Spring Beaver

[poutpro]

Do people trap beaver in the spring for fur or just to get rid of them as pests? Also,, is anyone having any luck? A buddy and I tried to get one that was clogging a culvert on his hunting property flooding the road but haven't gotten in yet.

[Gissert]

Fur is probably getting worse by the day. Last year, my buyer did not want any after late April. Most of my work is damage releated.

It looks like there is a major dispersal ongoing right now. I have noticed a lot of roadkill.

[protrapper]

Up here on the norht shore guys are still trapping. We still have some ice and snow and cool nights so the fur is still ok. Down south fur should be starting to fade out. There are guys out all over the place. I caught alot aof beaver this year. But I just got out of the hospital from surgery and now I gotta go back with some complications, otherwise I would take a few. Good Luck and be safe..

[poutpro]

That is kind of what I had figured as far as the fur goes. I have a few more questions. We unplugged the culvert where the beaver had its dam, and put up a gate in front of one side and another gate on the other side, but left a opening on the sie of the culvert where you could see they had been going down the ditch. We submerged a 330 in the opening into the culvert. Will this work to catch the beaver or not? Will the beaver/s come back to plug the culvert ever? It has been out for about 3 days with no sign of the beaver coming back to the culvert.

[HunterLee]

i have gotten 13 this year. broke my ankle last week so that is all i am going to get this year. only have 8 traps so i feel i did okay being i got those in a week and a half. dont have the real numbers hear. the fur has looked good on all the ones i got, going to bring them in this week.

Poutpro- if you have a spot that is narrow back aways from the plugged culvert lay sometype of log so the beaver has to dive under to get by. then put your conibear under that. works like a charm. or can use the same area and put the trap bout 3/4 under and 1/4 out of the water, depending how deep the water is. deeper water i go with the trap on top beings you nver know how far they will dive. if you snap a trap and dont get them move it to another spot they usually dont come back, and it seems in the spring they are moving around so that one might take a few days or even a week to come back bye. had the same thing and he took a week to come back. like i said they just seem to travel around, and he might not ever come back.

[poutpro]

Well there has been no missed catches, so I guess I'll just wait for a while to pull it out. The dam that was made must have been made fairly recent because it was not there before the ice came, and the ice just recently came off in the spot. Hopefully with a little luck we'll get it, I've never trapped a beaver before.

[Neiko]

What do you guys do with the meat? I am a bear hunter and would love to get my hands on some. I heard bear love beaver meat. Let me know if you have any you want to get rid of. [email protected]

[OUTDOORNUT]

Quote:

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I've never trapped a beaver before.

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Have you tried dinner and a movie, a couple cocktails afterwords??

[Gissert]

As HunterLee mentioned, sometimes you might have better luck back away from the culvert aways with a dive stick on a narrow spot. When setting conibars around culverts, every bit of flotsam flowing tends to foul the trap as the current focuses on the culvert. Beavers coming to a culvert will often fire the trap if it is hauling any sticks.

Traps on culverts are prime for getting ripped off too.

If you have any side channels, set a conibar with a dive stik in it, and pile some mud up where they climb out onto land. This will look like a scent mound to any passing beaver, and they will often investigate. This is even more so if you put some scent on it. You might be able to get some scent at Runnigens.

I much prefer to set in side channels with out any current. Your trap will stay a lot cleaner, and they are not as obvious to thieves.

[protrapper]

You may have spooked that beaver away from the culvert. Or he may have just moved on. usally you should catch them in one night. I would try a couple castor mound sets. Or move the 330 ten feet or more from the culvert. Submerge the trap about 3-4 inches of the bottom, {stabalize it good} and put the floating log or good size stick over the trap. Make sure the trap is at least a couple inches away from the floating log.

[protrapper]

Neiko,

Beaver meat is the best. I use alot of it. Once are pits really get hit we use it more. make sure it's fresh. I sell lots of beaver meat to dog sled mushers and keep the rest for bear hunting. I usally sell it for $2.50 a pound and I have now problems moving it. I could sell it for more..

[protrapper]

Well I just couldn't sit still any longer. Put out tree sets close to home last night got three nice beaver this morning. had to skin them on the spot, doc says no lifting anything over ten pounds.

They looked good no bite marks and the leather was nice and cream colored. Remeber let your beaver get under water if you can't check everyday or until evening that sun is tough on the fur.

[HunterLee]

brought on the 16 beavers that i caught this year and the prices were pretty good. 30 for big 20 form medium and 10 for small or damaged. was really suprised with the prices, to bad i broke my ankle and couldnt get another 10 or so. what did every one else get this year. oh and those were unskinned.

[protrapper]

It just sold some big ones from last week for 30 plus dollars green skun. I would say you did well.