I am nuisance beaver trapping. I went in to a site and made several big dam breaks, I was trying to get the water off some trees. I set 6 foot holds and left. The next morning, I headed in and walked through 6 foot cypress. I was pushing the saplings out of my way and easing on. We had a light rain and water was raining down from the branches when something wrapped around my neck. I knew it was a snake just didn’t know what flavor, Luckly it was a green snake. Well now that I was wide awake my mind was elsewhere. When I got to the first trap the place was torn up. My traps were on 5 ft chains and the brush was flatend beyond the 5 ft mark. The trap was on the ground with a beaver part in it. I went on and had several empty traps and then another tore up spot with a trap and a beaver part in it. I decided to head out and start over to see what I missed walking in, since I was being preoccupied with the reptile. On the way out I saw a new path through some thick brush and walked down it. About 20 yards away my I found my beaver, both half eaten. A beaver bear thief. I had caught the mating pair, that was good
Dang, I wish I had a camera on it.
I reset my traps and left. The next morning, I checked the cache, and one beaver was gone and the other had been eaten on some more. As I went down the line checking the traps I heard the familiar jaw snapping. I reckon the knot head went looking for another fresh beaver and got caught. I ended up on the far side of him trying to see how big he really was, and he appeared to be in the 300 lb range. He was the biggest bear I have trapped so far. I had to get by him again, he was bigger than I wanted to mess with, so I was going to get the biologist and let him dart the sucker. It’s hard to believe but I think I scared him as much as he was scaring me. He got to pulling hard and popped out. He took off through the thick brush in the direction of my truck. Well, I had a 22 and a tater rake. I was going to pull the traps the next day, so I left the morning’s catch, beaver in his cache spot, and went to pull my traps. Just my luck I caught a two-year-old, so instead of pulling I reset and then had to walk by the bait pile, several more times. He is now eating one to two beaver a day, but he is staying out of my traps. I aint caught anymore beaver in that spot for several days now, so I hope to pull and blow the dam tomorrow.
More fun than a paper cut.
VS

Jeez I'd Say!!! Wow

Well, you sure ain't bored!

That will make the walk in a little exciting. Might want to pack a bigger side piece.

That snake around my neck would've ranked higher on the oh crap scale than the pinched bear.

Is there some reason you couldn't shoot the bear?

Ha! Good story, thanks for sharing!

No reason to. It cannot be utilized if it’s a nuisance kill. I rather wait. Our bear seasons are in Nov and Dec.

That will get your blood going.

Dang David, you had quite the day to remember. I know the feeling walking in on a site where bears have been stealing my beavers. It makes a person a bit edgy not knowing if it may be a sow with cubs. A 22 pistol and tater rake are light weapons to do combat with a bear.