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Post by sqlhawkn on Mar 22, 2008 20:11:57 GMT -5
Went to a pond today for my first attempt at beaver. Do they usually chew up pine trees?
Its probably a 2 - 2.5 acre pond. There was no lodge or dam anywhere but the pine trees had been worked on for the past couple of weeks. There is another pond about 100 yards away that doesn't have any beaver sign. There are 2 places where 2 small ditches drain into the pond that are about 3 feet wide. I walked the pond dam and didn't see any crossovers...just where the beaver had chewed on some pines. I found a place beside a pier that he is using and set a snare at that location. In a little group of pines there were several places he was using and set a snare. Where one of the ditches drain into the pond there was an 8' wide channel running to the pond and about 3' deep. Set another snare in the middle of the channel and put up blocking. I also didn't see any castor mounds.
How often should I check the snares?
Any suggestions or what else would you do? 3 snares total. Should I have set more?
Thanks,
Matt
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Post by 7oaksfarm on Mar 22, 2008 20:30:26 GMT -5
Matt
A snare must be checked daily.
The beaver will just swim around stuck in the snare or if he can get on land he will do that too
He will continue to try and get out of the snare until you show up and dispatch him.
The longer he has until you check, the more time the cable has to fray, then he gets away.
My first snared beaver nearly frayed through the cable, because I wasn't checking until afternoon, after I got off work.
After that, I started checking about 430 - 5 am and never had another frayed cable.
Then, they are re-usable.
Make your own castor mound, just like Claudie showed us.
Slick it up good.
If your limited on 330's (which is best in the channel) guard the mound with a big foothold on a drowning rod/cable/wire/chain
The natives will think a new beaver is in the hood and will NOT BE HAPPY.
Go to Trapperman.com and click on Basic Sets, then Castor Mound, for the data regarding trap placement with regards to water depth.
They probably use that 8' channel
Feel with a stick, along the bottom of the channel, and there will probably be a mini / deeper channel in the 8 footer
Put a 330 on the bottom and guide with HORIZONTAL brush like Claudie showed us.
Nice to meet you at the Fling
Take care and hope to see some pics of your catch
John
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Post by TrapperTod on Mar 22, 2008 21:06:38 GMT -5
Hey Matt, just do what Claudie showe us, it works. nailed my first beaver this week with a castor mound and some backbreaker. I saw some pine trees today where I set some more traps and they were freshly knawed. As far as cator mounds go, sometimes they are not easy to find. I walked by one several times today making sets before I ever noticed it was there. I have not set any snares yet, but I have some. I am still playing with my new 330's. those traps are a beaver killing machine.
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Post by hamman on Mar 22, 2008 21:52:57 GMT -5
one more suggestion. Since I didn't see claudies demo( too busy getting tips from prune on skinnin) If you use snares on a man made castor mound really mound it up good with debris from the pond bottom and make sure that the only way that beaver can crawl out of the water and check it is exactly where that snare is. Fence him into it, beavers aint like coyotes, you can fence them in with dry limbs stuck in the mud about 2-3 inches apart until it is well protected. I also like to lay 2 big logs on the edge of the pond and leave a 12 inch opening between them for the snare. Just make sure that they are big enough to discoruage the beaver from trying to crawl over them. This also helps eliminate the problem with beavers just coming in like a train sideways and tearing up you snare setup before he gets a chance to go through it. Let me tell you, THEY HATE COMPETITION. If they were a football team they would rarely loose.
Like 7oaks said, slick em up a path from the water to the mound and you should catch him in the next day or so.
I had a simular pond just like that, eating pines and all. I caught one on a faint trail that led to the pond below the dam a few hundered feet. He had to go under barbwire and there was a small patch of beaver hair on it. Caught the female at the faint trail with a snare and the male with a snare at the castor mound that I made. tickled that old man to death. He had already paid someone to come in twice to catch em and no one had caught one at all. Caught the pair the first night and he hasn't seen one since.
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Post by sqlhawkn on Mar 23, 2008 15:08:55 GMT -5
Well I went this morning to check my snares and didn't have anything. While I was walking through the brush to check my last set....I heard something beside me.......and there he went off into the pond. Beaver had been sitting about 20' away working on a pine limb at the edge of the pond. Wasn't no little one either. I'm sure I will have better luck tomorrow.
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Post by TrapperTod on Mar 23, 2008 21:00:08 GMT -5
Well I went this morning to check my snares and didn't have anything. While I was walking through the brush to check my last set....I heard something beside me.......and there he went off into the pond. Beaver had been sitting about 20' away working on a pine limb at the edge of the pond. Wasn't no little one either. I'm sure I will have better luck tomorrow. That is where TrapperTod pulls his .45 from it's holster.... well maybe not, catching them things is more fun LOL!!! |
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Post by northof50 on Mar 24, 2008 12:53:07 GMT -5
At the castor mpund set where the leg hold is place a sharp thumb size stick 3 inches below the water to poke him in the chest, and his front feet will start to be moved, they are agressive when the smell another beaver, but do most of the moving with their back feet and tail. In Canada in the boreal forest a lot of beaver are left with only pine and spruce once all the decidous trees are gone. These boys can get big..... Once water temps get to 50 f they switch over to cat-tail and other aquatic plants, and only ring trees to visually mark territory. Try a old telephone wire on that submerged 330 on the springs at the trap, then from shore, use a 9 volt battery and carbulb bulb as a tester-----lights off trap sprung, then you get your feet wet.
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Post by 7oaksfarm on Mar 24, 2008 14:31:16 GMT -5
Also
on the home made mound, it can sometimes help to make the mound about 3' back from the shore and shovel a mini bay about 12" wide and 1-2 ft towards the mound
it does what hamman's guide sticks do
and gives a place for the snare or 330
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Post by sqlhawkn on Mar 24, 2008 17:53:06 GMT -5
Checked my sets and again nothing. On the way to my last set I was looking for the beaver where I ran up on him before. He wasn't there but was about 20' closer than where he was yesterday. I told the land owner to bring his rifle just in case we ran up on the beaver again. We were only 10' away when I saw him start to dive off into the pond. That was just enough time to pull the trigger. The beaver got "the good news" but from a .22 rifle. This was the 1st beaver that I have ever picked up and I have no doubt the weight will be around 40 lbs easy. A REAL HOSS. I have picked up other beavers but that was back before I got married and they weighed a LOT more!!! LOL Will check them again tomorrow.
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Post by TrapperTod on Mar 24, 2008 18:02:59 GMT -5
Well at least you got him, a 22 hole is not that bad, if you were going to try to put him up. I have snares and sets on a place now, with no action. Going to have to get the boat and go closer to the lodge.
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Post by rye on Mar 24, 2008 18:06:49 GMT -5
well.. one down... not bad for snap shooting.
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Post by sqlhawkn on Mar 24, 2008 18:11:01 GMT -5
She weighed 48 pounds!
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Post by TrapperTod on Mar 24, 2008 18:26:46 GMT -5
That one was a "TOAD" as g3 would say!!! |
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Post by danieledinger on Mar 26, 2008 17:56:07 GMT -5
I'm no expert snareman...I much prefer 330s because I like the 3 day check and dead beavers in the morning.
That said...this is just my opinion and I'm sure there's others that know better.
I guide the crap out of beaver with 330s. Tons of guiding, and tons of camo.
With snares....pick the obvious easy path to the mound, and maybe add a little guiding. They don't seem to be afraid of a snare.
Granted, I could care less about catching every last beaver...in fact, I want some for next year.
I do well with long snares and extension cables. 5' snare, and 5' ext cable usually. They can get in the water....they can relax on land. Fur damage isn't bad (IMO) and they don't chew the snare.
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Post by g3trappernc on Mar 26, 2008 19:54:36 GMT -5
I agree with Daniel. I don't think you have to blend your snares in like Claudie showed us on 330's. It just looks like a briar or weed to them. They just bull on through, if that is where they were heading.
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