some primo stuff at later date.

Huhh? I don't know about your area but professional beaver removal here requires licencing, training and insurance and those individuals who are highly experienced and well equipped are fewer and fewer. Keeping roads from flooding and saving road wash outs and tens of thousands of dollars if not more is a pretty big responsibility. You're doing the industry a disservice if you're doing it for anything short of very good financial compensation.

Crit-R-Dun What is the insurance for? Do you have to pay for road repair due to beaver damage? If Canada would make it so trappers had to jump through more hoops to remove beaver, there will be less people doing it. I can not say I feel a guy needs a special license to kill a beaver plugging a culvert. This sounds like a lot of the ADC work here, where the people that do it, try to limit the competition. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out, if that culvert does not get open it will flood the road. What kind of training do you get? I have never heard of such a thing. I have removed beaver for private parties, water boards, highway depts and railroads. It was all beaver trapping, nothing more.

It called..........^^^^^^^........”Job Security “

4 beaver ..plus set up ...= 375.00 in my neck of the woods...and I keep the Beav.

A lot of companys wont hire you to do nuisance trapping unless you carry 5 million 3rd party liability insurance.
Our provincial trapping federation provides the coverage for its members to do nuisance work and also while trapping.It also covers events put on by the local trapping councils.For a long time 2 million was sufficient,but the companys like Ontario Hydro wanted 5 million so it was increased for the membership.A trapper who holds a registered trapline has the first right of refusal to do any nuisance work related to furbearers that occur within the boundarys of his trapline on public land.Almost all the work where I am is related to Beaver complaints by private or public companys with roads on public land.These would include municipalitys,local roads boards,highway maintenance contractors,Logging companys,Private and public utilities companys,etc.
Before you get a trapping licence of any sort in Ontario you must qualify and pass a comprehensive 40 hour trapping course.
Nobody wants yahoos out there in the public realm giving professional trappers a black eye in the media because they dont have a clue what they are doing or got their "training" on youtube.
Proper trapper education and maintaining professionalism in the industry is foremost in protecting our right to trap whether it be for fur or nuisance.

Boco, you are saying a person that does the beaver work does not get any special training then? If you have a trapping license and are a member of the provincial trapping federation you are good to go? The way Crit-R-Dun made it sound, to me anyway it was that there were special requirements for doing removal beaver work.

Sic' em big dog!

That's what Boco is saying...

I said you wont get any trapping licence without taking the 40 hour course.
You do that and you will not only know how to trap them but also their biology,and how to skin and dry them.

I said you wont get any trapping licence without taking the 40 hour course.
You do that and you will not only know how to trap them(in and out of season) but also their biology,and how to skin and dry them.
There is no special extra licence required.
Some nuisance control company's tried to push that BS to try to shut out trappers from nuisance work but it was shut down in a hurry by the OFMF.
We(licenced trained trappers) manage the furbearers in Ontario and are trained to do it in and out of season.
Nobody is going onto my trapline and trap without my say so any time of the year for any reason.

So you learn biology, how to trap, skin and dry every fur bearer, in 40 hours. Sounds like a crammed pack week to me.

Yes it is a full 40 hours including the skinning and setting of traps.There is a comprehensive trapping manual as well,and homework of course for the bookwork and exam.
The instructors usually train about 10 at a time,some less.
There is also an instructors course every few years to make sure the entire province is covered. When people want to take the course anywhere in the province they can find an instructor or two locally.

I like much of the Canadian system when it comes to controlling wildlife. It just wouldn't work down here most places. We have that whole right to compete thing...which has it's own issues at times. Especially when you get the govt guys and big corporation hands in the mix (They do NOT like to compete).

Nessmuch: A few years ago I got yelled at my a local ADC guy for charging too little. He said "going rate around here is $300 per beaver... plus setup". I said great...give me your card and I'll refer you for some business. I have better things to do than trap beaver in August.
Per state law here in MN. we can't keep any part of the beaver out of season. ....and whyTrapperKeck is tossing them. When season opens here, he can keep them and still collect a check.

Good going Trapperkeck. Keep on em and follow up for future problems. Too many guys (including USDA) trap a few, move on and make someone else clean up the hard ones. (ADC work isn't the same as fur trapping....Most times you have to catch every one) Price them accordingly to what YOU need and be willing to write out a receipt for future customers. If you do good work, word will spread. Not a bad time to Make up a business name and open an LLC through the Secretary of State. Can do it on the their webpage for about $65. Just food for thought. Good luck.

Called in my final check today. I hit my legal capacity, according to DNR. County road guy says, keep on trapping. I wonder if he would pay the fine? Anyway, CO called me back wanting locations of carcasses for "educational purposes". I gave directions to the 5 critters. Hopefully, someone will get some use out of them. Here's a couple more pics of the sets/area.

A call back to the warden will get you another permit (or just wait a few days for season). Used to be we got a blanket year long permit but a few years ago someone in the DNR must have thought beaver needed more protection (pfft) so they went to this new permit system (putting more unnecessary work on the laps of the wardens). I haven't had a warden bawk at giving a permit for any (and all) the beaver it took to take care of the damage issue. Sometimes they just keep coming.

The Ontario guys pretty much covered the explanation. One of the earlier posters suggested the OP might have been doing the nuisance work for little or no compensation. My point being mainly that trappers tend to sell themselves short as far as the service they perform. It's a unique challenging skill set like any other trade and those providing the service need to be well compensated. Sometimes I think trappers become so accustom to working for nothing in the fur industry they let that mind set spill into the roadside beaver work. Consider the value of your work if you're preventing a $100,000. road wash out.

I did this job for no pay. Kind of using it for advertising. The CO and the road Department guys were both a little amazed at my success. Hoping they will think of me when a landowner has a paying proposition. Anyway, it's been 4 years since I had set a trap, so it felt good to get out. Incidentally, this was the easiest beaver trapping I have ever done.

I say again "good job". It is a shame you have to jump through hoops to salve a problem for the DNR.

Well you did great, congrats.

Good job Keck and nice pics.

The key to real success is being that guy with the skill, patience and work ethic to go along behind those types and fix problems they've created. Clearing grates, pulling dams and unplugging culverts is no fun. Don't doubt for a second that public works road superintendents know who's getting the job done.