catching beaver after dam removal

I have been hired by the county to catch some nuisance beaver out of a farmland ditch. But they usually don't call me until the day the dam is taken out by a trackhoe. So, I have to try to catch the beaver after the dam is removed. That means nervous beaver and no deep water for drowning. It also means there is not many places I can set a 330 and have it completely under water.

I am also not accustomed to spring time trapping.

Do any of you have any advice for the peculiarities of trapping beaver in the late spring or good ways to catch them after the dam has been removed?

How often do beaver just vacate the area after a dam has been removed?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

I've had good luck in this same situation using float sets baited with fresh poplar. I've also seen the beaver vacate quite a ways up and down stream usually to the next set of dams or deep water

Kart29, my advice is that IF the people that hire you want to make your job more difficult than it should be...charge them for it. It is a simple fact that a phone call to you telling that there are beaver causing a problem and could you remove them before pulling the dam would be cheaper in the long run. Explain that to them...stand your ground.
As far as advice to locating those beaver afterwards...scout the area thoroughly. Find the living areas an then go to work.

Wait a few days after the dam has been removed.They may leave the area for a while,or they may start rebuilding right away.If they leave they often come back after a while.
When they start rebuilding,take notice of where they are gathering their dam material,and if possible their den entrances when the water is low.
Beaver often remain in their dens when the water is gone,you can determine if they are still using the dry dens by looking for tracks in the mud.
All this information you gather should help you plan the removal strategy.

If established with a good food supply remaining beaver don't often vacate when dams are removed, just about never. They usually come right back the next day, sometimes with a vengeance. I used to always ask clients to leave sites "as is" until I got there, but it really doesn't seem to make any difference either way a lot of the time. If a highway department takes the dam out leaving a small stream bed I just set swim through cages to "cover the water" and catch them when they first come down to check out the damage. Where applicable, I will sometimes pull a dam in the morning, run traps for the day, then return late in the day or evening and pop in the cages when the water is down. Lots of times it's two traps and two beaver in the morning, over in a few hours. Sometimes you get a surprise like last fall. After the highway pull the dam I put 4 cages in the stream bed, two sets of two traps placed side by side. Had 4 beaver the next day and got a 5th while resetting. Left them in one more night and got 4 more the next day, pulled. Had 9 in 48 hours.

If they don't show up to fix the dam as soon as the water drops and it gets dark, the beavers probably don't live there. If that's the case you need to go up stream (or down stream) and find where they do live so you can catch them more easily.

^^yep!, that's my experience too

I'd make feed bed sets with footholds
and floating log/snare sets
and leaning pole snare sets
and MAKE YOUR OWN SLIDES, and set footholds there
and maybe BTO lured set or 2

I'd insist the county notify me when the beaver problem starts, NOT after blowing the dam, or there is increased expenses, since they made the job more difficult. I DID THIS VERY THING and it worked well.
I explained NOW it'd take more time, more "trap checks"=time & money, they understood that.
They DID pay the "penalty" fee but finally started telling me before blowing the dam.

Do you have an Indiana NWCO license? If so you can use an 8” (280 size) conibear on dry land.

Yes, I do have an Indiana NWAC permit. But, I thought I was still limited to 7" max unless completely under water.


How much luck do you guys have with footholds when there is not deep enough water to drown? Once the dams are broken, the ditches around here never have deep enough water to drown a beaver. Even with the dam, more than 3' of water can sometimes be hard to find.

I've held a lot of beaver that didn't drown in footholds - but that was mostly mistakes, errors, or drowning setups that didn't work. I've never set one up that way on purpose.

The last job I worked on, I snared one beaver and had an empty foothold at the end of a drowner wire the day before they tore out the dam. Right after that, everything went stone cold dead. Not a track, peeled stick, or nothing for three weeks

The job I'm currently working on, they pulled the dam and the beaver were rebuilding it the next night. I snagged one beaver in a submerged 330 set right in front of a barely underwater bank den opening. I had another foothold at a castor mound set off and half-way down the drowner wire. The beaver are still hanging around this location for sure. But with catching one right at the den opening and another getting pinched in a 330, I'm afraid the one or two remaining beaver may vamoose before I catch any more.

I looked up the regulations and, by golly, you are right! Thanks for the help.

I think Indiana is looking at changing the general regulations so that 330's can be used if they are only 50% under water instead of fully underwater. I think that would still be safe and make the use of these traps much more versatile and effective.

You need to trap the guy hiring you.

Give them a two part proposal. Option one is all work before dam removal. Price is $XX.
Option two is for work after dam removal. Price is 3 time the original $XX because much more difficult.

The result is they hire you at either price or do not hire you. Be happy with any of the 3 results.

I just done a job like this. I used castor mound sets #5 dls on drowning rod. I also put a snare in each of the side's on a killpoles. They work I would make a castor set behind them. Or a cut some fresh willow limbs and a put some beaver food lure down. I made a pile behind the snare a few ft. I set some as blind sets. I caught everyone out.

Only had two days notice for two dams in ditch ahead of excavator. I took last one w panel system.