For beaver.whats the best trap to use if you don't plan on drowning them.

So not drowning ? Ho you plain ing on doing them then ? Long chain and just let them swim ? Or got something else planned ?

Dale Billingsly is a great guy to talk to when it comes to "non traditional" beaver trapping. He don't drown any of his beaver , he highly advises using "high jaw" footholds. Think he prefers the #4 Duke #3 Bridger and #3/#4 Northwoods. Here's a demo he did.,he a nice guys to chat with on FB as well as having a great YouTube channel

Yep 10 ft of chain or cable I've watched his videos just wanted different ideas from different people on what they use and why.

You don't drown them with a front foot catch, bad things will happen.

80% of what your gonna get here and most other places is gonna be big trap back foot always drown when it comes to footholds. Not trying to be rude just kinda the truth

Snare

dale claims he only has 1 in 100 wring off. So why not trap them like that.

Why would you not want to drown them? I usually set for a front foot, many of the places I trap don't have enough water to drown a back foot catch. I prefer #4 longsprings, but have caught quite a lot in #3s at times when I ran out of #4s. Never, ever set one without the intention of drowning it though. And in fact the only one I can recall not successfully drowning, a bobcat stole.

Ive long chained a lot of beaver. Its not my first choice but I never had an issue loosing beaver, though I normally set for a back foot catch. In places I could not drown and a bodygrip was not feasible always a CDR,mb750 or a #5 on about 10' of chain.

laminated trap with heavy tension.No offsets.

And you better not have any entanglement Or your going to get lots of wring offs when targeting a front foot.
Do the right thing and get that beaver drowned.
Snares are another option like some one mentioned.

I use a #3 Bridger or #5 Bridger (modified to Pa. regs.)
I'm a lazy Beaver trapper and use 10' cable. Easy peasy. 24-hour check. I do use drowners as well. But really enjoy cabling off in many situations.

Waiting along Penns Creek-


Double, under RED marker-

Which way would you want your lams outside inside or both

set 2 traps yesterday had this guy waiting this morning.

I always use drowning sets as a rule.
But there are rare times i dry land set such as periods of constant up & down water levels on big creeks & rivers.
Non drowning sets have their place

Yup, even with ten feet of chain well swiveled on a clean mowed grass bank without entanglement in a duke #4 coilspring. Ask me how I know.

Big difference between can and should in this case.

Whole bunch of ways you can catch beaver but there's reason why you should use other ways.

Better compromise if your insistent on non drowning, target that big back foot and get above the ankle. Still not great but less likely to catch and release.

1 in 100 is 1 too many in my book. Especially when your being paid to catch the very last one.

If you’re targeting a front foot, that’s probably what you’re going to get.

Nice ! What set up did you send up going with ?

I think one out of a 100 Is BS.

Got the 2nd one this morning.bought some number 3 bridgers,5lbs of pan tension on 10 ft of cable attached to a earth anchor.bigger then the one yesterday.

Nice ! Did you do the thing where you set the trap below level so he kinda falls into it ? Those bridgers modified if just regular jaw ?

Just regular jaws,made the horseshoe in the bank set the trap with loose jaw centered with castor mound a berm of dirt/mud in front of the trap so he drops his front feet and starts walking.

I’m not picking here but just wondering why if your digging anyway why not dig out far enough for a back foot catch ?

I suspect that if you try to optimize your setup just to hold beaver alive by the front foot, you can do it fairly reliably. Targeting front feet, even with drowning setups, just does not work well for higher visibility nuisance situations and it will end up with significantly more non targets.
Do what works for you, but I am not targeting front feet without a drowner. Not happening. Not saying no one should, clearly some experienced trappers do it successfully, but in my situation and for my goals, it isn’t the way to go.

Yep that's ole dale way of things how far up on the leg did you get him ?

Yesterday high on the front foot above the joint,this morning high above the joint on the back foot,not sure if he was coming back out into the water or not.should of had him in the front foot if he would of worked the set coming out of the water.

it's a pain try ing to dig into the bank it's so rocky you have to choose a location to put a set in that you can get enough mud/dirt to make a trap bed

If I can't drown them, I will not use foothold. If you get creative, you can set 330's in a variety ways in shallow water. Castor mounds, fake slides, and even baited sets. Dealing with live beaver is at the bottom of my priority list.

Got this info from Clint Locklear. 1.75 coil. Inside and outside lams on @16” of chain heavily swiveled. This is for catchin them on land

Why laminate a beaver trap of any size.?

Here is something different you can try.
use a suspended bait-catch them by both front feet.

Wouldn't the beaver have both front feet off the ground when reaching for the bait?r

He only did it for these land sets if I recall. It’s all in his book “beaver blitzkrieg”

Yes,they go up and down repeatedly with both front feet.
Pretty good set in certain locations.

Got another one this morning.

Haven't you listened to anything you've been told. You can't catch beavers like that!

You're trying to avoid wristing the front foot..

Do you mean twisting? All the twisting of a foot In a trap Is done above the jaws.
Lamination may help a bit with foot damage. But In my opinion your going to have less holding power with laminated jaws. Especially with a small tapered foot like a beaver or coon.

Have to damage the wrist first for a twist off to happen. Laminations help prevent that damage.

Nope iam to hard-headed to listen according to my wife.

No one ever said you can't. Matter of fact they are easier to catch by the front.

But catching ain't always holding. I'm paid to hold them.

2 more this morning.

Thats truth right there. And there is also the factor of avoiding non targets by setting deep for back foot.

Looks like he's doing ok to me. Dale piles them beavers up too.

By the way I've only got 2 traps set.thats 5 beaver in 9 checks no world record but I'll take it.

Most definitely ADC, all respect to Dale and absolutely no doubt that the methods and equipment can be tailored to front foot beaver catches. And I also agree that targeting front foot has some advantages when fur trapping for big numbers or even when someone is just trying to catch a few. What keeps me from doing that is the risk of non targets being much higher on a shallow trap. I cant have that with my nuisance work.

All of this is helpful because every once in a while I have a situation where I need to hold one in a front foot without deep water, and the risk of non targets is low. Now I know what equipment others have used to reliably do that. I need every trick I can get in my world of never ending educated beaver work.

Didn't get any pics this morning but I set 3 traps out yesterday and had 2 waiting on me this morning.

X2

Had 55lber this morning.

You're killing it!

The Midwest is suffering from drought and most of us have less than stellar conditions for drowning beaver. I know several people that are long chaining beaver and doing well. Keep up the good work!

Super interested in this. Been watching all of Dale's videos on the tube.

I ended up with 8.only had 3 traps out total for a few days.only had 2 out in 1 spot and got permission to trap another spot and only put 1 trap there for 5 days.