OK, beaver pros,

my boss says he dont believe a beaver will use a stick to fire off traps, as i was telling him they do, ive had it happen

pics would be awesome.

i cant say that the beaver knew what it was doing, like "i'm gonna show him and set this trap off with this stick", but i've had them set one off before. most likely they were carrying it and it set the trap off before the beavers head was in the 330.

I think your boss is correct. since the beaver is carring the stick in its mouth and the is the end that goes through the trap fist, then tripping the trap is a result of transporting the stick. An act of nature on a deliberate act.

your not helping.

i mean the last beaver left, and you know you pinched one and it got away.

I'm no pro like some on here but they do.
I reall don't know if it is intensional or not. Think it is mostly that trappers disturd dams, runs ect and in the procces of repair they push sticks and debris into them?

Good question?

I'd really like to here from the Boss, J or some of the other fine beavermasters on here.

It's only blind beavers that do that charles. lol

Beavers are builder's so it's normal for them to be hauling around sticks with them to repair a dam, eat, make bedding, etc. and accidentally fire off a trap with them.

I don't think they use them to find traps with though BUT I do think they use turtles as mine sweepers if you set any 330s out this time of year, lol.

im not going to show my boss this post.

Think your giving animals more credit than they deserve in the mental capacity department Charles!

To date ive never seen any animal that knew a trap was a trap! Granted some beaver know a 330 is something dangerous, but I doubt they have a clue it's a trap.

of course they dont know its a trap dingbat, but CAN they reccognize it, and sabatoge it in some way.

Ive had them build a dam on top of a snare before!

well FCOL, hes gonna want to read this, i told him i was gonna ask a whole network of very accomplisehd beaver trappers, since, me, am not quite there yet, so

TYPE SOMETHING I CAN SHOW HIM TO SAVE SOME FACE!

I can see the WB's movie now. Buster the Beaver running around with sticks poking all them baaad ol twaps of Elmers. LOL

Seriously, Beaver carry sticks, sticks are usually infront of the Beaver when carried, stick get to trap first. Charles I don't think Beaver have enough brain matter to knowingly, on purpose, stick a stick (pardon the pun) in a trap.

I think your boss was using a play on words with you to probably win a bet or something. Is that what he did? LOL All of this is just my humble opinion.

I can't say that I've every known a situation where a beaver threw a 330 with a stick on purpose.

I have known them to throw 330s though. I watched one do it, not once, but twice. The beaver approached the submerged body grip and right when it got to the trap, it did a forward summersault and it hit the trap with it's tail. I would have thought that the beaver recognized that it was a trap when it got close and turned quickly and accidentally fired the trap..... except I reset the trap and watched the beaver do it a second time. This was about ten feet from where a ditch emptied into a pond. The beaver would swim around the mouth of the ditch until I got done setting and then I backed off.... then it would come in and do its trick. I had Backbreaker behind the trap and I reckon that beaver wanted to get to it. If I'd have not approached the trap immediately after it fired it, I don't know if it would have gone past the fired trap to get to the lure. I pulled that trap because I was sure it would have been a waste of time leaving it. A CDR at a fake castor mound where the ditch entered the pond took care of this beaver.

see...now where getting somewhere!

so, if a coyote can dig a trap when he knows its there, why does the beaver have to be so much less intellegent than the coyote?

dont tell me the coyotes are just smarter than beaver either!

A coyote will dig a trap because the trap has an odor, the trap moved when it stepped on it, or it recalled something similar happening in the past and it is checking to see if this dirt contained a trap also????

A beaver usually will avoid a body grip when it has learned a lesson from one. I have seen where they have departed the water immediately in front of a body grip, climb the bank and reenter the water behind the body grip. This "avoidance" is the normal response by the beaver when it encounters a body grip that gives the beaver a danger signal.

so, basically, what your saying is im dead wrong, and a stick through the trap is not the beavers normal responce to avoiding a trap?

i really hate being wrong...dangit

In my experience I have not seen where a beaver purposely fired a body grip trap. Does that mean it absolutely has never happened? No, I've simply never known it to happen. I learned a long time ago to never say never when dealing with beavers.

charles have you ever had a coyote put a stick in a foothold???

Me too Buzz. A beaver will not hesitate to take a mouthfull of green sticks into a bodygrip.... once.

LOL LOL LOL

This post is too funny..


JUST when you think you know....


You have no idea....