# beaver Trapping



## Hardtop (Nov 24, 2004)

My traps have been in "storage" for 30yrs or so, and i never tried to trap beaver, but we have a family of them working a pond on our property in Peryy Co. I was wondering if anyone here has done any of that, I would like to try and set dry sets as the pond is deep and steep edges, not interested in conibears 6' deep at the base of their hut in these water temps. Can I set in their dry runs as i would for racoons and expect to catch/hold them ina #2......? Thank HT


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

You can catch them in their slides, but you'll need to do a drowning set & you're going to need bigger traps ............ for me, it's size #4 or #5 as their feet are huge. You could also do a castor mound set if the depth of the water near the edge is good, but again, it will need to be a drown set. They spook or get educated very quickly so move the sets if you have a miss or pull out.


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## jiggineyes22 (Mar 4, 2008)

Dig out a pocket/ditch in the bank close to their hut unless you already have one you can use, set a foothold on a drowner rig right where they will try to climb out of the pond there. Make sure to set the trap under a couple inches of water. Make a mock castor mound on back side of your new pocket/ditch and lure with castor, guranteed catch. Also set snares on their land trails if they have any. Cant set 330's on land and they will likely pull out of a foothold overnight so snaring works the best. Good luck


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## crappiewacka (Apr 7, 2009)

You can place a bunch of 2 - 3" dia. sticks, stripped of bark, along the waters edge, next to exit/entrance to trails leading to cutting areas with a mb750 guarding the made (guide sticks) entrance to the pile. If you can get to the feeding station (which would be a large pile of cut branches) set mb750's around the pile. #2 trap will not do the job!
"Foothold traps set on land shall not have an inside diameter jaw spread greater than 5-5/8 inches."
If you can get to the dam, break areas open and set 330's waiting for them to come back for repairs.


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## Hardtop (Nov 24, 2004)

How much would a .22 hole in the head take off of pelt price...? If I do get one in a land set, I might choose to shoot it to dispatch it.....


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## jiggineyes22 (Mar 4, 2008)

Well not much at all because you can pretty much hide the hole but your not allowed to shoot beaver I'm pretty sure. Better off to use a baseball bat


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## crappiewacka (Apr 7, 2009)

As far as I know you can dispatch with a gun. I have always used drowning or conibears for beav. Blood on pelt decrease value, just wash off well. Noose pole works well, just takes time. Be careful, as you know, big animal, very strong! Right now beavs are at about .70 a pound on the carcass.


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## hedhunter72 (Sep 16, 2012)

wire your 330 on the bottom of a 8 ft pole and set the den entrance


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

jiggineyes22 said:


> Well not much at all because you can pretty much hide the hole but your not allowed to shoot beaver I'm pretty sure. Better off to use a baseball bat


..it is legal to shoot the beavers to dispatch them


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