Ok I trapped this spot in the spring for the county drain commission. I quote 8 beaver from 17 to 43 lbs. had no activity all summer Then about three weeks ago they called me to come back as dam building started agsin. I caught a 33lbs a couple days in. And two days ago caught a 31lbs one.

So my question is: is it likely that these two were dispersed from other colonies and paired up at this site and now it should be done until maybe next dispersal ?

If none were shot or killed there should be 10. The dominant male and female. The four little ones from this year and four from last year. You caught 8. There should be 2 more. You should be able to answer your question based on what you caught. The factor would be whether you caught all of the small ones. If you didn,t, how old would they have been when you caught the mother. Two may not have made it if they were small.

If there is a pond or impoundment within a mile and there has been heavy rain. They may have come from somewhere else. If your present impoundment is a large impoundment there may be two families at various stages of maturity.

Very seldom is there just two at a new location here in early fall or winter. There is usually 6 or 10. If know one has been trapping and I catch only two or three in a few days, they are spooked.

Normally, (HERE)if a trapper catches just two or three in late fall (Thanksgiving) or (December) winter the beaver have been pinched, trapper was using exposed conibears, or some other activity such as fire may have them spooked. In summer here you may catch just one to spook the bunch. You are in Michigan, I would think your weather should be about right in 2 weeks.

Several years ago, here, there was little dispersal because of drought. If you have experienced severe drought there could be another family in the pond.

This is a swamp area of a 800 acre lake, of the ones I caught this spring, one was the breeding female as she had four unborn kits in her and one was one the ADC trappers from last year lost in a foot hold as they only had a toe on the trap and the eigth and final one I caught this spring was missing its toe

Again it was three months ago that I caught that last one and the activity at dam site stopped completely for nearly three months


Another site I was trapping g this past spring I got 11 and the same situation now. No activity for three months and now a new dam, further down stream. And I just caught the first one there too. Another 31lbs So same age class I would assume The last one I caught at this site in the spring was a 23llb beaver that had a different color fur than the previous 10 and lots of bite marks on rear, so I assumed it was one that was driven out of its colony and came to this site as I was finishing it

In summer they don,t have to go far to get something to eat. There may be 5 or more families in the lake.

In a situation like that, I put a boat in and make sets from a boat if needed. I go around the lake locating the active sign. Set on sign.

What is funny is you always have some wise guy that only wants to pay for the beaver on his side of the lake. You might have to put up a sign "Local beaver only".

Here in one county I can only get paid for a beaver within 1000 feet of a road. I have places I can see the beaver house, but can catch them until when they come to the road. So it is a "every so often time plan". Use to really bother me, now I look at it as others have always told me, "Job Security".

Here is is what I can tell you with all confidence.
Who knows?
We are talking about wildlife.
The more I learn about wildlife, the less I seem to know.

One time about 19 years ago I took 54 beaver where several small drainages come together. Had a few traps in good locations. Traps were all within 200 yds of each other. Dr. Darbyshire owned the property. Didn,t catch a beaver the next year there, just otter.

Another time in a drainage that has about a 400 acre lake owned by F. Mims at the time, I took 38. Saw his neighbor at a church function. The neighbor said he used to have a lot of beavers, but the alligators got them. I ask him where he lived. He said the forestry service told him the alligators got them.

About 5 miles down stream from Mims I caught I believe the same amount 38 in a much smaller area. They aren,t here like that anymore. What we have here are mainly irrigation ponds. Catch 6 to 10 and your done.

In the north country, from my home to the Canadian border, beaver move during wet summers and stay put during dry summers and are likely to relocate or disperse at any time from April until December. Beaver will plug culverts almost nightly for the most part once they have chosen a site, so when the plugging stops, the job is done. Beaver showing up 8 weeks later are a new pair, a new job, shown by duration and being matched in size. Though there may be what looks to be other "good sites,"on a stream, beaver return to the same locations time after time for years. A "double colony" will usually have from 7 to 10 beaver, adults with two litters. Many times there are a pair of adults, yearlings and two year olds. Two year olds are often fewer in number than the yearlings, one to three two year olds, with four yearlings being common.

Two big factors are rainfall and feed in determining what is and what will happen, what to expect. During wet years beaver will move more often, as I have more than once seen them relocate to a site as many as 5 times in one year, with two or three times not being uncommon on the wettest years. I tell clients one round of trapping will usually do for the year, but not always. Northern hardwoods usually will have either a pair of adults and a single littler of yearlings. The two year olds get the boot where feed is either scarce or non nutritional. Lily pad ponds are foolers, as they can have any number in any combination with the fattest healthiest beaver and yet activity may appear to low.

Though beaver can move in large groups, 10 to 12 at a time, more often than not pairs or even single beaver "testing" in summer are common. A pair of traps will often take the two in one night. I try to guarantee for a month, or so after I have pulled, with no hard line. If there has been no activity of any kind for 24 days for instance, I will probably call it a new job if beaver suddenly appear.

I am trying to wrap my mind around 54 beaver in one large area. I don't recall catching 54 mice in one area, much less beaver. You

must have been in mighty fine shape after hauling all of them out.

I had two 330 traps up one of the side drains, caught 27 animals, beaver and otter, in 14 days, in those two traps. One day one of the traps was set off.

I believe the reason I caught so many, there were three large, tall, dams where the flow all came to one.(three drainages) The water backed up a very large watershed. I believe the beaver in the back ran out of water moving to the central location. I was catching the beaver as they moved with the water level as their dens were exposed upstream by opening the dams in increments.

Paul, those huge numbers can be found when beaver are left to their own for extended periods, no trapping and no predators to keep them in check. My friend Mickey in Virginia and I were running separate lines back in '86 near his home is Stafford. In 3 weeks I got 105 and he got 106. Mick had one drainage that kept producing for a couple of weeks. For days he would come in and say, "I got 4, 7, 5, 9, 11 etc." in the same spot until I cornered him at the end and said lets add it up. Turned out he had trapped 68 or 69 in the one area, one drain. Randy in Massachusetts said "the castor mounds were as big as muskrat houses" a few years ago and likewise caught 60 at one location as they just kept coming. About 10 years ago, when I got the hernia, there were 4 colonies on a mile of track that yielded 40 beaver in a week. Set traps going in and had two in a couple of hours going out.
Lake Anna is big lake in Virginia. Thorpe and I trapped it in '78 I believe, for the first time. I asked the warden, "how many beaver are there?" before we started. His reply, "if you can't get 200 you're no trappers." We thought it a bit far fetched but the warden lived on the lake and knew his stuff. Ended up with 188, 55 before the freeze and another 133 in a couple of weeks at the end and all on one lake.

Well I certainly can understand the hernia. I'm getting one just thinking about hauling that many beavers out. I'm more of a chipmunk sort of guy.

One of the benefits of trapping beaver under the ice.No carrying.Right into the sleigh from the trap.

I have no sleigh.

We have no Ice.

I am not moving to Canada.

Have lived and worked cattle in Ohio in 50 below weather. Worked cattle many years in winter in Wisconsin in the same below zero weather.

Don,t plan to move to Ohio or Wisconsin and buy a sleigh either.

My condolences to you Kirk.

Appreciated coming from you. I am glad you understand.

USA today, coldest temperature for Ohio on record, Feb. 10, 1899, 39 below. New York is 52 below, Old Forge. Good days to look out the window. I have a sled, actually 4, use them, use them all year round. Pull over rocks, trees, R.R., water etc. Lots better than carrying. In the 70's we skinned on the ice, hauled only fur, a whole lot lighter. The hernia came from pulling full sleds of beaver and conibears after dark without a light, beaver on my back in a basket, breaking through a little better than an inch of ice in muck above my knees. Did it twice that same week, didn't learn after the first time I guess, hence the hernia. Got a very nice triple on otter too the last day, all just caught in 330's and still alive. Think they got caught as I turned the wheeler around. A good run. There were 43 beaver on that short stretch of track.

Michigan Trapping...read this post and re-read it again, I know I will....great info from some veterans. Job security was mentioned early in the post I think by Kirk...great insight. I have found that IF I take the time and educate my clients about the problem animal, they are not as FIRED UP when they call me again...they have a better understanding.
Jim question....you mentioned about culverts being dammed up and... that was a sign to pull up when it stopped. How long do you wait before deciding to pull up? I know its a tough one question but any insight will educate me on what to do...

thanks Mike

"How long do you wait before deciding to pull up? I know its a tough one question but any insight will educate me on what to do..."

Mike, I'm 'all ears' too on this one-difficult for me sometimes too. Guys like Jim, Kirk, and Jonesie (and others I'm sure) have done it so long they don't even think about it-they have a 6th sense! Lol

Jason you are right and sometimes MY 6th sense is WRONG! lol It can be costly to pull out TOO SOON...guess you've got to go with our gut.

Here we have a 24 hour check. When gas was 1 dollar a gallon you could wait a little longer. I usually would wait until two days after the last rain.

The guys with a 2 day check I would think would be about the same. States such as Minnesota you might want to go a week or two with a 4 day check.

Lot of factors. Good access is the key.

For twelve years I averaged over 1000 beaver in about a 4 month period. I always pulled out when They quit being active. I always went back the second time before the spring came on the new locations. Some times depending on conditions three times. Normally the third time was on large inaccessible impoundments where I knew some would fill in the void.

The public works offices sometimes don,t know an active site from one that is not. If a dam is there " there must be a beaver".

A lot depends on the size of the water,and or the number of beaver colonys on it.For example usually if you catch a pair of beaver that are a mated pair,male and female and the female shows no sign of having a litter,you most likely have the problem solved.
For example,on a lake outlet that is dammed up,there may be more than one colony on that water,however only the colony near the outlet will be maintaining the dam,because being territorial,those beavers will not tolerate other beaver encroaching on their territorial boundary.
Once you remove the beavers maintaining the dam,these beavers will also not be there to maintain their castor mounds.
After each rain event,beavers will re mark their territorial castor mounds,and beavers from a colony that do not encounter the scent from the other colony will know that there is vacant habitat that they can exploit,and the first thing they will do is repair\replace the dam,especially if the water level is affecting their lodge,like on a large body of water.
It could take a week or two for these other beaver to start working the vacant area,but a good time to check is a few days after a rain event.
I have dealt with this scenario many times.

Boco, I beat you by 41 seconds on a similar response. Does that mean I won?

Good info...thanks.
This might change the original topic some BUT...in some of my areas uneducated public work officials will yank out the dams BEFORE contacting me. Have you guys ever experienced beavers leaving an area for a week or so(have had them move out for up to three weeks) then showing up in the dam building mood?
Got one fairly shallow creek where this has happened twice....I trap up stream and down stream yearly. The public work boss won't listen and likes to pull dams then call me. I think I have them knocked down THEN BAM! more beavers.
Let me hear your thoughts...

Have read several times and in short I think it says "sometimes they are gone sometimes they are not". And that not everyone has the same thing happened where they trap

So I will just keep learning and using my and others experiences to make the best call possible

I often pull first day if I have caught a matched pair and there is no work on dams etc., main dam still leaking. Beavers mud up dams nightly in the fall. You can tell you are done at times just by the fact the water as dropped a couple of inches in sand as the beaver had done no work to keep it repaired. Also, sometimes the pond just has a "stale look," fresh in the sense of that week, but not fresh in nothing "last night."

I was asked by Bob Noonan a while back, two years ago I think, to write about knowing when to pull. It turned to be a two part article directed on knowing when to pull that came out last year I believe in Trappers Post. Over the years it almost becomes second nature, it would seem to be intuition, but its all based in a collective reaction to a whole host of things that occur, most of which I covered in the articles. I often look at castor mounds to see if another beaver has marked over when a beaver is in the trap, old tracks, new tracks. I go by whether it appears to be a pair, a pair with a litter, a double colony with two litters or a mess of beaver of who knows what. It often comes down to sizes and numbers, knowing what's there. I like to put a small boot print in the main dam as beaver will very often push some mud up on a nightly basis. The main dam is the important one. Clients will as where the beaver lodge is and I'll say something smart like, "didn't know it was missing or where it is." Really don't care. Observing cuts for instance, high and low, large and small trees is a good tip of to what is there. Odds and probability. You catch a pair of two year olds first in a very large colony, means many more. You catch two in a small colony, done and gone. I have gotten goofed up where large colonies were migrating, 10 or more and trickle into a new sight. Can be a fooler.

Knowing when to pull is an art as it is a dance between an extra wasted trip or having to come back, set and check for an extra day on the other end. I miss on fewer all the time. One beaver is the worst. With two I pull, with one I sometimes think there could be another and hang in only to find one was it. One seems to take more time than two.

Found the articles, March/April, May/June, 2014, Trappers Post.

Thanks Jim...great insight. 24 hr ck law here really puts a damper on trapping the last one at times...the older I get...I try to be wiser.

MChewk,i have found on many occasions when beaver are only sporadically showing up to repair a broken dam,say after a week or even two it is a secondary relief dam.Look upstream when this is the case and you will most times find the main dam and colony.Some cases it can be quite a hike thru some hellish terrain to find it.
One learns to really appreciate winter beaver trapping when traipsing thru the bug infested jungles removing nuisance beaver in summer.

Thanks Boco...unfortunately we have a lot of private property where I live and trap....I may NEVER know just how many beaver are on the waters where I trap because of this issue.
Your comment about hot weather / off season nuisance trapping is dead on....at times I KNOW I didn't charge enough money..lol

Google earth can give you a rough idea of what a watershed may hold.

One spot was giving me fits with beaver showing up after two or three weeks several times,my reputation as a beaver trapper was taking a hit.

When I google earthed the creek I seen that it forked about quarter mile upstream from the culvert and there was two ponds on one fork and one on the other.

I tracked down the registered trapper and asked him to go in in winter when marten trapping to get rid of them all on the watershed.I will know next May if he did or not,lol.

Yep already did that....visibilty was limited....not clear. Have tried asking permission several different times....turned down. Guess I'll always have beaver to trap. ...job security....lol

So much in these responses since I last posted that could be commented on. It's just a great thread. Re: the idea of customer education that has been posted about is so true IMO and I've found that the less anxious I can help them be, the less I am too. That allows me to do what I should do --read the sign and behaviors in order to keep the job moving in the right direction.

Always best to go in gently, do not allow the beaver to know he is the target so that he stays put. Don't want to chase them. Avoid a sprung conibear or foot trap at all cost so that they don't get wised up. You don't want to pressure a beaver so that he leaves the pond, moves up or down stream 200 yards for the summer and plays "pond tag" with you, returning only intermittently every 2 to 5 weeks so you get the call "he's back." I always say if they stay and duke it out with you they will make a mistake. I can make lots of mistakes. They have to make only one.

Here's the decisions I have made on the three sites I am trapping

#1 site This is the large lake with the swampy area that I started trapping in April
Background: caught 9 beaver at this site in April and May including a pregnant female and breeding size male
No dam work or feeding sign until three weeks ago. Caught one 30 some pound beaver third day after set, caught another 30 so e pond beaver last week. There is no more dam repair taking place and no sign of feeding I area. I have concluded ( not factually) that these were two beavers that paired up recently and took over area.

So I pulled traps this morning

#2 site This site is a series of three shallow swamp ponds (2 feet maximum) that are connected by short shallow drainage ditches (water never leave final pond).
Background: I Caught 30 something pound beaver first night. Caught 15ish pound beaver a week later. Have been playing cat a mouse with other adult beaver for over 3-4 weeks now. Have it on camera 30-40lbs. This beaver has buried my traps with mud and seaweed, built new dams to avoid going near traps at dam breaks, stopped repairs for over a week at a time. And now has not repaired dam for over a week that is causing first pond to drain down and all three dams are broke and water between last dam and last pond is drawing into soil before it reaches last pond

I have decided to pull traps here as no activity has been seen. I'm guessing it moved, been eaten by coyotes or is really holed up

Site #3

10 acre lily pond that had one dam inside 4' diameter culvert that went under road then flowed to a series of 5 small (less than 1/2 acre each) that are each connected in a series with 10 foot long 18" culvert pipes that then dump in to a large creek (15 feet across and 18-24" deep.

Caught 11 beavers from April 1 to beginning of June. From 11lbs to 48lbs. The last one was caught right at culvert that dumped into large creek (it had a lot of bite marks, was a different color than first 10 beavers) about 25lbs I believe it was a two year old that was driven out of another colony

Then no beaver sign or dam repair until about three weeks ago, the dam in 4' culvert was repaired and now a dam is built downstream in the large creek

I trapped for about 10 days before I caught a beaver this time and it was inside 4' culvert on the down side of dam. Nothing caught since then and no sign of working on dam in culvert, no sign of feeding in any of the ponds and the dam is down stream so far I can't go to it without canoe and then don't have permission to trap it anyway

I have not stopped trapping g here yet but am considering it. I think I will canoe to dam and damage and see if it gets repaired Or just wait it out

Options and thoughts on all three of the welcomed and requested

Sounds like a good plan.Sometimes it pays to give beaver some time to settle down after continued trapping pressure has put them on alert.
Check back in two or three weeks or after a good rain.

What a insightful thread!

Thanks,
2nd

Boco is spot on, don't keep pounding them. It can quite often get a whole lot worse, maddening until you are up half the night trying to come up with a "super catch all set" that so far seems to allude. They need room to breath, time to settle into a routine and drop their guard if they are wised up and not responding. If you have used castor in the mix, don't bother with it again. If you return with castor, that is a sign to them that you have returned, not another beaver. If they know you are on them, they are smart as a coyote. No activity usually equals no trapping, quit. Watch.

After a screw up on my part with a smart one, or an inherited problem beaver, I may try a foot trap or snare in a nice natural spot, maybe a very small dam break set, but if they are doing really weird things, bag it, sit tight, give them 2 or 3 weeks anyway so you can come back with a more clear slate and even chance. On the return if you can find a good blind set for an under water snare you might pick them up first night.

Just remembered that I got a whole colony a few years back, but ma, which is common. Turned winter, froze up solid. Didn't want to spend time with the ice, so waited. Since nothing would change until ice out, I left it, did not charge. Came back at break up, just put a foothold on the dam she was crossing. One night it was over, no wasted time, trips or energy either.

Well the one site I stayed at paid off this morning.

That culvert tube is about 5 feet across and 4 feet high. The dam is inside of it about 40 feet in and is about 8" from the top. We had a lot of rain two days ago and I think this one was check for repairs. This is the exact location that I caught the other one at this site over a week ago.

11 form this site this past spring

Just checked records. 10 days ago I got a 31# male and this morning it was a 38# female.

Way to go MT! Feels great doesn't it? :))

Oh yes, I was really beginning to doubt myself

Very pleased. Will be back during fur season to get an otter there, I seen them twice and landowner says they ponds don't have nearly the fish the use to One for me and one for the son I hope. We have a one otter limit it this part of the state