For what it's worth, here are the rods I use for drowning 'coon, 'rats and mink. This is a 10' length of 3/8" rerod:
I commented to Don on the other post that I thought 3/8" rebar didn't have enough backbone for beaver. Well, maybe I should try it on beaver before I make a statement like that. I have held beaver under 40 lbs in these, but have occasionally found my rerod bent up in a big pretzel due either to an otter or large beaver. So . . . I've been looking for a substitute, sturdier rod than the 3/8" rerod for beaver.
Anyway, here's the terminal end of the rerod. A nut simply welded onto it:
Now here's the business end of this rod. The nut welded onto the side of this rod accepts a 3/8" stake. I have stakes of different lengths, all the way to 4' when dealing with soft muck. To the left of the stake is simply 18" of rod. This part of the rod is jammed into the bank, with the nut flush with the bank:
The drowner lock is a bent washer with a hole drilled for the S-link. S-link your trap on, and the critter only slides one way.
With water say three to four feet deep, the terminal end is stuck into the bottom, then the rod is bent over and pushed into the bank 18". Stake is run through nut and it's set to go.
In situations where I've got immediate drop off, say 8 feet deep plus, I've simply allowed the rod to dangle out there in deep water. A 'coon, 'rat or mink will get out there, and with the weight of the trap and rod it sinks and drowns. In this situation you'd have a difficult time keeping that beaver from bending the rod.
Kudos to the Beav for pointing me in the direction of these rods, and with the help of a former student, Nathan here in Booland, I've got about a hundred of these I use during the season.
In a standard 14' V-bow, two dozen of these can lay on either side of the boat. Along with 4 dozen traps, one can knock out a pocket, S-link a trap, ram the rod down and in, set the stake and be on to the next set within minutes.
Don, I'd like to have something similar for Beaver.