Anybody know how to trap a beaver?

[dennishoddy]

I have trapped several beavers using a leg hold trap. I always use a drown set with two #2 traps. Wire a two pound flat rock to the bottom of the traps and set them in the water. Secure the traps with a length of wire, like phone wire or something and give it enough slack to let the beaver swim to deep water - that is safety to them. When he reaches the end of the wire he keeps swimming but doesn't realize he is getting nowhere. The rocks eventually tire him out and he drowns - never fails.

Set the traps either where there is a well worn run where he comes out of the water a lot, visualize the length of the beaver, swimming up to shore and then putting his hind feet down to climb out. That is where you want to place the traps. I place them side by side, with one a little farther out than the other. You can also place some tender aspen branches, just a few tender ends, in the bank where he has to climb up to get them. Aspen is their favorite. If you can find his underwater hole you can also place the traps at the entrance to the hole. When they swin into the hole they put their hind feet down to give a push up the the shaft to theen.

Good luck.

that sounds like a great way! Where are you getting the aspen branches?
Sounds like you might be from further west? The cotton wood leaves are bigger but similar?

 

[Clean Harry]

When I lived in PA they were readily available - and beaver pelt were worth something back then as well as being good fur because of the cold. Now I bring back a supply from there every year coming back from my annual hunting trip with Dad & Brother. It doesn't get cold enough here in Oklahoma for them to develop a good fur; same with Coyotes - the northern ones are worth more.

BTW - we got a 434 lb. Balck Bear in PA this year. It's a team effort up there - no bait, no dogs, we chase them out ourselves. I was on the chase and saw the bear going out ahead of me. I got one shot off, but don't know if it was a hit, should have been. The watcher shot 6 times. The bear charged after the first shot and fell dead at the last shot 10' from him. I thought we were going to have to drag him off the mountain after we got the bear out.

 

[A5Sooner]

Ok...I am a hunter. I'm not against trapping if done legally and in a humane way. I'm just not sure I get the pouring of bleach or diesel into an ecosystem that we need to foster if we are to continue to hunt. I'm not a tree hugging global warming dude....just can't wrap my head around the chemical thing.

I respect what your are saying...one point...what about the Co2 that the tree cycles? A dead tree produces even more Co2...therefore killing beavs helps the environment.

Now I sound like a treee hugger!!!

Plus, its not a large amount. A drop in the bucket compared to the water degradation that say...pig farms create.

 

[dennishoddy]

Its also illegal to take game with aid of fire or smoke.

 

[imhntn]

Its also illegal to take game with aid of fire or smoke.

I am not sure beavers are considered game anymore since there is no closed season on them, no limits and they can be taken just about any way.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Ok...I am a hunter. I'm not against trapping if done legally and in a humane way. I'm just not sure I get the pouring of bleach or diesel into an ecosystem that we need to foster if we are to continue to hunt. I'm not a tree hugging global warming dude....just can't wrap my head around the chemical thing.

Have to agree with that.

 

[dennishoddy]

I am not sure beavers are considered game anymore since there is no closed season on them, no limits and they can be taken just about any way.

Doesn't have to be game animals from what I read.
From the Regs:

Use of Fire

No person shall concentrate, drive, molest, hunt, take, capture, kill, or attempt to take any wildlife by aid of any fire or smoke whether man-made or natural.

 

[MDT]

I respect what your are saying...one point...what about the Co2 that the tree cycles? A dead tree produces even more Co2...therefore killing beavs helps the environment.

Now I sound like a treee hugger!!!

Plus, its not a large amount. A drop in the bucket compared to the water degradation that say...pig farms create.

Trees USE the CO2 we breathe out to make O2 (21% of what we breathe is O2). Dead trees put nitrogen and other essential compounds INTO the environment. I'm all for taking wild game (beavers included). I would shoot or trap them if presented the opportunity. I would not poison the ecosystem that I need to help sustain so I can continue to hunt.

 

[dennishoddy]

Trees USE the CO2 we breathe out to make O2 (21% of what we breathe is O2). Dead trees put nitrogen and other essential compounds INTO the environment. I'm all for taking wild game (beavers included). I would shoot or trap them if presented the opportunity. I would not poison the ecosystem that I need to help sustain so I can continue to hunt.

I'm gonna step lightly on this.
January is the driest time of the Year.
If you have a problem, learn from this forum, or other sites on the internet, how to trap.
Sometimes trapping won't do everything.
When a farmer needs to protect his land from beavers, etc, in order to protect the family farm, one has to do what one has to do.
That being said, there are front loaders that keep busting up the dams until they show.
Early on I used a shovel. just break the dam a little, wait until dark and shoot

 

[MDT]

Actually Dennis, I do get that. You make a good point. I think the front loaders are a good idea.