Beavers plugging up my risers

[Wingman]

Oh yeah, I said all of that and forgot you were working with a culvert, not a dam.

Okay, find a place where the beavs are going in and out of the water (usually pretty near the culvert because they will be going from water that is dammed up, to the ditch on the other side). Put a coni just in the water below the slide, and about 1/2 of the trap out of the water. You can put the triggers on the bottom if you want. You will catch the beavers as they enter and exit the water. Stake the trap with a piece of 1/4 inch aircraft cable (found at any partshouse), swivel on each end of the cable, and put a drowner on the end. You can use drowners to stake down your trap in this situation. Just put a piece of 3/8 rebar through the drowner, and shove it in the mud. Weld a washer on the top of the rebar so the drowner can't come off. The beav will go thru the coni, flip around all over the place and die, but you'll be able to find him by simply pulling up the cable. He will also be out of the way of the run and won't frighten the other beavs that are using it. CAUTION: THIS SET ALSO CATCHES OFF-TARGET ANIMALS-GATORS IN PARTICULAR!

But simplest of all is the snare. Easy to make, light to carry, simple set-up, and you can release any off-target catches unharmed.

Wingman

[00ducksr.]

wingman if i ever have a beaver problem i'll call you but would you swim up under my boat house in 12 feet of water and crawl up between the floor joist and put a trap in for me? could you rig one of these to float.

[Wingman]

Hehe, glad you asked! Yes, you can rig a floating trap set. You need to be in flowing water, though. You take a large forked stick or log, with the fork wide enough to secure and place a trap in. The trap is held partially out of the water by the log. You place your lure (since bait is illegal in MS) at the base of the fork and tie the whole rig off to something in the stream. The beav swims up to investigate the smell, wants to climb up on the log and swims thru the coni. At least that's what is supposed to happen...I've never tried it

In a situation where you have a beaver on a dock, I would look for any places where they might be entering or exiting the water. A castor mound set or a bait stick set might work. A castor mound is pretty much a beaver "scrape". By making a castor mound, you are infringing on another beaver's territory, and he/she will come to investigate the smells of the intruder.

A bait stick is simply a pile of freshly chewed sticks, with some lure to attract the beaver. They see the peeled sticks on the bank, they smell the smell, and they come over to see who's been dining on their bank.

Did I ever mention that I really enjoy trapping? Almost as much as duck hunting. To the point I didn't even pick up my deer rifle last year.

Wingman

[jdbuckshot]

traps are good but are a pain in the butt. and the foot hold traps have never really worked for me all i ever have left is a foot when i get there. if you have a place that is heavily populated, which where there is one there are many! i use snares to catch them. you can get them out of forestry supplie magazines for like 12 bucks a dozen, and they work! all you do is prop them open with a stick and set them in a beaver run, and stake it off or tie it to a tree. the beaver will go thru the snare and it will catch on his back legs and the harder he pulls the tighter it squeezes. they are usually alive. so take some buck shot, but i have put a very big dent in the beaver and nutrea population.

[Wingman]

JD, set your traps on a drowner rig, and you'll rarely ever have a pullout or a wrung off foot. If he can fight that trap long enough, he will get out. Plus, you owe it to the animal to dispatch him as quickly as possible. Drowning in 5 minutes in my opinion is much more humane than staying alive in the trap until the next morning.

Last year I didn't stake down my drowner wire properly at one set and when I checked the next day, found I had a foot and that was all. That beaver had rolled up all of my drowner wire and the two bushhog blades I used as a weight, and wrung his foot off.

About 3 weeks later I caught ole Yardstick. He was a little bit smarter, but that dam break set gets most all of 'em. They just can't stand to let that water keep going through that break.

Wingman