Michigan Sportsman Forum banner
  • From treestands to ground blinds, all your hunting must-haves can be found at Bass Pro Shops. Shop Now.

    Advertisement
81 - 93 of 93 Posts
View attachment 389419 Picked up another 3. These 2 didn't want to go near my 330's. One looks like my miss from a few days ago where the spring loop slide through one of the sides. The 3rd hit a bank den that I almost pulled.
3 days left. Pretty much done . Going to experiment with my floats on deep water castor mound sets this weekend.
FInal pull today - The last three checks yielded 10, 7, and 8 more today. Final results are 50 beaver, 6 otter (two incidentals to be turned in this week already tagged). Out of the fifty beaver I would say only 4 or 5 medium/large. Quite a batch of beaver. Only wanted to catch 20-30 this year, but a large private parcel brought 22 beaver in three checks.
 
Discussion starter · #82 ·
Headed out to pull the final sets in around 8. I have 4 floats, 3 downers, 2 deep run pole sets, 1 trapeze and a shoreline castor mound out. I let em soak yesterday. Still recovering from setting the lake in the wind Friday with my 17' canoe and the wind yesterday was just as bad. Almost all of the sets are around a large cattail island that floats in 6 ' of
water with the lodge or lodges hidden somewhere in the center. I'll try to take pics. Setting everything but the 1 shoreline from in the canoe keeps my lifejacket on and my phone in a ziplock.
 
Discussion starter · #83 ·
Image
Image
1st 4 had Beavers in them. 2 for 3 on the drowners. The 3rd had a peice of tail in it. 2 for 4 on the floats. 1 castor mound got hit from the cattail , probably a raccoon and the 1 330 castor mound set hit 1. Total this water trapping season was 51 Beaver and 2 Otters. The rebar drowners with MB 750 were most effective. Had to tell someone on the shore that season closes today. They were directing me to another spot . Noted for next season.
 
View attachment 390141 View attachment 390143 1st 4 had Beavers in them. 2 for 3 on the drowners. The 3rd had a peice of tail in it. 2 for 4 on the floats. 1 castor mound got hit from the cattail , probably a raccoon and the 1 330 castor mound set hit 1. Total this water trapping season was 51 Beaver and 2 Otters. The rebar drowners with MB 750 were most effective. Had to tell someone on the shore that season closes today. They were directing me to another spot . Noted for next season.
Nice job! Looks a little scary in that wind.
 
51 beaver, my back doesn't even want to think if that.
Good job.
Are you finishing them all?
 
Discussion starter · #86 ·
51 beaver, my back doesn't even want to think if that.
Good job.
Are you finishing them all?
Back is a little tender, mostly from twisting my torso in the canoe and placing the floats in 30mph wind Friday. Ended up moving to the front to paddle back to the truck. I'm 6'5" and 240 decent shape and dragging beavers out are part of my workout . My buyer gives me more for them in the round. I still do a few every year if time permits. I enjoy putting them up . The pic was when the wind was at about 10-15 mph. Not going to run the Au Sable race anytime soon but it's very stable and can carry a lot of gear.
 
Season closes tomorrow unless they extend it.

Jim
Back is a little tender, mostly from twisting my torso in the canoe and placing the floats in 30mph wind Friday. Ended up moving to the front to paddle back to the truck. I'm 6'5" and 240 decent shape and dragging beavers out are part of my workout . My buyer gives me more for them in the round. I still do a few every year if time permits. I enjoy putting them up . The pic was when the wind was at about 10-15 mph. Not going to run the Au Sable race anytime soon but it's very stable and can carry a lot of gear.
Is your buyers name a secret?
Jim
 
Congrats on a great season, Anita! Reminds me of when I first started beaver trapping and posting pics of the catches. Good times. Youve obviously learned they arent hard to catch. Dave Duncan once told me theyre just overgrown mice and youre only limited by your energy and available time. I say, the best beaver trapper is strong like bull, smart like fence post. LOL

I was still walking across my beaver ponds one week ago, deep snow in the woods almost required a snowmobile, but I clawed my way through with a quad. Theres still some ice on the ponds, as of yesterday, when I pulled gear in the blizzard.

These days I only ADC trap when asked and make sets to avoid otter. Think I have 4-5 pounds of castor to sell this Spring, which is worth more than the fur. I gave 9 fresh (one-night check) beaver away to people who wanted to eat them, but I grabbed the fat castors first.

Solo spring beaver trapping, I stopped at 40 with a few days to spare. This was back when the otter limit was only one....

Image

-NC
 
Discussion starter · #90 ·
Congrats on a great season, Anita! Reminds me of when I first started beaver trapping and posting pics of the catches. Good times. Youve obviously learned they arent hard to catch. Dave Duncan once told me theyre just overgrown mice and youre only limited by your energy and available time. I say, the best beaver trapper is strong like bull, smart like fence post. LOL

I was still walking across my beaver ponds one week ago, deep snow in the woods almost required a snowmobile, but I clawed my way through with a quad. Theres still some ice on the ponds, as of yesterday, when I pulled gear in the blizzard.

These days I only ADC trap when asked and make sets to avoid otter. Think I have 4-5 pounds of castor to sell this Spring, which is worth more than the fur. I gave 9 fresh (one-night check) beaver away to people who wanted to eat them, but I grabbed the fat castors first.

Solo spring beaver trapping, I stopped at 40 with a few days to spare. This was back when the otter limit was only one....

View attachment 390585
-NC
It's like ice fishing for Bluegills. Anyone with a basic understanding of how to catch them will. Once you've honed your techniques that's what will make your catch increase with less effort and time.
 
I went last summer and paddled the river that we trapped fifty years ago and most of the places we set then are still in use. There are lots more beaver in there now and most of it has been subdivided so you probably can't trap it but the slides, channels and sent mounds are still there.
 
Hawks, coyotes, eagles and red fox are all in a race to get their share of the fresh beaver. Theres almost always something on my (well scattered) beaver pile when I look out the window.......

Image

Image

-NC
 
81 - 93 of 93 Posts