# beaver (pic)



## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

caught my first beaver today, i'm pretty excited about it. i caught it in a #3 victor longspring set at the base of a slide that i made. had him solid on the back foot. i had another trap set about 20 feet away at a different slide and that one was displaced with a beaver toe in it. that's the second time i've had a beaver pull out at this location. i was only goin in there today to change the #3's for some #4 bridgers i just picked up. great day in my book.


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

Way to go on the catch congrats!! Just a tip to help out a fellow wyoming boy though. When setting footholds at the bottom of slides, push a stick about the circumfrence of a broom stick into the mud so that it sticks out about three inches from the top of the water. Offset your trap about two inches from center of slide inbetween the stick and the bank. This will cause the beaver to put its front feet down and try to walk over the stick. You will miss ten times less beaver this way and catch them by the front foot which makes drowning easier. Please keep me infromed on how it goes. Idont get to do much trapping anymore cause of chasing waterfowl do I love to hear about it. Good luck


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## THEfishguts (Mar 5, 2009)

look at the long fur on him! congrats thats a dandy.


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

goose,

thanks for the tip. i'll give that a shot tommorow when i go check again. i wanted to go today with my excitement but i needed to get him skinned out. i severely underestimated how long it would take me to flesh the skin, but man is it a good lookin pelt.


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## Sask hunter (Sep 11, 2008)

moneyshot27 said:


> goose,
> 
> thanks for the tip. i'll give that a shot tommorow when i go check again. i wanted to go today with my excitement but i needed to get him skinned out. i severely underestimated how long it would take me to flesh the skin, but man is it a good lookin pelt.


They take a very long time to flesh. Congrats on the catch :beer:


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## Trapper62 (Mar 3, 2003)

Yep, goose hit it right on the head. Those #3's are actually a little to small to hold a beaver by the back foot, target the front. The front foot is also a good target if your water is shallow and you use a short chain setup. If you want to target the rear foot set up just like goose explained but set your trap behind the stick on the deep water side and offset to one side. I am 5'10" and for set distance I use the distance from elbow to fingertips as a set back from the stick.

When a beaver comes ashore it will swim until its chest touches gound, than it will settle its feet down and walk out. Thus the reason for the stick, the only differnce on my end is that I place the stick so that the end the beaver touches is just below the water surface. When above the water level I have had beaver avoid it or go around it!

If you use drowning "cable" try a Z-Lock rather than the L-locks, you will get many more catches out of your cable before it gets to twisted up to use.

Just my two cents.

Good luck and congrates on the catch.


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

i must be doin something right. here's the one i picked up today!


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## maanjus11 (Nov 17, 2006)

looks like you caught a couple s/m. Now you gotta get your sights on a blanket!

I'm looking forward to some spring trapping as well. Are you using castor?


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

i've traded out most of my #3's for #4's. i've only got two of the #3's out right now, and i'm aiming for front foot with them. the #4's i'm targeting back foot.

i definately enjoy this thread and all of you guys have been extremely helpful. every tip or suggestion i see i'm trying. i don't have enough traps to try every method yet but hopefully i'll get around to it. i haven't tried body grips yet but i'm thinkin i might buy a 330 just to try it out.

i just hope it doesn't warm up too quick. there's still pretty good ice at the ponds i'm trapping and to my eyes the two beaver i've caught have good fur on em. sure is alot of work. but very worth it. so far i'm a better trapper than i am a hunter, and i am fine with that


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

maanjus,

i don't use any castor yet. i've got some but i haven't used it. the only sets i've made have been blind on slides. i also set one trap in an underwater channel on one side of the tributary. it wasn't there when i started setting traps and it leads to a slide so i was pretty sure that it was a fairly traveled beaver path. i just set that one today so i'll see if my intuition has paid off.


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## maanjus11 (Nov 17, 2006)

I enjoy using 330's. You'll find you can trap a pond a heck of a lot quicker than foot holds. They are heavier and require more work, but I think they are worth it. I used to use foot holds, but now only use connibears.

Get some castor and make castor mounds. If you ever watch a beaver work your set, you'll see that smell makes them crazy and will barrel into your set. Poplar sticks work great for bait as well.

Good luck.


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## trapperbo (Mar 18, 2009)

thats a nice beaver you got there!!


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## ND trapper (Nov 14, 2006)

Good job on the Beaver!


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

here's a pic of the pelt after i fleshed it. it's the first time i've fleshed something this fatty and i'm not set up well for it. my workspace consists of the tailgate of my truck, an old semi dull knife (fleshing knife) and a 2x6 that i've rounded the edges on. you can see in the pic that my knife got away from me right above the left leg hole. it's a learning proccess!


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## moneyshot27 (Jan 13, 2009)

another one! this one's about 30 lbs i think. the drowning rig i made worked perfectly and i'm pretty proud of myself. man, i love this! you can see the slide just to the right of the beaver.










here's that beaver and a muskrat i caught earlier in the day. i got a skunk too, but he sprayed before i got him so i dropped him in the creek for a while.


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## take EM' close (Oct 21, 2004)

Looks like they're startin to come out and get somethin to eat! Nice job man looks like you really hittin it well. I'm back so let me know if you want some company this week!


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## Trapping God (Apr 14, 2009)

Another good way to easily catch beaver is to use a castor mound,an Mb 750 Beaver trap, and a drowing rod. Just stick the rod down in some deep water on the dam, and attach the Trap. Put it right under the castor mound and narrow down the way to the trap with small sticks. apply castor to the mound, and splash it with some water and you are good to go!! ( by the way make sure to stake down the rod)


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