Beavers tangling on drowners

Been getting more nuisance calls lately. Mostly Rocky shorelines with brush, boulders, weeds...mb 750 on a wire. Last three beaver, hind foot caught, were waiting for me, tangled real close to where they stepped on the pan. I much prefer them four feet down, especially with cottagers around. Slide locks and 3/32 cable. Used a chain drowner on the first one, and even managed to tangle that. About forty lbs of rock in a feed bag, and I try to make sure the cable is tight as can be. Seems like they aren't jumping for the water, and as soon as they tangle once, it's all over. I know I have a lot more to tangle on than a muddy dam or slide, and conibears aren't useful most of these places.

Any ideas on avoiding tangles? Never had this issue fur trapping because I usually set two traps on a mudded house, and have two beaver next day. Easy peasy. They just don't wanna go down!

You need to shorten the distance of your slide lock to the trap.

I have caught many on a drowner, and I make my drowners at least twenty feet long as I never know how far I'll need to go to find both an anchor for the shore end and deep enough water to drown. Works slick when it doesn't tangle. Been striking out lately. They are usually two feet from where trap was set

Boco, slide locks is at the end of the six inch chain the trap comes with. Too long still?

I have mine 2 links from the trap.But 6 inches doesn't seem long enough to cause tangling.What are they tangling on?Brush?

Brush mostly, but one got kind of wedged into a couple rocks, and then into some alder. Always some grass in there somewhere. The most recent one today was an old beaver chew that stuck up maybe four inches. I set the trap beside it to guide it's foot. Was smooth and tapered. Still managed to kink the cable around it. What a mess lol

He is still there as I only had a work boat today, not my trapping boat. Just dispatched the beaver and had to go. I'll get him in the am and maybe take a picture.

You gotta clear all that stuff away,or set a more open spot.
1 stick sticking up and they will tangle and not go down.

Ya. I figured there wasn't much more to it than that. Good ol Georgian bay. Total clutter. Boulders, sticks and brush everywhere. I carry a small cordless rock drill now because sometimes those perfect spots have no shore anchor for fifty feet!

Easy when fur trapping. But nuisance..here is a shoreline. Catch all the beaver. Lol

Love it!

Smelling any smoke up there Boco?

Hey Hutchy, have you tried drowning rods? They seem to work better for avoiding entanglement problems.

Most of my drown sets are in soft bottom ponds and sloughs. Never have a problem with tangles. Usually use 1/2 of a masonry block on the end of a 3/32 cable and then drive a stick thru the hole in the block and into the mud bottom. I have one crossover where the bottom is harder and rocky. It’s too deep to drive a stick at the end of the cable. I have had 2 beaver tangle at this location and both were waiting for me near the shore line when I arrived. Both were able to pull the dead man a little towards the shore line. Ironically this location is the deepest spot I set and I would have never guessed I’d have this problem. Are they dragging your deadman towards the shore?

Yea Hutchy,Smoke in town last couple days.
There is a bunch of fires burning in the far north west of Attawapiskat,they don't bother to fight those fires,too remote,just let them burn out.

They might move it a few inches to a foot since a sideways pull on a tight rope has so much power. The rock in the feedbag always hangs up on a rock or obstruction fast. because shorelines are so varied I'd need a twenty foot long rod. Would likely work good, but really cumbersome. If still need the anchor too for the deep end. No mud

Ya, didn't think there was an easy answer. Just the area I guess. Too much darn rock!

Those fires up there end up getting like, thousands of hectares in size don't they?

Your biggest problem causing your troubles is the bag of rocks your using on the deep water weight is moving enough to cause slack in the cable, IMHO. I've always had some degree of problem when using a bag on the deep end. Fourty lbs of dead weight under water is easy to move, especially if the lake bottom is slick or rocky. Try pushing a stake through the bag, even if you can only get it in a little, it will keep the bag from moving when the beav is first caught, when he is the strongest and fresh, then it's a one way ticket!.

Bring a long handled tater rake and clear the trap/drowner location.

I hated trapping beaver in the rocks(Temagami area)

I appreciate all the suggestions. They make a lot of sense.

Keep in mind though that in the vast majority of locations, I have solid bedrock. Like, zero dirt of any kind. Fur trapping means I can choose my locations easily and pick places like swamps, dams, etc,...places where there is mud and trapping is easy. With nuisance work, beaver like to chew down trees, build houses, etc near boat docks and landings. And these cottages are always built on the most picturesque areas. Flat bedrock. haha. I have a few traps out now. Ill post some pics of my setups and see what you guys think from there. Maybe I am missing something, or ways exist I am unfamiliar with. For now I am going to add a lot more rock to the bag, and make sure that drown cable is tight tight when set.

this cottage is from google, but is about three miles from me right now, and generally the type of issue I have. Normally, a female with kits will start taking over the dock, or in early summer will start brushing in the dock under a shore landing or crib and try making a house right there. Bring mud in from hundreds of yards away. Shooting them works, but with so much water and lord knows where their main lodge is, I can sit for several evenings and kill one...if it is a female with kits, I can usually take care of the kits, then a trap takes care of one parent, and the other I either get, or buggers off and doesnt return.

I use large loops on my cable drowners, so the stop is about 18" from the bag. And I wire the end of the cable down real far on the bag so it gets them even closer to bottom if the depth is not perfect.

This one started as a dock with about five feet of water under it. They built it up till the dock was amost solid with the rock bottom below it.

Thanks one was easy. Just sold them a new beaver proof dock. Lol. They buzz sawed through all the dock joists. Was nothing left to save.

If I just ha to kill the bevavers, id set three footholds on drowners on top of the dock, in the mud on top. Lots of water all around, but still a good chance of a snag. A coni would be tough as there is little to do to fence them or keep them from coming different directions. Id use a tiny bit of bob wilsons on each set, and likely put a set with pure castor on shore at a natural pinch point like right behind the dock, with a coni. First night, check right away in the morning and remove critters, let it sit with the bob wilsons for a bit, then in a day or so change scents. If there were no little ones, that usually cleans them out.



This assumes I cant get into the dock to set inside the dock which is often best, but can lead to you catching one, and them avoiding the area and becoming hard to catch if they see a dead relative in there. Outside, they dont seem to spook as bad after seeing a dead one.

Anyone set it different?