# Beaver trapping



## Walleye fisher2

Has anyone ever done beaver trapping before? Any tips on how it is done


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## Fallguy

There is a trapping forum. You might get better results if you post your question in there. Good luck!


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## 280IM

I have trapped a lot of them what can I help you with Beaver trapping is a lot like work 280


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## Walleye fisher2

Do I put any bait on the trap. or do i just set it and leave it. Is it better to do land or water traping?


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## fox412

I bait them with margaritas


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## Trapper62

As 280 said, beaver trapping is a lot of work. Heavy equipment to carry in and heavy animals to carry out, unless you skin on the spot, but my family eats the meat so I carry them out whole.

Depends on what type of trapping you are planning on doing. I don't trap through the ice any more. Went through once and I don't swim, not a good feeling! My beaver trapping is open water, fall and spring, mainly spring. I start as soon as there is about 15-20 feet of open water at the edges.

Are you using conibear or footholds? In the spring my main set is a scent mound set and castor mound sets, guarded with either a #5 Bridger coil spring on a drowning cable or a 330 conibear.

Dam cross overs are good both above and below the dam, as are crawl outs using 330's. Make sure to follow the guidelines on partially submerged 330's. Channel sets are good set right on the bottom with a dive stick at the surfac.

I have seen guys use peeled popular on the trigger wires, and heard of guys using white pvc also, but have never used either.

More specific questions would be easier to answer? As with anything it is easier to show than to explain!

This is my largest to date - 70 pounds!









60 pound beaver these guys dammed up a road into some hay meadows.









A freind that trapped out of my place a couples years back.









Same friend with beaver in a 330 at a scent mound. This gives you a little idea about when we start spring trapping.









A two day catch









*Castor Mound Set *(This was taken from http://www.trapperman.com
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Castor mounds are used by beavers to mark their territory. Beavers are very territorial and will keep these mounds as sentinals telling all passing beavers that this area is inhabited and to stay out. Beavers will dive to the bottom and bring up water soaked leaves, mud and debris and place it on the bank, usually within two feet of the shoreline. It then deposits a secretion from its castors on this pile of debris to mark the mound. These castor mounds come in different sizes depending on how long the beavers have been using the mound.

Castor mound - x marks approach being used to the mound 









Castor mounds should not be confused with scent mounds. What I call scent mounds are what look like miniature castor mounds, but usually there are a number of them side by side. These are markers made by the beavers in the late winter or early spring to attract mates. You don't want to set these like castor mounds because the beavers don't react to them like they do to the territorial markers.

This is shows what scent mounds look like 









When the beaver makes a castor mound, or applies more debris to a castor mound, it dives to the bottom, gathers the material for the mound, holds the material in both front paws against its chest and goes to the castor mound. When the beaver's chin or chest makes contact with the approachway, it will put its rear feet down and make a powerful lunge to get the rest of its body into shallower water. It then puts its tail on the bottom for stability and on its hind feet it waddles up the bank to deposit the debris on the mound. The key here is that it doesn't usually use its front feet to help it climb up the bank. The trap should be set for the back foot and be positioned where the beaver's hind foot will make contact on its approach.

Drawing of castor mound on steep approach 









A trap bed needs to be made for the trap. Since the beaver will put its tail down and because the beaver will contact the bank with its body before putting down its back feet, the trap should be in a trap bed that is made as a depression in the bottom. The trap should actually be in a hole so that the beaver needs to step down into the hole. This will help avoid empty fired traps.

Drawing of trap in the trap bed and connected to a drowning rig 









The distance from the bank to where the trap is bedded is dependent upon the contour of the bank. If it's a steep contoured bank, the trap will be set deep, but not far out from the bank. In the event of a shallow approach, the trap will be in shallower water, but farther from the bank. This trap placement is something that comes easier with experience. A rule of thumb is to measure from where you expect the beaver to make contact with the bank, using the distance from your hand to your elbow to the trap. This distance will be more down than out in a steep bank situation, and the opposite in a shallow bank situation.

Shallow approach to a castor mound 









Because the beaver is wide and its feet are offset from the center of its body, the trap needs to be set to one side or the other of the approach to the castor mound.

Front view of castor mound set 









Because the hind foot of the beaver is very large, the larger seven and a half inch jaw spread traps, such as the #5, get a better hold on that large foot. Check your laws though, because there are some states where the larger traps are not legal to set. Use the largest foothold trap that is legal in your area.

Use a castor base lure on the mound and the beaver will come to the mound to cover up the beaver castor odor you placed on the mound, and replace it with his own castor smell to let the suspected intruder know this is his territory and to stay out.

Animals normally used for:

Beaver - This set is very effective in the fall through spring. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
*Sorry this got so long!*


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## 280IM

Trapper has pretty much said it all What sate are you in? I have all the trapper ***. officers and they can help put you in touch with someone in your area Also a copy of the Trapper and Predator Call would be help full also and book by Dobbins is very good belive me Old Charly could catch em 280


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## Chris Schulz

whats wrong with alittle beaver? :lol:


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## Trapper62

Nothing wrong with little beaver, don't quite get the question?


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## Walleye fisher

I want to trap on the red river and also in beaver lake.


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## Brad.T

Trapper 62
Excuse chris you know how those waterfowler/s.q.w.a.t guys are if it dosen't have featers and quack they can't take it seriously :eyeroll:


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## Trapper62

Okay, gotcha!

The red has good numbers of beaver in it. But I would assume that most of them are living in back dens and not in lodges. Set up your set like shown above. I would mainly use castor and scent mound sets. Set you lake up like this also but set up on the upwind side of the lodge(s). This will carry your lures scent out over the water allowing the beaver to detenct it easier and from a greater distance.


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## 280IM

I understand the recoil form a 3.5 mag has caused brain damage in some waterfoul hunters if they do a lot of shooting 280


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## Brad.T

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL 
I hear that


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## Walleye fisher

Hey Trapper62 new subjuect have you ever tried fishing. Of course you have. Ever fished on Ashtabula Lake? :stirpot:


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## Trapper62

Years ago, back in the mid 80's. Caught some monster bullhead at that time. Never been back though, how is the fishing there now-a-days?


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## Walleye fisher

Well fishing has been bad lately this year been out three times and never cought a thing.


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## Walleye fisher

Tapper62 have you ever tried to trap coyotes. I've tried once and somthing snap my trap? I was told that the only way to do coyotes is you have to smoke your traps before going out. True or false?


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## Chris Schulz

sorry, just trying to make a funny! ive never trapped before but would love to when i get older and have more money those beavers are massive! :beer:


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## fishunt

what are u going to do with beaver meats? used bait ? for coyete or other? or we can eat beaver meats? I never caught beaver before but I caught many Muskrats raccoon , fox in NY and now I am moving in ND I have not been trapping and this year I will try out


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## fishunt

I have see two beavers with I was fishing for walleye two weeks ago one is near by ramp of tailrace and more down to river other beaver ( I caught 19 3/4 inches walleye )


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## Brad.T

Nice work!


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## Trapper62

I have never heard of smoking them? So I can't really reply to that! I trap some but mainly for coyotes I prefer snaring them. Less time involved, less money involved and I feel much more effective. You can set up and reset snares much quicker than traps, less maintenance, etc.

My typical prairie set up for coyote

You can see the road kill that was used for bait and a coyote laying across the upper left vehicle track. There are vehicle track perpendicular to the ones that you see forming an X with the bait in the middle of the X. Set your snares about 75 feet back from the bait. The coyotes will hunt the edge of the slough and follow the path of least resistance to the bait, in this case the vehicle track. This site had 8 snares, one in each track.









Here is a one week catch using snares.









We eat the hide quarters of the beaver and the rest is used for bait piles for snaring. I usually poor water over the carcasses so they freeze down. This helps keep the coyotes from dragging them off to eat.


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## Walleye fisher

What is the difference between snaring and trapping are they not the same thing? If not what is a snare? I think of only tree snares but you have them in the open field how did you set them up?


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## 280IM

trapper I sent you a email never heard back 280


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## weasle_trapper

Walleye fisher said:


> Tapper62 have you ever tried to trap coyotes. I've tried once and somthing snap my trap? I was told that the only way to do coyotes is you have to smoke your traps before going out. True or false?





> You dont have to smoke your traps. Just boil and wax them and always use rubber gloves when you handel them.


 :beer: weasle_trapper


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## Springer

Walleye Fisher Wrote,



> If not what is a snare?


A snare is basically a piece of braided cable like 5/32" with a loop on the end. You would set it up on a trail and when an animal walks through it, it tightens up on the animals neck and they are not able to get out of it.

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## Trapper62

280 - Did you get my email, apologies for the late reply!

Springer pretty much answered the snare question, he shows a snare with a cam loc, wammy and a swivel on the anchoring end. There are too manytypes of snares and snare material, variety of locks, anchoring systems, etc. to describe in general!


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## Springer

Trapper 62 wrote:



> You can see the road kill that was used for bait and a coyote laying across the upper left vehicle track.


Do you have to get permission to use roadkill?

What state are you in?


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## Trapper62

I live in North Dakota and yes you need a permit to possess a road kill big game animal.

Our local warden and I know each other quite well as does out local law enforcement. If I am picking one up and will not be traveling far with it I just notify them that I have picked it up.

If I am transporting during deer season or more than 20 miles from my home than they request that I get a permit to possess it.


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## kiyotekilla

I have always used a rifle or shotgun for coyotes, can anyone tell me where I can buy some snares??? snaring sounds pretty effective and just might be alot of fun  Thanks...


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## take EM' close

Any beaver we catch we use as bait for bobcats. We make a huge bait set....usually just nail it up or wire it up on a big tree (prefereably one that is used at a scratching post or tree) and then put a trap just below the bait....seems to work AWESOME! :sniper:

We don't trap for beaver that much anymore....too much of a hassle to skin! :lol:


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## Trapper62

kiyotekilla,

Go to our association website http://www.ndfhta.com and check out the links page, there are some links to other sites as well as a few dealer links.

I use 7/32" cable and amberg locks. Just look for the amberg snares, mine are usually about 7' in length.

Good Luck

Are you from ND, if so, check out the meetings and rendezvous page, we have one coming up in August and I believe there is a snaring demo scheduled for the afternoon!


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## trapper

you said that you set up snares around the carcasses how are the snares set up are they leg holds or neck holds how do you do that.


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