i tried the 330 with bait sticks on the trap. first try, worked great.

They are fun huh !

Nothing like pulling out your first.

glad to see you caught something!

number 2

Woo hoo!

Nice. Curious why the cardboard? Best thing I have found to do is to get them out of the conibear asap and give a snow bath. They will dry right up. If you don't get them out of the coni fast enough and they start to ice up stick them back in the water and rub the ice off. Then head for the biggest spot of fluffy snow. Rub like crazy. I am always amazed at how dry you can get them in no time.


Now a good thing to combine with a baited conibear set that is deep enough so that the beaver doesn't float up and stick to the ice is a Set checker! Trap goes off and breaks the continuity. I went to using bullet plugs as once just tieing wire together they ended up touching the metal of the trap and gave me a still set reading.
I like to cover my holes with cardboard and lots of snow. The ice will build up pretty slow that way. Then just pull up to the set with your ohm meter or auto light tester and see if the trap has been set off. You could cruise through the traps in a hurry this way. No need to dig or chip unless you have a beaver. Always ran them on my otter sets.

Power snarer, on that shallow water, cut a slot 90 degrees across the shallow run and suspend some 8 to 10 inch loops in the channel, overlap the loops a bit. You can hang all the snares from a horizontal pole on the ice with doubled 16 or 14 wire. Think "gill netting for beaver" set the bottom of the loops tight to the bottom of the run. This is my main set and I have caught several hundred at least like this. Works in deep water too, set tight to bottom again.

Don't forget to tie a cross stick to your pole so a beaver can't pull it under, and cover well with boughs or cardboard and lots of snow, check at least every third day so they don't freeze in.

When I check my under ice conibears I just punch small hole between stand sticks and feel the top of the trap jaws with ice chisel.You can easily feel the beaver in the trap and the direction he was travelling when caught.Just takes a minuit.Usually pull after first check anyway.(multiple traps)

i use cardboard to insulate the hole. works good for me

family trapper.... thats a great idea, i'll try it next time.
thanks

Yes, if it's cold out, then get out of the trap quickly. And roll very well in snow to dry off.
I do this to myself when I get wet too! LOL

works same for otter and muskrat.

In one of my earlier posts I explained why I prefer 7x7 cables over 1x19 cables for under ice beaver snaring, mainly 5/64 and 3/32". The main reason being the ease with which it pulls down to very small loops and greatly improved my extremity catches (feet, nose, Tail). Here are few examples from this week. I'm running a 4wheeler now do to lack of snow. You AK folks are hogging it all. LOL I have the beaver hanging in my shop and have left the snares on where they were caught. The first three were from Sundays check, a head, a nose and tail cathes.




Todays catch, same poles after the weather broke cold spell.

Rally, what kind of locks do you use?

Productive looking times Rally. I notice a angled kink in two of your snares on pict 5. Is this coincidence or is part of your setup?
Thanks for sharing. Looks like they are going after bait pretty good now.

Richard,
I have mostly Beaver Spikes with BMI Slide Free locks on them, but still have a few with Reichert reverse bend washer locks on them. Alot of my lines are testing grounds for my products, and a place to use the snares I goof up on and am too cheap to throw away!!!

Len,
The bends you see in the photos are caused by the caught beaver swimming around the pole, and the kinks are from a beaver spike still on the pole. The beaver gets caught and usually swims down and around the pole and gets wrapped on the lower snares, still on the pole, and pulls hard enough to put these kinks in the snare they are in.

Furtrapper what prevents them form chewing on the pole (the trap is on) you are holding on page 10?

Rally, are you getting those rats in your beaver snares?

When that 330 knuckles em over the head, they aren't chewing that pole!
and plus there is a safety wire running up through the ice regardless.

I meant the pole that is used for the trap not the one you are using for bait I was just thinking why wouldn't you use pine or spuce instead of birch just seems it would make the piece you are using for bait more appealing?

Rally - When you use those BMI slidefrees under the ice, do you pinch them together a bit like some do with the BMI Mini?

Clark

That's poplar my friend, and poplar is what the beavers eat most up here. It's what's in abundance. Hardly any birch trees.

And I have never, not once in my life seen where a beaver has even chewed down a spruce tree.