holtcashwell

trapping beavers on land?? is it possible. the biggest trap i have is a 1 1/2 duke double coil. if it is possible, how do i do it, and what should i use for bait???

mez

That trap is not near big enough for a beaver. You can trap them on land but if doing so you should use snares or a Hancock style live trap. Beaver are very strong and hard to hold on to. I use #5 double longsprings or #4 coilsprings, modified, or a #330 conibear for them. I wouldn't recommend trapping them on land, you will end up with a lot of pull outs and or wring outs, even worse. Beaver sets should berigged with a drowning slide unless snaring or live trapping. You could use the #330 but in many states it is illegal to set a trap that big above water. Check your regulations.

holtcashwell

ok thanks. ive read about drownin sets. how do i make one?

mez

I make mine with Burlap sacks and #9 wire. Place the trap and drive a stake. The traps should have a swivel of some type at the end of the chain. Place the swivel on the wire, it will only slide freely in one direction, the other direction it catches. Place the swivel on the wire so that the trap will slide out to deeper water. Attatch the wire to the stake next to the trap, fill the burlap sack with rocks or mud from the river and attatch the other end of the wire to the sack. Drag the sack out and drop it into deep water so the wire has no slack in it. If the sack is light enough that you can throw it to deep water it doesn't have enough weight in it. When the beaver gets in the trap he immediately heads for deep water, the trap will run down the slide and he won't be able to pull the trap back up. You need a minimum of 4 feet of water if you are setting for a back leg and 3 feet if setting for a front leg. I would recommend you get the book, "Open Water Beaver Trapping" by Charles Dobbins. Excellent book, he goes over it all with pictures, diagrams, trap placement, sets, baits, etc. Well worth $10.

furgitter

A good drowner will hold a moose.You need to think like that when choosing poles traps and wire.Beaver are strong animals.
The #5 ls are good traps,and so are the MB750
Poles used for anchoring need to be dry but not rotted.7-8 ft long and 2 inches arround at the base,sharpen the base so it goes in the creekbed easier.
Beaver wire is sold out of any trapper supply store.Dont try using hardware store stuff.
That just covers equipment.Now you need to do some reading to identify how and where to set them up,which lures and bait sticks to use,how deep to set the traps,etc.
Onece those basics are covered,you can go ahead and develope your own style.To be realy good takes time and effort.

holtcashwell

and also, i have a friend who shot a beaver with a .22 lr, and it was about 60 yards away and the beaver was underwater. he shot it and the beaver jumped up in the air. we went looking for it later with a spot light and saw it about 40 yards ahead and he shot again and it jumped in the air again. we never saw it again. did he kill it? and do beavers float?
and whats a good caliber for shooting a beaver?

Pioneer2

I liked to use 1/2 steel plate [railroad ty for fastening rails]wired to the bottom of #3 or #4 coil spring traps with enough wire to allow the beaver to reach deep water.Find a spot where they are leaving the water to go onshore and place the trap in about 3-4" of H2O. Take a pea sized piece of the castor from another beaver and impail it on a sharp stick a foot up the bank onthe trail in front of the trap.An L shaped slide with a hole @ each end running down a drowning wire anchored into deep water completes the set.Farther away from water a large figure4 deadfall with a V shaped guiding fence nails them.Use a big log and a smaller one under to kill them clean.Obviously can't be used around public ares and pets as it's fatal.Beavers are very territorial so find a scent mound near the water and introduce the scent stick with a castor piece from a stange beaver to their area.Works like a damn. [castors are the walnut sized scent glands used in perfumes located at the underside base of the anal vent]Cedar smelling...........................sometimes worth morethan the hide dried on strings.....Harold

mnhunter_32

look for minnesota trap line products on the internet and try there "timber "beaver lure works all the time