New water trap bedding device?

I heard that loosanarrow has developed a new trap bedding device. With the discussion about bedding beaver traps in mucky dams, I'm wondering if this may be a good device to use. I hear it's called Magnebed.

Loosanarrow, fill us in on this product. Pictures, uses, availability and price would be appreciated.

please!

If you need help with the pictures let me know and I can help

Following.

Thanks for the introduction!

I run a beaver damage control business in northeastern Indiana, and over the years I have found a need for bedding beaver traps in areas with bottoms that are too soft, steep ledges, etc. since I often am required to operate within legal drains or only on property owned by a customer.

About 5 years ago (after thinking about it for 5 years before that!) I came up with a device that does the job beautifully and with out the limitations of other methods - this need was discussed in the "Bedding traps at beaver dam" thread in Trapping Only forum recently, and after reading that I decided to ask Paul if I could reply with the first rollout of my beaver trap bedding device.

Two years ago I started tooling up with a metal shop to build them, and they are ready to go.

I am calling it the Magnebed.

They adjust to fit every currently available coilspring beaver trap on the market (so far I have confirmed that they work with CDR, MB-750, TS-85, Montana #5, Bridger #5, and NoBS beaver trap), they work in any position, release the trap instantly upon catch, allow for any orientation of the trap jaws to the bank.

They use two special magnets to securely hold the trap on a frame. The beauty is that it holds the trap strong enough that a beaver can stand anywhere on the trap without it budging, but the trap pops off instantly when it fires. That is really the trick - it is easy to hold a trap solid, what is difficult is holding solid AND THEN RELIABLY RELEASING IT when the trap fires.

My initial attempts were actually inspired by a bedding device that Dave Sheldon of One-Hand-Setters sent me years ago. I was able to use Dave's holder to my advantage in certain situations, but I had needs it just could not fill, so I started thinking about it, and then one day it just came to me - magnets! I had been messing with magnets to try to repel beaver from culverts (It did not work, beavers used the magnets to help build the dam and treated them like any old rock if the magnets were not anchored down...) and so I had magnets on the mind. I also have a good friend in the magnet industry, which helped me sourcing the proper strength and size magnet.

My first one was built just to solve a problem where I had a very educated beaver on a private job, and the only place I had access was a concrete culvert with ledge under 4 inches of water dropping 90 degrees down to the bottom 2 feet below. I had the beaver on video and knew exactly how and where it approached that ledge, but I had no good way to hold a trap that the beaver would not see and avoid. Every time I put sod on the level concrete to bed a trap, it would just go around. So I went to a buddy with a machine shop and told him my idea. We built one to fit one single CDR (it was not adjustable other than bending the metal around, and each CDR was just a tad different in the fine measurements). The next day, I attached that as-yet unnamed device to a 5/8 rebar about 5 feet long, drove it in so the trap pan sat level with the concrete, with nothing but the rod holding the setup out there in the "space" of open water, but just touching the vertical concrete and level with the top of the concrete. It was very stable. I used soft weeds and a brown paper sack to disguise the trap as just some natural stuff there, the same level as the concrete. Stuff regularly washed up against it so I knew from video that the beaver (it was a rare black one too!) was not shy of debris against the concrete ledge (again, educated beaver so I had to hide it and make it look natural). The next morning, the customer called and said he could see a big flat tail floating 10 feet out from the concrete. Needles to say, I was super happy and it was only my second ever jet black beaver to boot, so it had to be a good sign....

In the end though, that is one of only a few places I have encountered the sheer concrete problem, and that was not the true magic of the Magnebed. What it does best is stabilize and firmly hold beaver traps in super soft bottom conditions. We get that a lot around here, a dam with mud so soft that a trap can not be easily bedded. Basically, I just cut about a 3/4" diameter stick to clamp in the socket base, and the length is determined by the bottom structure. Very soft, longer stick. Natural curves in the stick also tend to prevent rotation. When stabilizing anything in soft unstable ground, a piling is the gold standard. Look at how buildings are stabilized in soft ground - nothing beats a piling for being stable and solid. It is surprising just how stable a trap on top of a 3 foot long 3/4" stick piling is, even in softest bottoms. And it allows the trap to be held at any position up and down, from feet above the bottom to down in a depression stomped into the bottom. There are other ways to bed a trap in those conditions, but they are time consuming and cumbersome and they are unique to that situation - that is to say, they are not nearly as versatile as the Magnebed.

The base is a removable socket, so you put a wood or steel stake/stick in it and it becomes a stable piling. The socket base can also be removed to screw it to the top of a 3 or 4 inch diameter wood pole stake 4 to 6 feet long for the really deep soft stuff, or it can be screwed/bolted to about anything like a board or bolted to a steel plate, or masonry screwed to a cinder block, and it can hold a trap anywhere - even upside down - although I have never found a reason to do that. One other thread I saw here recently was asking about bedding a trap in riprap - there would be several ways to do that with this device depending on if you can get a stake between the rocks - you could take one of the rocks with a flat spot and attach the Magnebed with wire or masonry screws if no stake can be wedged or driven in. I have never used one on riprap, but I can think of a few ways to do that. The point is you have a device that attaches to the trap with magnets and holds it ROCK SOLID, then releases when the trap fires due to inertia of the trap firing, and this device can be placed on a stake piling with the socket base, or with screws or nails if the base is removed, or with just some nice tight wraps of trappers wire on odd surfaces or if wire is all you have.

After a couple years or so of using my first one, always with that one dedicated CDR, I let a buddy use it, and he said "man if you could make this thing adjustable for traps other than this one CDR, I think they would sell, it works like a charm"... I took him to heart, and that is what I did. It works with CDR, MB-750, TS-85, Montana #5, Bridger #5, and NoBS beaver trap. I think that is all of them currently on the market. I have not tried it with long springs yet, because I don't use them for my beaver work. If other people find them as valuable as I have, I may start testing them with some long springs.

I was not trying to come up with a product when I made the first one, I was trying to figure out a way to put a trap in a location that conditions made difficult or impossible. It turned out to work so well that I eventually made them adjustable and built about a dozen of them and started using them on maybe one-third of my locations - the ones with very soft bottoms and otherwise difficult bedding situations like the sheer concrete ledge and on very steep bank crawlouts. To be honest, the Magnebed has become my "secret weapon", allowing me to catch beavers that others have been unable to catch because there is no good place to hide a foothold (because the beaver are avoiding those locations due to being educated) and the beaver won't go near snares or body grips or exposed footholds. Recently I had one that 2 other trappers had chased all last fur season, and it was the only one left in the farm pond. Not only would she not go near traps, she stopped tending the dam and avoided all the "normal" trap locations used by the fur trappers. The magnebed allowed me to conceal the trap at a place that would have been otherwise impossible at the edge of a "muck ledge" common in lakes and ponds around here, catching that beaver the third night (which was the next time it visited the location) and getting a nice tip from the landowner for getting rid of that last one.

To be fair, I only use it when I need it - for a volume fur trapper it would be time and money ahead to just skip that spot and put the trap somewhere else where it can be bedded in solid ground, but in ADC work, one often needs to operate in a limited area and not just leave when an animal becomes difficult to catch. The Magnebed gives me trap placement options that are a real money making advantage in those situations. If there is a good solid bottom, no need to haul in more equipment, I just bed the trap in the mud normally. But for those situations like soft bottoms in front a beaver dam, or steep ledges, or "marl ledges" like the lakes around here have, this thing is a game changer. Oh yeah, I have even been surprisingly successful on uneducated beavers just putting the trap under about 6-8" of water in open water, nothing around it, a foot or more off the bottom in a travel lane. The beaver just appear to think it is something to step on like a rock or log, who knows what they think it is but they step on it and go straight to the bottom where they wait for me.

So here I am half a decade later and I have tooled up to build them. If anyone wants more info, feel free to PM me. Yes, they are for sale. Price is $50 each. That may seem like a lot to some, but in the ADC world, it will pay for itself the first catch. And trust me folks, with the current price of those specialty magnets and steel, and the fact that I am hand making every one from scratch in my shop in Northern Indiana, I am not going to get rich. I will be happy to just pull in a decent hourly wage at that price... Oh, and did I mention all of the hardware is stainless steel???? Its a lot more expensive to use stainless, but the first one I ever made still works after spending months underwater over the years.

I do have a Facebook page, called Magnebed, but I have not done anything other than create it so far. This is really my first rollout of the whole idea and product, after developing, using, and testing it for about 5 years.

I will follow this with a few pictures from my phone in a separate post.

Note that these photos are of the units I just grabbed from my truck. Until freezeup a week ago, they were in the water catching beavers…

Here it is with a TS-85.

The adjustment screws are turned until they seat on the cross bar. The little flat things are lock nuts to hold the adjustment screws in place.
So you carefully pop the trap onto the magnets (careful, they can pinch, they are STRONG), and then adjust the two screws until the trap does not rock back and forth, and tighten the flat lock nuts. This way you can even have a mix of different traps and just adjust the screws to match that trap and you are ready to push the piling stick into the mud.

I typically do not even anchor or attach the device since the piling keeps it in place. Maybe half a dozen times the Magnebed and its piling stick have pulled up after a catch, but they are easy to find a retrieve with the beaver rake... just touch one of the magnets and it locks to the rake steel. If I ever encounter a situation where it could get get pulled up by a beaver and be in water too deep for my rake, I would probably wire the Magnebed to my top stake on the drowner rig.

When the trap fires, the shock breaks the magnetic bond for an instant, and the trap just falls/pops right off. In fact, in maybe 100 beavers I have caught using them, not one has ever failed to release, and not one has ever popped off the Magnebed before the trap fires. I have video of a beaver standing on one of the wire levers of a CDR (beaver weighed 43 pounds) and the trap did not let go until the next time later that night when the beaver hauled out there again and stepped in the pan.

Interesting, you're using your noodle. My main concern on first appearances would be the possibility of traps or chains getting hung up on it and causing twist outs from lack of swiveling on beaver. I can see how it would certainly make the traps much better stabilized in many situations. Good job!

Now that is thinking outside the box. Hope this does well for you.

Yes, it can happen. I can think of maybe half a dozen in 100 beaver that have not gone directly down the rod and managed to get hung up, but oddly it has never resulted in a twist out. A couple pulled the whole thing and then went down with it (I was able to find the magnebed each time because of the strong magnet - like reverse magnet fishing....), and one back foot catch recently managed to get all wrapped up but the piling stick was very solid and it was waiting for me all wrapped up there and not happy about it!

I have used them on long chains, and odd enough not one long chain has ever gotten tangled, which I was concerned about, so that has been surprising.

Im not claiming any miracles though, and I can in fact remember two times that I had an empty trap tangled with the Magnebed, both in situations where I just put the trap under 6 inches of water in a travel way a foot or more above bottom just sitting there like a platform in open water. In that situation, you are taking a risk that the beaver will wrap up before it goes down. If it is shoved in the mud under the trap, it is rare to get tangled. To be clear, I don't consider those "twist outs" unless there is still a drumstick, and that has only happened to me once in well over a thousand beavers and it was before the Magnebed was even a twinkle in my eye. But I do think that the beaver might have been waiting for me if it had not tangled in those two instances, so I just call them pullouts do to swivel action failure, swivel failure because it managed to tangle in the Magnebed. They remind me that when it comes to beavers, everybody plays the fool sometimes. But the beauty of a losing a beaver in a foothold is of course that you can catch that beaver again in a foothold if you carefully conceal it. In my ADC business, if I lose one I have to catch it again or harass it so much it leaves, and around here educated beavers are the rule so I end up using footholds a lot more than I wish I had to.

It can happen, thats a fact, especially if one does not think about it and set it up properly. But it is barely more than 5% wrap up in my experience, and only a few of those actually escape because of it.

Notice the flat "locknut" is on top sometimes and on bottom other times - for maximum length of the adjustment screws to fit some brands of trap, the locking screw can be moved to the top so the screw gains that extra 1/8" of extension. I think is only necessary for one trap brand, and only on one side since the crossbar is higher on the one side - can't remember off-hand which brand, but I test these with all 6 beaver coils currently on the market so mine are are a mixup and some have not been returned to default on that lock nut position.

Very Nice!

The magnetic field Is going to keep most beaver from getting caught. LOL'
Great device

Man I wish!!! I would have made a LOT more money if I could have figured out a magnetic beaver repellant device. I tried. Now I'm stuck trying to sell these things to trappers, instead of selling my "Beaver Saver Repellant Device" to the town council hippies, tree huggers, and nature preserve land trusts...

Right now I am many thousands in the red, but if I never make any of it back, at least I have a cool toy and shop of fun metal tools.

Looks good, I can see it being really good for spots where beaver are getting out of the water onto floating bog. Most of the time the water in those locations is too deep to set a trap at the edge of the bog, and you can't get the trap under water on top of the bog. I will be watching how to purchase some.

I’m amazed.

Nice work! Trappers are truly innovative bunch! I wish I had put the same effort in my “schooling” that I put into trapping....lol

Stainless is not magnetic, or some of it. Stainless cable or chain would not get attracted.

"Necessity is the mother of Invention"... Great concept!

So it's like an inverted nicely instabed?

Does that use magnets to secure the trap?

As I recall the Nicely instabed attached to the trap and stayed with it after the catch. I don't recall it allowing for an attachment for deep water or used magnets.

No but similar design with some modifications. Not knocking it, but thats just kinda what it looked like to me.

Seems like I have heard of the Nicely bedder at some point in my younger years, but I can not picture it - anyone have a picture of one? Now I'm curious...

I certainly did not know what the Nicely was when I was coming up with this, but it also would not surprise me if something that looks similar has been made before. It would surprise me if any used magnets - these magnets are fairly new in the whole scheme of things - the magnets were first developed in the mid 1980's, not sure when the specific type used in the Magnebed was first available.

The magnets are the heart of this thing - it is rock solid, but then when the trap fires all of that vibration and spring force pops the trap off of the device no matter what I do, yet I can barely pull the trap off the magnets with all my might (I'm not particularly young and strong though....). In fact I have learned that the best way to remove the trap is to fire it because it takes a lot of "steady pull" to remove it by hand, and that is presumably with a trap that is set, and when it does finally let go it happens all at once and you are still pulling hard, so the trap goes flying and flopping around while it is set and your hand firmly gripping it. I have not snapped myself doing it, because I quickly figured out that the way to remove the trap is fire it. When I pull a trap from one underwater, I flip the loose jaw up and tap the pan with a tine of the rake and I have never had one stay attached. For an MB-750 underwater I just snap it with a stick because there is no loose jaw.

When I was testing it I initially went with lighter magnets because I was concerned that the beaver might not be able to pull it off after caught, but as I tested them and played with them I realized that the physics of magnetic attraction combined with the forces involved with the trap snapping worked in favor of the trap popping off on its own. If there is even an instant that the force of pull exceeds the pull of the magnets, as soon as the steel is not touching the magnet the holding force drops drastically. Combined with the animal pulling when the trap closes, I have never had a single one remain on the stand after firing, either tripping it myself or with an animal.

Is there a force difference when the trap snaps on something other than itself?

Might have to find someone that has some pre 2010 paper trapping catalogs. Its pretty much disappeared from catalogs now.

I was just curious. I recall hearing of a Nicely, but I didn't recall what it looked like or how if functioned.

Yes I suspect there is, and I do think it is possible that with a beaver foot on the trap when it trips it could stay on the magnets, which is why I did not go with the strongest magnets. They are not so strong that a beaver can not pull the trap off if it does not release when it snaps. Like I said, I can remove it by just pulling, but it takes enough force that when it finally lets go you have a flying trap in your hand....

Actually it would not surprise me if it had already happened, but unless I find one still attached when I arrive, I would never know. I have never found a tripped trap still held in the device, but I do have video of a 40 plus pound beaver standing on the trap lever and the trap does not pop off until the beaver stepped on the pan later that night. So the magnets are strong enough to hold the trap rock solid with an adult beaver standing on the edge of the trap, but I have never found one tripped and still attached.

It seems that the unique characteristics of magnetic attraction to steel ends up being ideal for holding the trap rock solid, but instantly and freely releasing upon the trap either catching an animal or tripping without an animal.

I have been in a few situations on dry land where something like that could sure speed up setting. The problem I see with that is it would have to be made in all kinds of shapes and sizes! Good idea, I can sure see the merit in it. Good luck with your invention and sales!

It did occur to me that there may be dry land situations where it could be useful, but I have not explored that yet.

It would likely require more than one size, but I do think there is a high likelihood that one model could fit multiple traps, possibly even multiple sizes of traps. Like one model for #1-1/2 and #2 traps, and another for #2 and #3, or something like that. It would be another round of gathering a reference collection of traps and then starting the process of design to fit as many sizes and brands as possible with one model of Magnebed.

Impressive. Great Idea for sure.

loosanarrow

Will you selling through your Facebook page or other avenues?
Looks to me that it could very handy.

Mac

Very innovative, nice job!

Outstanding idea with the magnets!!!

I could use those supports right now.

Lee and loosabarrow, a friend of mine named Bruce Quam from Rockford, Illinois developed a gadget for his MJ 600s to use in deep snow. It was a platform of sorts to hold the trap solid in snowy conditions. The trap would fire then free itself from platform. The trap was rigged to a long chain and drag. Bruce has since died

Right now I am just going to take orders through PM here on this furum. Er, forum. But I like furum better.
The first ones should start shipping in a couple weeks.
Just PM me if you would like to get in the list.
Right now all that I have are used so I am going to build a run of brand new ones.

Maybe I missed it, but how much $ are they? That's unfortunately going to be the deciding factor for many trappers.

You missed it. Bottom of the first post.

$50 each plus shipping.

I would not mess with these for production/numbers fur trapping or hobby trapping. I know that statement wont help my sales, but its true. In my mind these are geared toward beaver (and possibly otter) ADC professionals who are getting paid to have every legal trick in the book and the knowledge to know when and how to use those tricks to remove beavers in a limited access situation, and often in an educated beaver situation. If someone just wants to catch a few beavers as a hobby, I would say just leave the smart ones for seed, or chase them if you like the challenge. If I were a volume numbers fur trapper, I definitely would not waste my time chasing educated beavers at all, and I would not bother putting a trap anywhere that I would need a magnebed or any other trap holding device for that matter, I would find another location to quickly catch the beavers or move on the the next colony of fresh beavers. In the decade or so before I became an ADC professional, I did not want or need the extra weight, expense, and hassle of any trap holding device, I caught the uneducated beavers in the locations that were the fastest and easiest to set, and moved on.
But for the ADC professional in situations similar to mine, it will likely pay for itself many times over, at least I know it would for me. Would I spend $50 on one? I have to say yes because my first one cost me a good bit more than that, but paid for itself many times over. But I am definitely biased on that one!

Actually I dont think he did miss it, I went back and edited the with pricing after he had already read it.

She just wanted to make me think I'm crazy. lol. Thanks for the info.

Found a picture in this year's Sterling Fur Catalog of
the nicely instabed...

You had to do some digging to find that. I believe they bolted on so had to drag the whole thing around after a catch and chain could tangle on it. The idea was sound now that the idea of making it a break away someone may make it viable.

Huh, it does kind of look like the magnebed upside down! Totally different concept, but they end up looking kind of similar. Thanks for posting that.

After hearing suggestions from several people, I redesigned the Magnebed so that it is adjustable. This allows the anchor/piling stake to be any angle, even horizontal, and the trap can be adjusted to be level.
I had been considering this for a while, and I was at one point planning to make bases with different angles for different situations. The adjustable feature makes one base work for all stake angles. The adjustable base is now standard on all magnebeds. Here is a picture of three units, each adjusted to a different angle.

I would think one could rig a piece of #9 wire to bump the chest, getting the landing gear to drop for a front foot catch when desired.

Seems reasonable. I have not tried that. I have used “breasting sticks”, but all the magnebed was doing in those instances was holding the trap because the mud was too soft in that location.

Loosanarrow,
Some folks seem to have never needed to set a beaver foothold where there is literally no bottom to bed the trap and there is nothing but muck.

I need a few of these. Will order at least one soon.

As of today I have all but one of the stainless steel components to build more. That component is currently expected to arrive within two weeks. So while I can make the units up, I am missing one set of screws for final assembly until they arrive. I am told they might arrive sooner, but could be up to two weeks. I bought a bunch of everything in case things get worse on the supply chain.

I have had several PM questions about the magnets losing strength over time.

After researching this, it turns out that these type of magnets are very stable, and only lose 1% of their strength in 10 years. Whew, had me worried there for a minute.

They are heat sensitive, and should not be boiled. Any temperature over around 180° F can cause a degrading of the magnetic strength. The magnets are easily replaced if this should happen, but as long as they are not boiled this should not be a problem and the magnets will not lose a significant amount of pull in 50 years or so. The magnets are attached with a nut and are easily removed before boiling/waxing/dying the rest of the unit.

In rare cases, the dash of vehicle in full sun can exceed 180°, but as long as you aren’t storing the magnebed on your dash in the full sun in summertime with the windows closed in the southwest, you won’t even come close to 180°.

Threw one together with scrap I had laying around and 2 black hole oil filter magnets.Only works on a WCS 7.5.Been riding around with in boat the last 3 weeks but haven’t found a place to use it.Epic idea Eric.

Looks like it would work. Does the base allow you to attach a piling stake, or are you just planning to set it on the bottom?
Also have you tested to see how much weight it takes on the springs to pop it off- like a beaver standing on the spring before it hits the pan?
I would be interested to hear how those magnets hold up under water too. Neodymium magnets corrode quickly in water if not sealed. The ones I am using are nickel coated for long term corrosion resistance, and they are set in epoxy to protect them from impact. An unprotect neodymium magnet is very brittle - the first ones I used all broke because they were not protected from impact. Haven’t broken a single one since I found the ones I use now. Those black hole magnets look like they are protected somewhat, but I have not handled one.

These magnets are pretty strong so I’m just going to test on the line.They do release when the trap snaps.Hopefully the epoxy holds at $9.00 each.I know the 2 for a dollar harbor freight magnets are not strong enough.

And I thought I had too many screwdrivers.lol
just

OMG I just about peed myself!

I hope you put a patent on that thing.....

Just bumping this to see any updates.

To old to trap beaver Aint no Tom Oar . Wish I could

That is a super design

The tool works well and has saved the day(and more than paid for itself) for me a few times trapping problem beaver.

There is a website now, mgnbd.com
Also, with some better tooling and buying materials in bulk, I am able to make them faster so the price has gone down.
I do have a new model in testing that works on almost every trap from #1 thru #4 sizes.
Thanks everyone for the feedback, suggestions, and support!