I have always favored a back foot catch on Beaver.

I hear many comment they prefer a front foot as it take less water to drown the Beaver.

I have taken 3 Beaver in 3 days at a local culvert. My spade should give you an idea of the water depth I am working with. I thought it made for an interesting example of the ease and effectiveness of drowning rods.
If you look closely you can see the drowning rod in the lower right corner just under the water surface.

Here is the results when I pulled up the rod.


If you have never tried drowner rods for Beaver you may want to consider them. Never even pulled on my waders today as I was able to service all my sets while standing on the bank.

Thats pretty neat. Thanks for sharing

You be careful there, that water is way over your head deep.

~ADC~

love the drowning rods for beaver

I think current makes a big difference in the amount of water needed to drown. I am a front foot guy, but I will take them however they come as long as they are there when i get there. Rods are slick, caught my first beaver in one today.

Lol! I'm might have to try a few!

i tossed out the weights long ago and use nothing but 3/8 rerod.
i buy it in 10' lengths, cut off 2 feet to use as the stake end.
great post.

Is that water about knee deep?

Rickey

found the same deal years ago Corey, you can drown a hind foot beaver about any day of the week in 3 ft water on a drowning stick.

You stake the top and stick the other end in the mud good and solid. They are a little bit of a pain if you have very far to go but they are worth it.

How about a better explaination or a better pic for us guys who ain't never heard of a drowning stick before?

There are several Posts in the Archives I suspect but I have some more pictures. This is the top end of my rod. My simple lock slides over the loop at the top of this drowning rod. Once I slide the trap over the loop the T-stake will fasten the top end of the rod to the bank.
That is the standard chain on a MB-750 with the simple lock added. I prefer to paint my locks a bright color so I can glance at a set and see if the lock is gone. Saves feeling around in murky water risking my fingers !

I run mostly 8' rods and there is a 1/2 nut welded about 8" from the bottom of the rod. This stops the trap from sliding clean off the rod. That end of the rod is just stuck into the creek bottom so there is no chance the Beaver can swivel the rod to shore.
I recommend 1/2" rod as it takes way more abuse. I will bend the rod slightly putting an arc in the rod if the creek bottom warrants this. You want the lock to slide effortlessly down the rod and not have to plow dirt on the way down.

where can you get drowning rods

Will pink locks work ?

No doubt that is what 160 loser uses !

I'm sure he would if he ever got to go.

Here is another good example.

The County asked me to come in and remove these problem Beaver. The location was a highly traveled road and this was in the first weekend of deer hunting. This area was getting major traffic and I wanted to avoid exposing my set and risk losing equipment.

Here the deed is done and the Beaver is only inches from the road with very little evidence.

Here is the rig pulled up to show the effectiveness.


Anybody who claims they are a pain has not given them a fair shake. I far prefer this method to any other. The 8' rods are quite easy to transport I often lay 1/2 dozen lengthwise on the ATV and take off deep into the woods to Beaver ponds.

The rods are a bit-o-heaven!

How deep was the water in the first picture?

Rickey

24", give or take an inch

Nobody gets me.

I use an exact copy of 2poor's drowners at castor mound sets as well. They work!

~ADC~

I caught it ADC !

No sense commenting, as that would just give 160loser some fuel !

He is only as big around as a decent T-stake, but quite witty.

do you put anything on the bottom end say a spade shaped sharpened piece of metal to help stick into the mud or do you just sharpen the end of the rebar ?

Kirk

The re-rod is plenty easy to push into most bottoms, without any further modifications.
If I sharpened it, I would some how manage to poke myself !

Thanks 2poor the nut your putting on the lower end you talked about are you welding it to the side or just sliding it over the rod like you would with a rebar stake ?

Kirk

I just slide the nut up the rod and weld it, just like a K-9 stake.

thanks again 2poor Im planing on making a couple dozen this summer

Rods are great. Makes beaver trapping much easier. Your lucky you were using a 750 in the first picture though. Looks like he darn near pulled out. LOL. Although you can get away with shallow water (30" or less) using 750's, smaller (#3 or #4) traps set deep (for hind foot) in shallow water don't mix. A smaller trap and you probably wouldn't have held that beaver.
Most places I trap, with gradual sloping bottoms, 8' rods are too short. 10' are ideal ifor most places I set, I use 12' more than 8' even.

I doubt highly the Beaver pulled out at all. A poor back foot catch due to poor conditions and trap placement is far more likely.
Trying to bed a MB-750 on shelf ice has it challenges.

Good news is even caught by the webbing he got to enjoy a ride in my pickup.

I got no use for a #3 when Beaver trapping Goldy. I been telling you for years those are a Yote traps. LOL

Goldy showed me his on a link , and there all i want to use now ! I like how easy they are to set and use , they dont weight the boat down at all like the drowning blocks!!! By the way THANKS GOLDY !

Thanks 2poor...great post, I made my first rod a couple years ago and it worked great. Just don't have the beaver (or weasel) you do up north. Tom

I use them almost exclusively. Even in places that the water doesn't drop off quickly I can use a cable and run it through the end of the rod to stake the deep end of a cable drowner. I haven't had to do that often but it is food for thought. I still have to stake the shallow end of the cable and the rod but it still beats carrying a big weight or filling a sand bag.

i love them rods too

You can't beat using drowner rods the only way to go- I wouldn't dream of doing it any other way anymore-

In the past 2 years I've been running carbon drowners from Tim Kresel in Mn, Once you try them, You'll wonder how you ever trapped without them!

Here are a couple i have got on rods so far this year.

how deep in the mud do you have to stake the terminal end.

sweet, ya learn sumthing new everyday!

Instead of a nut on the deep end, I weld a large flat washer on the side of the rod. When pushed into the sand/gravel, it works similar to a pogo anchor. I have seen no need to grind a point on the end of the rods. If the bottom is so hard you can't push it in, you're probly going to have to weight it down with a bag of rocks anyway.

ttt

I've drown tons of beavers in my day and never used one of these rigs nor have I seen a video as good as coonwild's ........... I'm still kinda lost on how the terminal end stays put to hold a spinning, twisting beaver fighting for it's life ........ looks like a set up I'd like to try but need more info on the terminal end and how it holds the bottom

The deep end of the rod is just pushed into the mud a foot or so. I've never had a beaver pull it and go to shore. Many do loosen it up quite a bit but I think it's with their last thrashing.

Made some up before the end of our season this year. They work GREAT! No more blocks for me. Thanks guys!
Stinger the beaver is pulling up on the entire lenghth that is shoved in the bottom. Kinda like trying to pull an earth anchor but not exactly.

OK Tim ........ a couple more questions ....... what do you weld at the shoreline end as a staking point ......... do you weld a flat washer or something like that pin it through ........


and then what type of lock do you put on your traps ...... right now I just have MB crunch proof swivels on my Bridger #3's and I slip the end of the swivel over a 11 gauge drowner slide wire thats wrapped around a knotted feed bag of rocks