As some of you know I have pretty much given up on bowhuntin. It really broke my heart but between custody of my daughter, work and drivin 1 1/2 hrs each way to get to hunt for 1hr.. I really couldn't do it anymore...
But God has truely blessed me and answered my prayers.
The man that owns 40 plus acers of swamp right next to my house heard how much I love shooting my bow in the yard. He asked if I knew anything about trapping. He owns a lot of swamp bottom but there are 2 beaver damms that keep flooding it...... So the short of it is I can hunt his land if I trapp the beavers for him!! If anyone here knows how to do it fast and cheap please send me an email thomasgilkerson@hotmail.com
I am kinda excited about this. A part of my life I thought was over is back again.... goin to go look for some new lock on stands today..lol
Bust the dam in one spot and set some traps there stake them down good.LCH
Stringcutter,
First off, do you have any trapping experience? Do you have traps big enough for beaver? Ideally, 330 conibears, or #4 or #5 leg holds. Snares if legal in your area. Busting the dam and putting your traps there will just cause your traps to be buried under the new dam - almost overnight..........been there, done that. There are much more effective methods and this time of year is a prime time for scent mounds as they are out looking for mates.
If I was closer I'd help - love to trap beaver. One of my old trapping partners used to say "A beaver trapper is a guy with a size 44 chest and a size 4 hat". It's a lot of work for what you get now-a-days for the fur but in your case that is priceless.
LCH, I am totally clueless when it comes to trapps. I have searched the web for days... I know there are leg trapps , body trapps, and snares .. but I have not a clue how or where to use them without loosin a finger??
Was hopein someone on here would be willing to take me by the hand to walk me thru it.... Don't have lots of money to spend on this was hoping to spend $100 or less.
God I hope this works out. Would be awsome to come home in the morning and hunt 100yrds from the house for a few hours.
Did you do a search on here for beaver trapping? That oughtta get ya some help. Where's Ken at? :help:
Here contact this guy, he knows more than he wants to about beavers....adkmountainken
Tom, I don't know if this is an option or not. When in Alberta Canada years ago, we baited bears with beaver carcasses. It was legal to shoot beavers along the Peace river year round.
We did what LCH said, but instead of traps we sat with bows in hand. I shot 7 beaver during the hot period of the day, skinned them and gave(the skins) them to a local indian, and baited the blackies with the carcasses.
On a 40 acre swamp, there are probably not THAT many beavers. Check game regulations, maybe you can bowhunt them like we did. Lots of fun, you learn what beavers do, practice shooting, enjoy off season bowhunting. Welcome back to bowhunting!
Stringcutter,
In that case, I would recommend getting in touch with one of your local trappers. Have him trap the land with you watching/learning - let him have all the fur. It's a little late even for spring fur but who knows. Or spend your $100 on that same trapper. Most will do it just for the fun of it and the possibility of another land owner contact.
With no experience it's going to get real frustrating for both you and the land owner unless you get real lucky.
String Cutter,
You can call me - I've trapped beaver and other critters - A Coil Spring is my favorite trap for fox,cats,coon, & coyotes, but for beaver, you need some Conibear (name of original inventor) Type traps. In most states, "nuisance" trapping is allowed year-round, but it's geting warm and they'll have kits soon - so get started and carry some snake-shot in a pistol above the water level. The only way to go is with 330 Conibear-type killer traps, but they must be set MOSTLY IN the water. I use them at the bottom of slides, at the underwater entrance of bank dens, and I especially like a "picket fence" set. Buy some hip waders, four to six 330 Conibear-type body-gripping traps, spring setters, safety hook, bailing wire, hatchet/pull saw..and you're ready. Order from Duke directly Monday and DON'T SET THESE TRAPS WITHOUT using the "Safety Grip Tool" - THEY'LL BREAK YOUR ARM AND YOU'LL BE STUCK IN THE SWAMP ALL NIGHT or longer. Most local Co-op farm store carry these traps & set tool, but most do not carry the "safey grip tool", because they don't know about them – BE WARNED.
Duke Trap Co. (West Point, MS) (662) 494-6767
Talk to Bill or Gary Duke
330 BT - 10"X10" - Model 0430 (buy at least 4-6)
Safety Grip Tool - Model 0963 - buy 2, to replace the one you drop in the water and lose. And tie about a foot of survey flagging to the eye of both. :knothead:
Set Tool - Model 0965
PM me and I'll talk you through it this weekend. EASY :) I caught 6 adult beavers, one with 4 kits on the way in 3 weeks in a 20 acre swamp. You'll only catch a max of 70% of them the first year, so keep at it.
Don't overlook snares if they're legal in Your state. Cheapest way You can go.
I'm with Yornoc shoot them with your bow. You get to have your cake and eat it too.
Stringcutter,
Try this, www.trapperman.com (http://www.trapperman.com) These guys will help you out anyway they can and I know there are a bunch of beaver trappers in your area. If you come up empty handed, pm me and I will try to help you out. Beavers are not the hardest things to trap.
i can pm you if you want and make it easy for you to get on them QUICK. a 330 in any runs will do the trick as well as anywhere you see them leaving the water to cut trees. easy to catch the first 3 or 4 its the rest that will give ya trouble!
Yep 330's the way to go, but you gotta be dang careful with those! You get one on your arm or leg you may not make it back in time to have somebody help get it off ya.
Check on the nuisance trapping laws in your state first before you start. Call a local game warden and explain the situation to him, I'm sure he'll take care of ya and might even help you out?
At the very least he can point you in the right direction.
Take Coil Spring's advice and get the saftey catch, it's saved my arm a couple times when I slipped and nearly fell into the 330. I had to change my drawers when I got home, and not because they were wet from slipping in the mud!
Just please be careful above all else if you decide to go with 330's, I can't stress that engouh.
Good Luck!
Well one of my buddies off here has offered to loan me a few leg holds and a 330. What a great site. You guys are awsome!!
Might try skinning out my first one and make a quiver... Lord this will be so great if it all works out.. Feel like a kid at Christmas....
The land owner has called the game dept. And they gave him afew trappers names.. but none has ever called him back about it?? So he asked the neighborhood redkneck..(me) lol and since I'm fresh out of tnt I'm going to have to do it the hard way. :)
I know I amgettin way ahead fo myself but I might have just found a magic key to get me on some private property near here.
Sent you a PM
pm me your addy, i have some great books you can borrow!
Beavers are pretty easy to trap....until you educate them. They learn quickly when you snap them or they see their buddies hung up in traps. I'd recommend you round up a half dozen 330 size body gripping traps (conibear type). Footholds require a bit more skill than you have at the moment and you risk smartening them up with a poorly set foothold. If resolving a problem site is your goal, you want to set heavy and hit them hard and fast. You can catch the bulk of the colony in 1-3 nights if you set enough traps. Whittle away at them with one or two traps and you will educate some beavers and they will become very tough to catch. Same with disturbing their dam. Mess with their dam and they will become cagey. Look for their runs. Those are the ditches that you find while wading around in knee deep water and suddenly finding yourself in over your hip boots! Beaver dig these runs out and trim the tree roots. They are very well defined and beaver stick to them religiously. A 330 placed in the bottom of the run and held upright by slender dead sticks placed between the open jaws, and jammed into the mud so that they form an X over the trap is an effective basic set. Wire the trap to a nearby tree and run the sticks into the mud outside the springs so the trap isn't pinned in place when a beaver trips it. This way the beaver rolls out of the run when it gets caught. This way others won't have to swim around it and wonder what happened to Joe. Using the safety gripper on the jaws is good advice. Don't forget to remove the gripper and safety clips off the springs when you complete your set. I forgot the clips once and smartened up a beaver! Careful you don't have too much fun. You might discover another addiction.
Tom,
Check with local conservation officer-I believe you can shoot beaver year round in your part of the state. Shooting them with bow will be a challenge and trapping is the way to go if recovery is the goal. Be very careful with those 330 conibears, they will hurt you for sure. Good luck and hope you get the permission to hunt locally. Will improve your outlook on bowhunting.
See if it is legal to shoot them at night.
We've shot them with a .22 and shot gun and a spot light before.
tons of videos on you-tube on beaver sets. one of the easier critters to catch
Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier, but you got some good advice from the other guys anyhow.
If the water is cold and you check your traps every day, the meat is excellent.
I have some 330's hanging about itching to get back into service you are more then welcome to borrow them if you need more . I can put them in the mail tomorrow . You will find it is harder to stop trapping then to start , very addicting .
Fred
Fellas how hard is it to set up those 330's? I have gotten a PM or 2 about how not to miss with 'em cause for a newbie like me I could wind up with a broken arm or worse??? Really not sure even how they work??? Anyone got some good pics???
A .22 is not a good idea. I've shot them before and still had to kill them later, after a good hit. You need more gun, if you're going to shoot them. They're tough.
I trapped them for several years. I used leg-holds because at the time I couldn't afford kill traps. They key is to set the leg-hold traps near deep water, and use a cable with an L-shaped connector with a hole drilled in it that allows the chain on the trap to go down, but the L keeps them from going back up. The cable has to have a good weight on the end to hold the beaver down and drown it when it dives into the water to get away.
Maybe now you know why the kill traps are considered better. More humane. I quit because I wasn't comfortable with the method. If you don't drown them they will chew off the leg or foot to get free.
Dan Quillian introduce his son D. D. to bowhunting by setting him up on a beaver pond to shoot a beaver when they came out at dusk. It was D. D.'s first bow kill. Break the dam and they will come.
I had a friend in Bumpass who had problems with beavers. She got permission, and I went in with a rifle to help her out. I used a .22, got one and lost one. Sank into the water and I never found it. There are better cartridges.
Killdeer
You'll have to use trap setters to set those 330's. 40 years ago I could set a 330 with my bare hands. Of coarse I could shoot a 100# bow then too. Last summer I tried to set a 220 conibear which is the next size down from a 330 and I had to use the setters. It's hell gettin old.
GOOD LUCK,,,
Are there any videos of how to set them up? And doing it safely?
Plenty, just search youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQxdvT0J8I
I used to shoot lots of beaver with a 22 then swithched to a 22 magnum, they both work. Trapping is probably better if you want to get them all and fast but shooting is a lot of fun too. Just sit in a good spot at dusk and wait them out, a scope is pretty important. Everything the others said about trapping is pretty much spot on.
have fun with it!
Just a thought check the Virginia DNR website for laws and licensing.I know in Jersey you have to take a Trapping course and get a trap license and have all the traps and snares tagged and labeled.Then again Jersey is a joke!. Be careful beavers are strong little critters and like any animal when caught can get a little PO'd.Keep us informed
330 Conibears are the way to go....Don't be afraid of them...just respect them for what they are, a powerful body grip trap. If something gets in a conibear it'll be there when you get back to check. I used to trap beavers and coyotes for hunting priveledges on a 900 acre peice of private land in South Mississippi. I think you'll find skinning them is harder than catching them. Oh, get a good pair of hip waders and a sharp hatchet for your stakes.
I hated skinning beavers with a passion. You have to cut every inch of the way, and the fat layer is very hard to get off. The tanned hides are fantastic, though, and done in the round they make a beautiful rug.