darn it all (beaver)

[Steve Gappa]

darn it all-

doing a beaver job- site had old cuttings- perhaps one little fresh place (hard to tell) - a sour feed pile with no recent cuttings- warm water (a discharge place) and for all practical purposes a lake side type shoreline. Gradual sloped banks, no house, no action.

Been there 2 weeks with no action. Had 3 foothold, 1 330 at castor sets (XXXL, Ingeniur, Bogmasters stuff, and real castor chunk) and a 330 in blind pass under set where I laid a log over a submerged stump and hung the 330 completely submerged. No action. Snow 8-9 days ago, nothing in the snow, was going to pull today...and wouldn't you know it- if there weren't tracks in the snow.

He came out, went up 7-8 feet to some old cuttings, turned around and back into water. Didn't even look like he cut anything-

so I set three footholds blind where he came in out and back in in 8-10 inches of water- and found either a den or cut out with a point nearby- bank is almost none existent and water is only 3 feet deep 20 feet out, consistently- so put a 330 at the point on a stabilizer.

This beaver is not shy- or if so, certainly not in thus or any nearby location.

He had to have swum by those castor sets and never turned. Had no interest. Those tracks were made last night- fresh snow yesterday.

I hate this type of beaver trapping- give me rivers or marshes- I knew it was one beaver, and if I don't get lucky..its going to be a long haul.

Any suggestions?

[Stef]

fake poplar tree set guarded with foothold without any lure.

Stef

[ColdSteel]

Glad its you and not me.What is this one beaver doing to cause problems?I haven't done a lot of beaver trapping at all this year because of my back problems but for some reason I can't explain my castor mound sets have sucked this year very little success rate.Maybe you could try a set using oil sacks from another beaver although I haven't used it some of the beaver pros swear by it.Setting up on lake beaver is the wosrt case of beaver trapping I have ever tried and just about every time I ever done a ADC job on lake beaver I came out in the hole,Good Luck !

[Steve Gappa]

power plant discharge canal.

we pulled down the most recent tree cutting onto the ground and pulled it closer to the water- I would have like it slightly in water, but its close enough for him to notice change.

[dano1968]

Leave it for seed. It is not worth the time investment.

[trappnman]

nope- this is a 100% expulsion area- I'm being paid well..

if it was out on my line- I'd leave it in a hearbeat...

[foxtrapperwoman]

I have some oddball beavers too, just goes in line with my whole season so far being nothing but goofy animals, one after another. I trapped this place last year, 2 beavers then, easy to catch. 1 was in a connecting canal, connects the back pond with the big pond( manmade ponds). Ok so more beavers moved in, people saw 2 swimming together several times summer and fall in the big 2nd pond. Said den was same as last years den, however all my recent sign is not in that back pond where the den was last year, and the fact that no beaver has been caught in my blind channel set with totally blocked off sides and dive pole, tell me they are now only hanging out at the big pond and the next one down. There is no sign of a beaver going around my trap . However they cut a tree last week on the big pond, and there is a hole in the bank at the 3rd lower pond which the ice was not formed at today, as if its being used by something ( I found rat droppings by there too) as well as fresher peeled sticks floating about. Thinking they are in that hole I made a side channel set right by there with a 330 under the watter, blocked off sides, dive pole and a castor'd up stick up the channel from the trap. Nothing for 2 days so far. Looks like I have to wait till the ice is off and set that bank hole afterall. Not easy to get at, brambles all over the hill above it and not sure of water depth if I take the water to get to it. Chest wader territory for sure LOL- same for the den hole in the back pond, should set that one too in case there's extra beavers or something.

[furman]

If legal wait for a moonlight night and sit out there with a 12 gage with steel shot. Sit where the moon light shins across the water and when you see a v like ripple in the water then WAMMM and hope it’s not a poor little muskrat.

It can be an option if all else fails I have taken problem beaver this way and it works (4 in one night)

If legal of course ;D

[rk660]

shoot, bait set, beaver oil set or blindset more 330's, problem is this time of year dont sound like he is moving for squat either. Shooting might be best bet right at dusk, but since sounds like no damn to kick and drop water to make him move, probibly end up with nothing more than cold ass. If you could afford to wait, youd probibly be better off waiting for a warm up that should make him more active. Probibly couple bait sets, all the blind sets w/ 330's you can find, and look at em every 3 days until he moves. I'd set a 1/16 snare right on his tracks where ever he pulls out of water too.

[yoteler]

So I take it you are having a hard time catching this bugger at my job site..

[Hornhunter]

Got one out back of the house. When there was just a skim of ice he'd bust out in front of the coni, go around and re-enter the channel. He was crossing the road and going down a real narrow channel to an old dam. Set a 330 here and he did the same trick, came out and went around. After the ice formed i added a snare set. Checked it to find the snares nocked off and nothing.
Dam is real narrow, so I may take a chain saw to cut the ice and stack a few coni's and add blocking. Got one more trick to try first before all that effort.

[ohiyotee]

To bad you have no dam to bust out, or do you?

[conibear1]

Had a job like this for a township last June. Same situation with one beaver avoiding traps, lure and good set locations. I finally set up many snares under water in old abandon runways leading to the banks with no lure or bait. It took 2 and a half weeks before I hung him up. There may not be any runways at your location, but Patience seemed to be the key for me.

[Steve Gappa]

conibear1- no runways, no nothing.

a stale feedpile- and some old cuttings.



got him on the "lucky fake cut down tree set"....LOL

Glad this job is over

[BK]

Steve that beaver smelled your castor,I would venture to guess it swam quite a few circles in front of your set before it decided to pass.
You can kill them when they do that with a 330.
I'm interested to know the sex of that one.

[trappnman]

bk- male- in the 50-55 lb class- couple of big chunks out of tail, no missing toes.