Qaluraq's '18 Journal

Merry Christmas, everyone. I started my trapping season this year by going after beaver behind town on our peninsula. The paluktaqs first arrived on our peninsula about 15 years ago. I remember the first lodge back here. The next year there were three, the next 5, then 9, now there's like 32. These are mostly lakes/ponds...deep at the entrances. Difficult to find the entrances most of the time. Ice gets kind of thick in late December; however, due to climate change the ice is a little thin this year.

I only have about 10 decent 330s working right now. I started trapping about 6 lodges. I found the entrances to the lodge to only about 3 of these. The other three, I didn't, so I tried this PVC wired on the bottom jaw set on one lodge. It didn't work. I also tried a 2" piece of live willow wired on the bottom jaw next to a feed pile of a big lodge. This one was a "swinging Susan" set that was let down about 5 feet down (not just below the ice like the pvc set was).

I also had a couple sets that were on one pole, with live willow wired and set at the bottom of the pond, near the lodge about 6 feet down.

I had great luck setting every entrance I can. Caught moms/dads/kids on those sets and cleaned out those lodges.

I had no success on the below the ice/pvc set. I had great success on the one pole 330 with live bait at the bottom of the pond. I also had great success on that swinging Susan set at the bottom of the pond next to the feed pile. I use the ice chisel to make the holes where the ice is thin, but use a chainsaw to make holes where the ice is thicker. Got 22 beaver so far and 2 otter.

On two lakes that I'm trapping, the otter let me know where the lodge entrances are AND the bank dens as well. They made holes at these locations. They're also spots where the ice is the thinnest.

Good stuff !!!!!! That seal is really interesting looking!

I think the baited sets for beaver will work out a lot better later in the season when the food piles are eaten down. Those set ups at the lodge entrances are very good and can be double set.

Osky

Raising those kids right! Glad to see someone is getting winter! Do you have any marten up there?

Way to go on the beaver! Like you I have not had much success with under ice sets unless it is right at the entrance. I know there are guys on here like Boco who catch a good bunch of them. NIce moose and I love seeing all those helping hands! That is a pretty cool looking seal as well, looks like you got plenty of good bait for the season! Look forward to the kitty pic's!

When I started trapping beaver he regulations required that you had to be 25 ft. from the lodge and couldn't start until the 1st. of February.. Caught a lot that way so when they changed the law I used it in my bag of tricks. Not starting until February the ice could be anywhere from 24" to 60". Covering the set with visqueen and the type of bait was the method to be successful. If you wanted to trap beaver that was the way it WAS.

Yukon, we do have a lot of marten up here but it's about 20 miles before you get into their country. We're out on the windswept peninsula. We need a lot more snow on the tundra and in those deep willow valleys in the mountains before we can get in there. Impassible willow valleys up in the mountains right now. I do plan on using most of these beaver carcasses for marten and wolverine later in January. Right now I'm shooting for 50 beaver. My record three years ago was 32 beaver. I'm at 22 right now.

Right now I've got 10 more 330s in a tote with about 10 gallons of water and 2 gallons of vinegar. Gonna let them soak and then wire brush them once in a while until I get them where I want them, then per yawls' suggestion, soak them in a similar solution with baking soda afterwards. Crossing my fingers!!!

HFT, yeah, the seal in the boat is a spotted seal. The one on the kitchen floor is a ribbon seal. Very rare up here. They're one of the deepest divers of seals and are mostly found near St. Lawrence Island area where the water's deep. Mostly shallow up here, so they're pretty rare. Maybe get 2 or 3 in a lifetime. Got the skin in Anchorage. Tried calling Frontier Tanning on John's Road but no answer. Anybody know if he's still in operation? He used to do all my seals.

Osky, I have 2 double sets at entrances and have been having great luck. Also have a double set at a bank den and caught mom and dad beaver on the first try there, then the second set caught a 2 year old beaver in the outer trap and an otter on the inner trap. I LOVE, LOVE bank dens. I wish I was better at finding them. Might need to raise a couple otter as pets and let them loose on a lake to find all the entrances and bank dens! Wouldn't that be nice???

bait on the bottom works great

Here are some more pics

and more...

and more...(gotta write in here in order to post)

Nice haul Inupiak.
A nice fat winter beaver is pretty good eating-you ever try it since they moved in?

If you don't want to risk wiping out all the beaver,try not to take more than 1.5 beaver for every live colony on your trapgrounds.That is to say if you have 20 live colonys\houses on your trapground you should be safe to take 30 beaver total off your grounds.

That is just a basic rule of thumb that has worked well here for more than 50 years for managing beaver.I know that further North,in the lowland coastal regions of James Bay the beaver live exclusively on willow and density is much less.There, the rule of thumb is 1 per live colony to be on the safe side.

Can’t wait to see your wolverine trapping pics. You doing any You Tube this year?

That ribbon seal is really unique looking. I can see why you want to tan it. It’s great seeing the youngsters involved and those smiles on their faces. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your post!

Id caution against your goal of 50 oit of 32 houses thats gonna really affect what you have next year it’s your call I can’t see your line but I know if I did that here it would take 2-4yrs to recover fully Looks like a fun time at least you guys are able
to get out up that way

Good job! Are you trapping the beavs on the peninsula? Looks like it in the pics. I suspect you can't get over to the mainland safely yet, eh? I'm gonna guess that there are more lodges out there, you just have to find them, go farther, etc. 50 out of 32 lodges is just barely over 2 per lodge and I'd say it won't hurt your future catch. I do think getting to that 50 number may be somewhat difficult as you wittle down the population.

Inupiaq,
Wish I'd seen this earlier..... next time you have rusty bodygrips to clean, here's a foolproof, simple, safe way to do it, requiring almost no work. Either remove chains, if they have them, or wire them tight, along with the folded in springs, to the trap frame (jaws). If you don't, you'll end up with a giant tangle. Then put a bunch of them in a cement mixer (rent, borrowed, or owned), add a few shovels of gravel, sand, and some water, turn it on, and walk away. Leave it tumble for a while, check them, remove when polished clean. If a cement mixer isn't available, you can build a tumbler out of a plastic or metal drum, plywood, etc...

Great to see you are getting the young guys out there on the land, and water..........

Hey! Thanks for the ride ,great pictures .Blessing to you and yours

Our beaver population has exploded here in the past 15years or more. I imagine if you trap these houses right out more beavers will move in. Good stuff man. Always interesting to follow your journal.

Great pictures all, and especially the ones with your rascals in them. Glad your enjoying it with them, unbelievable how fast time goes by.

Osky

That ribbon seal is awesome. Do you eat the meat of them too as well as making seal oil and utilizing the hides? I'd guess they would make great bait. Do you ever use snares for your beaver? Glad to see you got the young ones out giving you a hand. Keep it up and be safe.

AKHowler. I cut the blubber up to make seal oil but not long later asked my Native brothers from Mekoryuk about that and they said they only keep the skins on those ribbon seals. Blubber and meat too strong for humans. Give them to the dog team. So, that’s what I’m going to do.

It makes sense. Anything with real dark meat has a lot of iron in it. Iron as an element is an oxygen grabber. Animals like pronghorn antelope, ptarmigan, and these ribbon seals need to get away very quickly and dive deeper than the other seals, so they need lots of iron to store that oxygen. Even jack rabbits have lots o& iron, and river otter need it for diving.

As for snares on beaver I found it to be quite a hassle in our very cold temps and thick ice. To set those snares on a pole you need to be pretty much gloves off...which is kind of impossible up here. Also, when snared the beavers float to the bottom of the ice. That’s not good to finally find out that you connected after so many snares were tripped...and that thing is super stuck in the ice. Now you gotta chop a huge hole, only to find out that you actually chopped some holes in the hide....you know the story. Nope. Ain’t messin with that. Just use a couple 330’s ain’t the run at the lodge entrance and maybe a couple more at the bank den and kill em at the bottom.

Back to seal, I don’t use it for bait very much. If an animal gets a hold of the meat or find a glob of oil, they’ll roll around in that stuff and there ain’t no soap in the. World that can get that stuff out very thoroughly. Beaver bait is the best I’ve found for marten, gulos, fox, and lynx.

Thanks for sharing and the reply. I hear ya on the smell of the seals for bait.

I used seal oil on marten poles years ago and did quite well with it. Only on the pole tho. You could tell it lasted as the poles would have other animal hair on them when I came back in the fall.
mt

Good doings, I hope you pass your 50 mark!

Was able to get 7more since the last post. Including one hog. Then it got cold. -15. Slowed down and picked up 2 more. My daughter came in from college. Saved her 15 lodges. We’lol see what happens during Christmas break now that it’s going to warm up to zero degrees.

Any ideas on recipes? I think I’ll try a young one in the pressure cooker. Also I may tan the small ones on call “toilet seat covers” with the Trubond 1000B. Any tips for that?
The first pic is of an otter set on a hillside above the first beaver lodge on our peninsula 20 years ago. I set it upside down and hollow out a spot directly under the dog so it has freedom to move. I also set the connibear o two short dead sticks to keep it from freezing to the snow. Caught an otter in that set last week.

Next pic is of the ocean seven miles down the coast at Sdie Creek. Who’da thought we’d still have open ocean in mid December above the Arctic Circle?

I think the next one is of a couple pastor friends of mine from ChangePoint Church in Anchorage. This was the day we caught 5. Only have seven traps under water.

Next pic might be of the big dark beaver I got from a lodge a few miles behind town. First time I got a naturally dark beaver back here. Hopefully it’s genes will pass on as I have left the others live in that house

Last one is the pile I still have to skin. It’s like Night of the Living Dead on my steps.

A few more pics. First one is of the castors drying on my stairwell. Keeps the boys who wanna date my daughters afraid...if you know what I mean. Just point to those with a little buck knife and say that’s what happened to the boys who didn’t bring them back in time. 😎👌

Next one is of the hog I got. Haven’t weighed him yet but it’s gotta be over 55.
Next is on of me, Charlie from Tanana, and my lovely wife. He was standing for salmon at AFN. I was standing for Alaska.

Can’t remember what the fourth pic is of as it won’t let me see them. But the last pic is of a commercial fishing boat coming in to sell with a load.

Ok. That fourth pic was of an old ice block saw our first missionary to Kotzebue created. His name was Robert Samms. He and Carrie came up around 1889. Pre-beaver time, the lakes behind town were safe to drink from and get ice. It was a major chore in the winter, and even became a job for some. WTH this home made ice block machine, one can make some good cents. Got this pic from a friend who also was a pastor back in the 50’s. The pic below is of Mr. Samms. He was very creative and had a lot of ingenuity.

Looks like you are staying busy with all those beavers! That ice cutter is a neat contraption and looks like it would work well. It always amazes me to see what creations people can come up with in remote locations.

Good luck keeping the boys away from your girls! If those drying beaver castors dont do the trick I am not sure what will.

Muskrat 411, I have a good dozen old seal oil buckets that I've been saving up for qavviks. Gonna notch them and put wire on the bottom to hold beaver bait.

Ryan, yes. The beaver have moved through Kotzebue and way up north now. Kivalina, Pt. Hope, way up in the mountains towards Utqiagvik now too. Way up in the sheep mountains. Boy I would love to live up there, alright. Jeremiah Johnson country up there! Eagle nests on the cottonwood trees, sheep grazing on the south-facing slopes during the day. Wolf packs roaming, qavviks going from creek to creek, whistling marmots in the spring big as a badger. Now there's lodges up there in those grand valleys that no human sees except for pilots.

I will save some lodges for re-population, but what happens is the beaver are so abundant south of us that they come up this way each spring with the melt. They swim along the peninsula banks until they find a valley. Once they do they populate our peninsula like ants. I wonder sometimes though about these lodges that I did trap out with the full feed piles. I wonder if it's too much work to remove the stale willows that no beaver ate. I notice that some move into those lodges, but not for long, they make a new one nearby with its own feed pile. I try to trap the bank dens for just mom and dad if I can, but finding them is quite tricky. Otters help me find them. Wherever they make holes in the bank, that's where there's a bank den. Too bad I didn't have a pet otter!

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! As of today the sunlight is gaining! We're on the sunny side of the year.

Cool stuff!

Not a recipe, but an observation......My wife uses the same pot for Beaver cooking. You'll get a rime on the sides that is not easy to remove, and can 'add flavor' to the next meal cooked in it.


You more like the guy I know with that shaved face....I was totally wondering who you were when we bumped into each other in Barrow.....LOL!!

Good to see your doings.

Blessings ,thanks for pictures

Well. Got three more beaver today with my youngest son. Going out tomorrow to set more lodges with my daughter who’s come home from college.

A few days ago my youngest son Tyler saw a weasel down by my beaver carcasses downstairs. He wanted to try to shoot it with a BB gun but I told him,You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!” 😁. Couldn’t help it. Anyway. We found an old 110 connibear and I made a set out of a mandarin orange can. Used some tin snips to cut some flaps to hold the inside jaws. We put some smelt chunks in the can for bait. We also put some small chunks of prime rib on the triggers. I told Ty I didn’t think we would catch him, seeing as he has about 200 pounds of beaver carcasses on the floor to eat. But he kept checking it with enthusiasm. One night he couldn’t sleep he was thinking about his set so much. I told him now he knows how I feel with all my traps out there.

Sure enough just before we went out today he checked his trap and he caught that little marauder! He was so excited! I knew that he was hooked on trapping for sure. We skinned it out tonight. Gonna tan it up with some Trubond 1000B.

Awesome!!!!!

I think the beaver will not use the old houses as they are infested with flees from the previous tenants. So it is easier to build a new one then clean the fleas out

You mentioned smelt for bait in the ermine set (BTW, tell your son congrats), I'm just curious if your smelt smell like cucumbers? There seem to be several different kinds of smelt, I really like the "cucumber fish" variety, don't care so much for the mushy, hooligan type.

Congrats on the weasel. Pretty cool set just like a mini wolverine bucket. The cucumber fish are rainbow smelt

Yes, Waggler. Cucumber smell. Very good eating, especially fried. We get them right in front of the house. Gotta be right place at the right time with those things though.

Yes, Ryan. I learned to use these Food Service cans from a marten trapper in a nearby village. When school is going on, I check the menu my kids bring home. When there's good fruit cans, I go to the dumpster and pick up the empty Food Service cans. Bring them home (they're usually in boxes of 6). I finish taking off the lids to all, give the cans a good rinse, then I take two cans, cut the bottom off of one of them, make some slats on the lip of the bottom one and join the two cans. Then put a couple self-tapping screws in the slats.

For marten you have to pretty much use two cans connected together in this way. One can is too short, IMO. Once the cans are joined, I place the joined can facing up on a table and place a set 110 conibear on it, mark it with a magic marker where the coni jaws touch the can. Then I take the coni off and cut the slits with tin snips. I usually leave one big flap on the left side where I'm going to screw the can set to a tree. Then when I get out into the trees, I scrape a bit of bark with a hatchet, nail or screw the can onto the tree with at least two nails or screws. I have it facing up just a bit so the bait could stay way at the back. Then I put some beaver or lynx chunks in the can, put the trap on, secure it with the flaps, wire the 110 to a branch, put a little bit of Gusto on the branch above, tie a flagging on the tree and do the next set. Sometimes I cut a small, thin tree and attach it to the tree so a marten can climb it and go right into the can. Make it a little easier.

Thats pretty cool

Great job Lance way to pass it on. One of the best things we can give our kids are life skills that will help them in the future. And trapping is a life skill

Happy New Year, everyone. One of my girls came home from college. She helped me set a few new lodges. She managed to get her fingers caught in a 330 while setting it. Luckily one of the safety hooks was on.

She also set a swinging Susan at her own lodge. Got the biggest beaver I’ve ever seen up here! Later she caught two others in another lodge she set. Two 330’s at a bank den entrance.

Awesome!!

Very nice it warms my heart to see a young lady helping out on a trap line ! Well come to the 330 club getting caught is a right of passage of sorts that I've joined more than I care to think about ha ha
Stay Safe out there and keep up the good work !
Allan

How wide is the beaver tail from the beaver under the Sprite can?

You need to enter that in the big beaver tail contest on the main forum.

That is a mighty nice father that can take time to get the camera out and take a picture of the hand in the 330 before removing it. I am so glad Alaskan didn't have a camera on him when I got my hand in that 750.

-TJ

LOL!

I thought I heard the beaver were not as large in Alaska as further south ! You have some very nice ones ,thank you for taking me along ! Blessings to you and yours

Bfische, it’s 7 inches wide. That beaver weighed 58.6 pounds. TJ, I asked her first😁. I think she was more scared than hurt.

Just got back from another check of 3 other lodges. Got 3 more beaver, an otter, a rabbit in a 330 set for otter, and shot a red fox. -13 out there today. Gonna be -15 to -25 all week. So gonna let the traps sit

GSmith, there are some good ones up here, alright. But boy, I'll tell ya, they're far more challenging to trap than the ones down south. I've been watching 330maniac's youtube videos and they've got it easy! Warm weather, hardly any snow, can see bank den travel ways through grass, can see water where the runs are. Shoot. It's always a crap-shoot up here as to where the entrance runs and bank dens are.

Lots of snow, thick ice. I'm very fortunate to find that baited 330 set in the archives here...where the bait is wired to the bottom jaw and set next to the feed pile down low. Before, I tried with bait on the trigger...no luck. I tried with bait on the bottom jaw but up high right below the ice, no dice. Now, I use those zip ties to secure a good piece of live bait on the bottom jaw, shave it a little so the white is showing, lower it to the bottom either with a stick or just the swinging Susan and WHAM! I've been nailing them. A major game-changer for me this year. I'm up to about 37 beaver now...and again, these are a HARD 37. MT and Trapper Ty will tell you it ain't no cake walk up here.

Thanks, Allan. Yes, nice to have her set her own lodges and see her reaction to those monster beaver catches. Her back went out when she got home though. Couldn't follow me today for the longer 'line. I got broke in on conni's with a 220 in my apartment years ago. Was showing a friend how they work: "So you see, the beaver or otter go through here and hit these triggers with their...WHAM!!!!"

haha. I was seriously caught and my friend couldn't stop laughing as he tried to open the springs. The more I told him to quit laughing, the harder he laughed.

Sometimes I think about that as I'm out there with the 330's and wonder how I would get out of one if I got caught with both safety hooks off. I know the rope trick, but I never really have one in my pocket. I guess I should start packing one.

Back in the day when I was still in Hardin Mt , I managed to catch myself on my left wrist thankfully I had a few layers on when both springs fired it cracked the crystal on my Timex watch this was open water winter trapping, I got out of it and it kept perfect time until the battery died I show it off when I help at trappers education programs. I carry a piece of 5/8" derby line wrapped around my waist with a bowline tied on one end just in case I get caught again thankfully it wasn't a 330 magnum !
Keep up the good work I was wondering is that huge piece of jade still up there that they were cutting on years ago I was amazed at the size of that when I seen it. This was during a Alaska airlines tour.
Stay Safe out there !
Allan

Look into the caulk gun style setters and always carry with you.

Allan, yes. We still have huge, jade boulders here in town. No more jade cutting factory, it closed down so they're just sitting together near the art center. Thanks for the tip.

AKTrapr, I'll look into those, thanks.

Awesome thread and info! Thanks Inupiaq! Been trapping Alaska all my life, but can always learn new things. But the caulk gun style setters, I just read about on here, and ordered some. My son's 15 and running 60 miles of line by himself this winter, and he's always nervous on the 330's. Thanks for that info, AK TRAPR.

for those looking at the caulk gun style setters they hard to beat I spend a lot of tine playing with conis and they are far the safeset type of setters I have ever used

I can't agree more the caulking gun type setters are great, however I'm a believer in O'Malley's Law that states Murphy was nothing but an optimist ha ha in other words I'd still take some derby line along even if it stayed wrapped around my waist I know how easily I can forget or loose something. Besides I've used the rope for helping me get out of more than one bad spot.
That's a sad deal they closed down that shop watching that saw cut slices off the rock kept my imagination going for years I got into some heated arguments over them ha ha .
Stay Safe out there and catch a bunch !
Allan

Thanks for sharing Inupiaq! Congrats!