Finally.. beaver property

Well... finally got on to some property with beaver... since tomorrow is last day for everything except coyote, beaver, and otter, I figured I would try my hand at beaver.. it's a shallow creek...darn near every tree for a few achers along this creek is chewed... found 2 mounds on the bank.... there is a slide about every 40ft I seams like....and the dam is on this property too... I don't have beaver specific stuff persay except I do have a 330. I do have a hand full of Duke #4 offset jaw 4 coil traps...figure make some downers and target front foot at these slides.... might do a break in the dam and put one there.. any advice for a beaver noob with no lure and shooting for blind set only... I got a month to figure it out... I only want 4... for wall hangers..

Find a crossover, or well used slide and blind set with your footholds. If you get one, well now you have lure. Good luck. Blend that 330 under a log also where the water narrows. Stake well!

Make sure your weight if you use them on your drowners is plenty heavy. With front foot catches they have both back feet and the tail to propel them. It's hard to believe sometimes how powerful they are.

Good job getting permission, sometimes that can be the hardest part of trapping.

Please share some pics of your first beavers when you catch them.

Good luck!

Some peeled sticks and cinnamon would work for bait if nothing else was to be had. Blind sets otherwise are very productive.
Good luck

15#-20# u think would be good enough??
It was easy to get permission for this spot bc I do business with them... but yea... u usually got to ask about 30-40 people before u get a yes or maybe. To many others have ruined it around here... mostly goose hunters and guys rutting up the fields bc they don't want to drag a deer a couple hundred yards...

Lowes has fiberglass rebar 1/2" and 3/8".. what one to get? What yall use for the end to stake down?

30 lbs sounds about right. I have sand bags that i fill on site with gravel or rocks. Have even used cement cinder blocks.

I would use a metal stake to secure slide wire.

If I use weights, I always figure fifty pounds, maybe overkill, but it depends on the type of weight and the type of bottom. I've seen blanket and super blanket beaver pull fifty pounds worth of window weights up on the bank with a smooth solid bottom. That is why I won't use window weights, they will roll on a smooth bottom. I prefer a stake on the drowning end if you can drive it the bottom, I use wood ones cut on site, no need to pack anything in.

Rather than making a break in the dam, find a spillway on the dam, there is always at least one, usually two or three, and set your trap there. I will usually set every spillway, Every time the beaver cross the dam they will cross at a spillway, great blind set.

If legal in your area I would set snares on all the run. They are cheap easy and work very well for me. We only have 4 beaver size foot holds and 1 330. Only trap them now and then when that are problems for friends. But for the cost of a single trap you can set 20 snares.

I will take some pictures inorder to help yall help me determine the best options for my area... It is a soft mud bottom for about 1 ft then clay below that...the dam is right under a bridge going over the creek..

Well.. I figured out how to make a grown man cry..... forget to flip the safety on a conibear and have a beaver set it off, move the trap.... very disappointed in myself for forgetting something so simple.

We've all left the safeties on at least once. Lesson learned. Now it's second nature for me. I also police the area before I leave. Easy to leave a hammer, setters etc.... laying there.

Have left safeties on twice that i can remember. As Turtledale stated do a quick search around. Some things i have almost forgot are a glove, stake, wirecutters, bottle of lure, ...

I usually run them trigger down for that purpose.. js incase I forget.. this time I had to run it trigger up and forgot... it's not the first time I do it, but the fact I missed a beaver over it bc I was rushing the other day to set it out and get home b4 kids go to school is what got me... rushing usually leads to mistakes.... hopefully I didn't educate this beaver on conibears.. time will tell... I've haven't left tools out.. think that's from working aircraft for 14 years... always check my tools b4 moving on... there is a place for tools and I know when something is missing b4 moving on.

Downers are a great way to target front feet, so your plan for using #4 offset jaw traps at slides is on point.

Setting a trap in a break in the dam is a good idea, too. You could consider creating a pocket to place the trap, so the beaver has to step on the pan to get through the break.

For a blind set, try to make sure your trap is bedded well and is stable. Use the surrounding environment to guide the beaver's foot into the trap.

Couldn’t find my safety when I got home one day last fall. Checked the pics I took of my sets……..

There it is!
Or I pull it off but leave the other spring arm safeties on….lol

I took the removable one off, but forgot the ones on the springs.

make a habit of when you put the safety setter on the trap, you take the spring safeties off

Got some 1/2" rebar to make drowners.. now gota weld everything up and make locks tonight.. we shall see this week what we get.

Made me some beaver rods.. got ahold of some stainless 1" tube with 1/8th inch wall for the lock..

Those look great!

wws

Those look really nice. You'll feel even better pulling up a nice one on something you made. My welding skills are a little lackluster compared to yours. Nice job

DD , nice job. I do my safeties like Sniper, or try to.

Here is the dam I needa set and ima be setting on some slides anolg the bank for a few hundred yards.

How many you dealing with? Leave the dam alone for awhile (or, set crossovers only), and find out where they really are.

3 or 4 based on what the property owner and another trapper in the area told me. There are slides, trails, and very large holes going in the banks.. like sockerball size holes...

Should catch a few quick there. Nice spot

Well we had a rain the other day.. so I figured it would help me find the slides and paths these beaver are taking... well looking at the tracks it looks like I'm currently only dealing with one beaver.. only found one set of tracks along the pond side of the dam where its comingfor an inspection... found two caster mounds, but when I got down on all 4, I couldn't smell anything other than the grass and mud.. should I be able to smell that caster smell if I get my nose close to it?...O... I did fi d an otter toilet, but it looks old.. nothing fresh..

DD, bottom photo, two spots I would set, right side in that narrow ditch. Left side between grass clump and dam.

Unless someone already trapped there I would bet there's more than one beaver. Set it up. A few days and you'll know

set what ever you have on it and you will know within a few days if you have gotten them all. After it slows down pop a hole in the dam and set a trap deep on the dam break. I normally set slightly offset about 3ft out away from the break

I got 6 drowners out lastnight and going run some snares this afternoon. made some snare supports last night.. some 2 ft and some 4 ft..

Now it's on..had an empty trap at the bottom of a drowner rod that was set with a caster mounds with anis oil as a lure...toe catch?????? I did something wrong

Make sure your trap is bedded well and offset for the beavers approach.
Depth and distance back from the bank is something that takes a little while to learn. Also pan tension for a deep grab on the foot.
Toe catches and misses happen to us all but can brought to a minimum.
Keep at it, your learning and doing good.

Ok... so I re-did some of these sets. I did it the way Dale Billingsly shows it.. since it's steep banks I cut a shelf and did a caster mound and then made a pool at water level with a Mudd berm around the trap area... I turned the trap to the side and offset it to where the front edge of the loose jaw is even with the caster mound and the trap pan is on the down stream side.... there was fresh tracks within inches of my pan on two other sets other than the one that got tripped.. hopefully we will see in the morning if this method will help with missed catches.. what yall think about large pans for beaver?? Think it's worth the extra effort??

Tighten the pans like Dale suggested, a beaver is heavy, you want him pushing down on that pan.

Yup... did that too... don't have a scale, my 4 pound hammer moves the pan slow then sets it off... so I gota be close to 4-5 pounds... ish

Well got some Bridger #3 dogless.... was looking at the 650, but this #3had a taller jaw...and was way cheaper...let's see what these can do..

I don't like big pans for beaver, I want their whole foot in the trap. I've had too many toe catches to convince me otherwise.

BTW DD, you got any otters out your way yet? Just curious how far west they've made it.

It's the stock pan on them Bridger #3 and #4's.. so not worth the big pans.??. should I cut them down then?

Yes.. they have them here... they are not as plentiful as back down south Louisiana where I grew up, but they are here.

Ever since that miss... everything went stale... about how long they usually hold up b4 coming back in the area? 5-7 day yall think??

Well... finally connected... thought I was gonna have to call a priest to get this creature out off my beaver trap... had the most demonic looking coon on the end of that drowner rod... idk how he managed to get front foot caught on a trap that bedded about 6" deep of water w/a caster mound... the cartilage and part of the skull on the nose was showing, patches of fur missing.. no lips..... crazy looking thing. I normally eat coon, but I think ima let the coyotes and opossums have this one...