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Post by minnow on Feb 11, 2009 20:27:09 GMT -6
4Fur your contagious "Beaver Fever "
Heading out Thursday to make a few set. I left all the known beaver locations alone this fall & winter so far. Thursday is there day to get set.
Any advise on high water sets?
Minnow
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Post by daveplueger on Feb 11, 2009 20:28:34 GMT -6
Snare the fresh food trails. High water means nothing than.
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Post by 4fur on Feb 11, 2009 21:03:54 GMT -6
Went with a student today on his line and we nearly got stuck in the middle of BFE! Really got my beaver fever under control in a hurry!  Did drop three average sized western Iowa beaver off at the fur buyer today.  They're finally starting to get some fur on them, huh?  |
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Post by Kelly on Feb 11, 2009 21:20:43 GMT -6
Moooooooooooo!
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coonboy
Hyper-Active Trap Talker
Posts: 162
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Post by coonboy on Feb 11, 2009 22:14:23 GMT -6
Any fur damage with the snares?
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Post by 4fur on Feb 11, 2009 22:14:37 GMT -6
Got to agree with Dave, I love snaring beaver in up and down water but the 24 hr. check and potential pelt damage can be draw backs. You'll catch so many though minnow that you'll have to check them every day or your truck won't hold them all! Simple set like this will take beaver and give you at least a foot of water flexibility. Use a tile spade to make a trench. Pile excavated mud to extend the trench into the water to guide the beav into your snare loop.  And the results.  Cross-overs on dams are money. I like to attach the snare to a drowning cable and slide them off to the side of the dam where there are better staking conditions and also so the beav doesn't molest the trail. Snap on another snare after a catch and have another in the morning until they're gone. Can you see the in-line swivel in the snare right behind the whammy? Very important IMO to help prevent fur damage.  Apparently this neck snared beaver couldn't see it either!  This is what my basic snare set up consists of. 5 ft. 3/32" 7X7 cable with in-line fishing swivel, whammy and #9 wire pigtail support. Rerod stake about a foot longer than actually needed. Snared beaver have all four feet to pull with and are very strong.  |
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Post by minnow on Feb 11, 2009 22:57:46 GMT -6
Your not kidding about loading the truck down. Im stuck driving a 2 wheeled drive S10. LOL I had a little of your luck with the old Minnow truck. Its been in the shop for 2 weeks Having the upper motor end gaskets replaced, chain slipped of tranfer case in the 4 wheel drive tearing things up inside itself & a tranmission rebuilt. $8,500.00 in repairs. I took it in with only one day left with the warranty, really lucked out for the price of the insurance deductable. Hoping I can get it back this Friday just in time for the snow. Regaurdless I'll stick with the roadway for now. So if you see a white S10 doing a wheely its my ride.
What pound test swivel are you using on your snares? I have seen guys use them over the years.
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Post by tjk on Feb 11, 2009 23:15:09 GMT -6
Hope we get rid of this ice before the season closes.
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Post by dfox on Feb 12, 2009 7:30:15 GMT -6
Are you using lure with that 4Fur or just those peeled sticks in the pic?
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Post by dfox on Feb 12, 2009 7:31:29 GMT -6
Your not kidding about loading the truck down. Im stuck driving a 2 wheeled drive S10. LOL I had a little of your luck with the old Minnow truck. Its been in the shop for 2 weeks Having the upper motor end gaskets replaced, chain slipped of tranfer case in the 4 wheel drive tearing things up inside itself & a tranmission rebuilt. $8,500.00 in repairs. I took it in with only one day left with the warranty, really lucked out for the price of the insurance deductable. Hoping I can get it back this Friday just in time for the snow. Regaurdless I'll stick with the roadway for now. So if you see a white S10 doing a wheely its my ride. Guess your check engine light that came on was serious that day something was wrong or about to go wrong!  |
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cooner
Active Trap Talker
Posts: 82
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Post by cooner on Feb 12, 2009 8:52:44 GMT -6
might give that snare set a try,how deep is water where snare is set and how far is snare loop from bottom? how far back does trench go from snare and what is used for an attraction besides lure? how deep is stake pushed in? not sure if in water or half way on land or water that beaver would fight snare harder? maybe you are not staking in sand, i have set up at a trench or indention in the bank like that, digging out with tile spade and submerging a 330 by opening of trench with dive sticks and guide sticks, have caught up to several beaver at a set,sometimes none,beaver would not go in,and hard to find places deep enough to get the trap submerged along bank and alot of digging work and trouble with sand caving and filling back in around and by bottom of trap jaws, have also used a snare set at set similar to that but did not dig out indention and snare was set out a couple foot from bank with 2 guide sticks in a wide v with snare at wide point of v,with very little success,have to give that set a try,dont like snaring beaver,but looks like an easier way to get them,just so they dont pull the stake
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Post by ~ADC~ on Feb 12, 2009 9:23:16 GMT -6
Any fur damage with the snares? They will have a faint line on the leather side of the skin but if you can use a larger cable and a lock like 4fur uses, with a decent profile touching the fur, and set them to either drown or not wrap up really tight on something the line will be so faint it should not amount to much if any reduction from your fur buyer. The larger cable rides atop the fur instead of cutting through and breaking guard hairs, bruising, ect... You can rub out the line quickly after dispatch on live beavers as well. That will help too. All this can be applied to raccoon snaring as well. ~ADC~ |
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Post by BigT on Feb 12, 2009 9:30:34 GMT -6
4fur doesnt need lure. hell the critters just come up his driveway and die you should see it !!!
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Post by 4fur on Feb 12, 2009 10:55:40 GMT -6
I feel your pain, minnow. At least your truck waited until the season was over to take a dump! I just began using the brass in-line barrel swivels last year but really like them. They are anodized black and the size I use is #8 which is rated at 900 lbs. I think they will last forever so at $5 per dozen or $37 per 100 they are economical. Rally Hess is the only one I know who sells this size. I believe he now has a web site but I don't have the address. His phone is 218 697-8113 and email hessclan@uslink.net Tell him you heard about it on ITT. He would be awesome to have on Chat Night! dfox, The trenched snare set above is a castor mound set and is lured. For my area I have the best success with these three lures.  Carman Beaver #1, Dobbins Back Breaker and Leggett's Beaver Lure. |
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Post by dfox on Feb 12, 2009 11:15:49 GMT -6
Thanks Wayne!
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Post by 4fur on Feb 12, 2009 12:01:48 GMT -6
Cooner, I also have a lot of sandy staking situations so I have 1/2" rerod stakes up to 5 foot. I use the trench type set for snares and foot holds at locations where I want to catch the beaver but there aren't any great existing spots for a set (IE slides, pull outs, etc.). I usually have the bottom of my loop about an inch off the ground just out of the water's edge so it doesn't freeze in at night. On flat banks with nothing natural occurring to guide them in, sticks in a V shape will work for the dumb ones but I like using big chunks of driftwood to narrow their approach down. I catch beaver in castor sets using bodygrips but I want a natural run or pinch point to place my 280 or 330. I hate the idea of educating a beaver to lure and a square together and prefer using bodygrips for blind setting only. IF we didn't have to submerge them completely it would definitely be another story! Here is a pretty good spot for a lured, submerged bodygrip set. You can see I also have the 330 backed up with a snare at the base of the cross-over. Lure is placed on an 18" peeled stick between the two sets. This location is at the tail water of a farm pond but the beaver had not been using. I slicked up the trail going over the dam with mud to make it look used and used some strong call lure to get the beaver to my sets. Caught 4 beaver in three days here, 3 in the snare which was on a slide cable and one in the 330. Two of the catches refused the square and were snared.  I don't use drowning cable to drown beaver with snares, guess I figure if I'm going to go to the added work of a drowning system I may as well use a foothold. Someone using drowning rods or cable might add their thoughts to this. |
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cooner
Active Trap Talker
Posts: 82
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Post by cooner on Feb 12, 2009 12:24:15 GMT -6
i notice that when trapping beaver with lured sets,you usually have action the first nite, if good weather conditions, if no action, most of the time there is no action,unless a blind set, which may take awhile,is that normally what beaver trapping is like when using lure?
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Post by 4fur on Feb 12, 2009 13:18:59 GMT -6
i notice that when trapping beaver with lured sets,you usually have action the first nite, if good weather conditions, if no action, most of the time there is no action,unless a blind set, which may take awhile,is that normally what beaver trapping is like when using lure? Yes if you're right on top a colony's territory. But I'll often make lured sets on the edge of their territory first so as not to spook the other family members. Blind sets are used in the more traveled, active areas. But for spring beaver I catch a lot of dispersal animals which are two year olds that have been driven from a colony to make room for a new litter. These traveling beaver are very susceptible to lured sets on major travel ways. So if they aren't residing in an area it isn't unusual to not connect the first night in a lured set, cooner. Should add that wind speed and direction is very critical with beaver trapping. With the wrong wind conditions, sometimes they don't even know your set exists! |
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Post by jdrogge on Feb 12, 2009 13:27:35 GMT -6
Well we finally have open water in Cherokee..........unfortunetly its a couple hundred yards wide, out of the banks and full of ice flow, but as soon as it goes down I'll get after them for a while.
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Post by tjk on Feb 12, 2009 13:36:16 GMT -6
In the snare 330 combo did you use a slide wire to leave the area undisturbed and if so where did you run it and how far if i may ask.Thank you.
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mink99
Active Trap Talker
Posts: 99
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Post by mink99 on Feb 12, 2009 15:15:19 GMT -6
We wish the ice would stay on longer. We catch 90% of our beaver from mid- December to the end of February. Taken over 70 beaver this winter under the ice. Best looking beaver come from under the ice. Bring the most amount of money on the auctions.
Learned from one of the best under the ice beaver trappers around- Ray Black from Ontario, Canada.
This year was some of the thickest ice in years. Twenty inches or so thick.
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cooner
Active Trap Talker
Posts: 82
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Post by cooner on Feb 12, 2009 17:00:01 GMT -6
definately have to give this snare set a try,good for fluctuating water levels,if the wind speed is fast beaver cannot smell scent as well?
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Post by dfox on Feb 12, 2009 18:58:33 GMT -6
I believe 4Fur is talking about the direction of the wind. You want to use the wind to your advantage to blow the scent to the beavers.
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Post by minnow on Feb 12, 2009 21:52:13 GMT -6
Hey Mink99 anything you can share on your under ice beaver trapping?
I would agree never chipped threw as much ice as this season.
Went out today and made a few sets, Still had frost in the banks & too high of water, made it unsafe to set alot of traps. Banks are slick too!!
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Post by ~ADC~ on Feb 12, 2009 22:16:12 GMT -6
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Post by minnow on Feb 16, 2009 10:08:19 GMT -6
Thanks ADC, That was a nice thread to check out. Minnow
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Post by tomolson on Feb 16, 2009 12:09:43 GMT -6
Glad to see you guys are now able to go out and play in the mud.
My northern line lakes,still have 2 feet of ice on them. I am hoping the ice goes out before may this year.I would like to be trapping beaver --2 months from today.
Tom
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Post by BigT on Feb 16, 2009 13:38:59 GMT -6
well Big Spirit still has 30 inches of ice on it here. Those guys in middle to southern Iowa, also known as the  belt, have it sooo easy !!! HAHA |
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Post by 4fur on Feb 16, 2009 21:27:28 GMT -6
Those aren't cow hides in the first picture, Kelly...buffalo. I have found that buffalo blankets are about the only thing that keeps us from freezing to death in the harsh prairie winters we experience here in western Iowa! BigT can get by with a couple female sheep in NW Iowa largely due to all the hot air he expels!
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Post by braveheart on Feb 17, 2009 21:50:06 GMT -6
Take a 1/16 snare put it on a drowning rod with a cam lock or slim lock loaded and a little lure.And you can clean house on the beaver all down and out with little or no snare damage and very few are chewed up.It don't get any easier.
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belt, have it sooo easy !!! HAHA