Long-Chaining Beaver

How long of chain? 10 feet?
Size and type of chain? #3 welded link?

Any problems? Other than a live beaver and entanglement?

Any tips?

I have a location, that must be set, that is too shallow for any type drowning rig. Heavy bark chewing on large blackgum trees in shallow headwaters of a small lake. Knee-deep water. Some shallow channels exist, but bodygrips are out...too many turtle, otters, gators.

Have had several beavers over the years that pulled my end weight and were not drowned with no problems, but Ive never intentionally set shallow with long chains.....

...but Im about to.

A little sac oil smeared on side of 3 or 4 of the freshest bark-stripped trees with a foothold guarding it under about 15 inches of water. Anchor to that tree...long chain.

Snares?

8 ft of chain or 10 will do try make sure they can go in the whole circle without wrapping up on something swivels in chain.

I ran 10-18 ft of #3 chain and 2 double swivels in the first 3 feet of chain. Most of my traps are Bridger #5 coils that are double laminated offset and teeth welded on top off jaws. My rivers are shallow and mostly sand and rocky bottom so there is not much to wrap up on.

I use 6-8 foot of #3 anchored with 24 inch rerod in the water , most a sitting on the bank waiting. Or swimming in a half circle.

I would anchor it as far as possible from the tree so they can't go round and round the tree and wrap up tight there. I have had good luck long chaining in situations like yours by staking so they can't possibly reach anything to wrap around. Ten feet of chain has worked for me. I use MB 750's or No BS Beaver Extremes and #2 kinkless chain with 2 swivels close to trap. I have not had any issues and have not lost any with this setup yet.

I have tried long chained beaver traps. I usually add a weight close to the trap. Works good until a beaver gets tangled around an underwater branch you didn't realize was there and the water is deeper than your hip boots!

I run 4-8’ #3 chain. Everywhere I’ve trapped, any chain longer than that would cause issues. With long chaining, it’s tough to find areas where the beaver can’t wrap around trees or underwater brush. I like to give them just enough chain to access to both water and land. Swivel well on the staked end and the trap end and you won’t have any issues.

Weight is another concern. If you have to walk at all, you won’t be carrying more than a couple traps with extra long chains. I used to run cable. It’s lighter but not as durable. You can still get a few catches per cable though before it kinks

Snares at this location now. Beaver(s) has not approached them in a week, but have chewed trees close by.

That is what I like to hear.

No water here deeper than my hip boots. If there were, I'd drown em.

Gonna be tough to keep em from wrapping up.

Got a JetSled to carry gear in when wading thru the shallows....no toting gear.

Can see some of the bark/cambium feeding...

Made 2 sets. One of em is at the base of the tree that I skint up. Left my sac oil at home...used Locklear's Flat Tail Call.

2 snares are here...

Believe there is at least one older beaver. There was another paid trapper here 2 years ago. No interest in swimming thru the snares....past week.

One time I had a beaver that I'd swear was finding my drowner chains and pulling on them. He was missing two toes, he'd been pinched before and was smart. Even though the water was deep enough to drown him, I ended up catching him by just burying the chain in the sand so he could t find it. Caught him that night, after two weeks of trying. 10 feet of #2 chain. I had a drowner lock on the chain, I just bunched up a bunch of links at the end on my quick link so it wouldn't come off. He ended up getting tangled in a branch underwater.

It seems there is always some thing for them to tangle on when I have tried to long chain so I use eight foot chain drowners staked at both ends. Quite often even on a twenty four hour check they will still drown even in shallow water.

I use 10 ft of #5 chain and a heavy trap. Often a SC 4.5. The key, IMO is to anchor so it can just sit on shore a foot or two, where you want it, not able to wander up on land further. I run 3 swivels in the first 18 inches and set for rear foot. In time I learns to pull the grass out where the reach shore or it buns up the swivels and you loose a front foot catch. This evolved to slick up that shore for an attractor.

I use this set as part of a gang set. The only set I lure is this one typically. At times you will catch 5 or 6 beavers that night as the flock to the one that is alive on the long chain.

Patrick, #2 chain will work just fine. I use drag chain segments so they’re 8-10’ long. I try to set where a beaver won’t tangle up. Looks like you’re already there but I set where they can get in and out of the water, as needed. I also prefer to set where they can get out and relax on the bank. Not sure that will work there but you should be fine. In cases like that I prefer a food lure as well. The sketchier they are the more I’ll change my lure or oils.

I run cables for all my drowning rigs but when the bank is slick and there is nothing for them to tangle on I just leave the weight off. Works just fine for me might not last as long as chain but way lighter.

Thought about just taking the weight (brake rotors mostly) off when water too shallow too drown and put some sort of stop on end of chain to keep lock from sliding off. Anchor end at the set and just pitch the 10 foot chain into water.

Yep that should work. I imagine that a bolt a few inches long through the end link with some of those lock nuts would be fine or double the chain back at the last 6 or 8 inches bolt to itsself or a good wire tie job. Shoot for that matter if you have a pad lock laying around just put that on the last link options are endless.

I tried this method using OGormans recommended 20' of chain,oh boy,did I have some adventures.Our rivers can be raging torrents in the spring with the snow melt,and lots of dead snags on bottom.Cut the chain down to 6',8',and 10',depending on water depth.

One on 6' of chain at a dam,
Love them 5 Bridger's

Stake as deep as you can with about 10' of chain. Add some weight as close to the trap as possible. It's the way I have done It and I don't remember having to deal with any live beaver.

That's what I want,I personally don't care for live beaver up on the bank.I remember one beaver that got caught by the hind foot in a 48 New house,ran for the trees and wrapped every bit of 20' of chain around every tree and bush within his reach.That was staked up on the bank,my idea was he would take to the river which was deep and had a heck of a current going thru it and wouldn't make it back out.He had other ideas

Good post....trapping beaver now for ADC and set up between two deeper beaver dams, creek bottom is rocky tough to stake. So I am using a JC Conners coyote grapple and long heavy chain connected to my traps. There are two additional dams nearby with thick tangled surroundings...beaver ain’t going anywhere.

Same here...all my beaver trapping is ADC. I sometimes have a few places in public view and I set accordingly, but mostly not...so I don't mind a live and wrapped up beaver as long as I got 'em.

ADC work is running me raggid, but it's a good problem to have huh

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but why does noone sell a large stoploss trap for beaver in shallow water?

I’ve never in my life seen a beaver chew out. That may be out of close to 5 or 6,000 beavers.

With that weight close to the trap you can drown a beaver In 2' of water. I use a 10Lb widow weight and a beaver tires real fast when dragging around all that weight. And a front foot catch Is even better In shallow water conditions.

I have about 6 of the window weights. Will fasten one on near trap when long chaining.

You can drown a beaver in knee deep water fine. . . if you front foot them. Hind foot them and you are going to have a live beaver when you get there, but he'll be there. I always use a drowning stake in shallow water, not a weight at the end of the drowner. Hook the drowning wire/cable to the bottom of the stake and drive it into the mud in the deepest water you can reach. Sixteen inches of water is questionable, but eighteen inches will drown a front footed beaver easily. But if you have the drowning wire/cable hooked to a weight like a brake drum filled with concrete or a bag of rocks and where the wire is attached to the weight is 4 inches off the bottom, all of a sudden you are trying to drown him in fourteen inches of water, and if he is a big beaver he may be able to get his nose to the surface. If you have the drowning wire attached to a stake and the attachment point driven below the bottom of the pond, the trap is going to be held tight to the pond bottom.

I keep a couple CDRs set up with long chains for those times when it is needed because of shallow water.

Mine are set up with a 3 foot chain attached to the original trap chain, making that first chain segment around 4 feet long. A swivel is attached to the end of that first segment, with a split ring attaching to another 3 feet section of chain with swivels on both ends. So with both segments the chains are around 7 feet long. This way i can remove the last segment of chain if i am in a place where the full 7’ chain would allow the beaver to reach brush or tangles. Solid tangles are the enemy with long chains. A good front foot catch with no tangles, and the shorter 4’ chain seems fine so far. I have even solid staked with short chains for beaver, but always set for rear foot exclusively when i do that. Any length of chain that reaches a sapling or other solid tangle with a front foot will most likely leave you with a drumstick. A good back foot catch will be there no matter what. I do prefer the full 7’ chain if i have room, seems to make the animal more comfortable and less struggling (as long as they can reach both land and water, as others have mentioned)

If entanglement is the problem in shallow water. Why use a long chain? I have had no problem holding beaver with 3 feet of chain and a back foot catch. Long chain has always caused me more grief than it was worth. Beaver seem to almost always find something to wrap around with long chain where I trap.

Good point. I thought about that too...shorter chain.

When I long chained I always staked In deep water so the beaver couldn't get to dry land. The first thing a caught beaver does Is head for the safety of the water. The weight of the window weight tires them out and It's lights out. You try and stay afloat with 10lbs of weight attached to your foot.

Yeah as i think about it, most cases where i have to foothold a live beaver i go for a back foot catch and use no more than a few feet of chain, and like that chain to be just short enough to not be able to wrap the trap around any brush. Really the only reason to lengthen a chain very much with a solid back foot catch is to be able to drive the anchor/stake where it needs to be. I also typically cross stake with 3 foot rebar if there is any doubt of holding with those shorter chains.
There are uncommon instances where very shallow water over an extended area means i might have to hold a beaver by the front foot, and a longer chain (3 feet plus) will hold them as ling as there is no entanglement. Given that i will sooner just catch them a different location than long chain, I MIGHT be forced into it once every year or two.

Ttt

So whats the best way to stake with a long chain? Tried disposable anchors but wasn't very good. So didn't go with it

Last year I started using 18” of chain on a 24” wolf fang staked just below the water line. Worked fine as long as you don’t mind dealing with a beaver on the dam the next morning . I thought it worked well .

I think this method is mentioned in Locklears book. Laminated 1.75’s on land

Locklear uses a 1.75 for beaver ?

in his book "beaver blitzkrieg" (good book btw),he explains it better than i can. basically a laminated 1.75, bedded, staked on land. mostly under bridges if i recall. i'll try and get the info tonight if i remember

I remember he mentioned going though a time of using them just to learn how to. Apparently he had took some instruction from Jhonny Thorpe and he'd went over how to ( apparently he was the kinda guy who really really liked to streamline his traps to a #2 size for a time and trapped everything with them). Something about leaving how to do it with smaller traps made working with big traps much easier which makes sense.

Now days however I know he tell most folks to just go buy something like the beaver extreme

Smooth rod -T-Bar , lap link . Do it all the time.
As far as that Locklear 1.75 comment : ( and I didn't read it all ) I have (accidentally ) taken many a beaver by the front foot in a Duke 1.5 CS in pocket sets that were placed there for mink

With smaller jaw spread traps ya gotta be spot on with trap placement is what Mr. Locklear was trying to get across, perhaps. Thorpe used #2 4 coils for everything beaver included.