First beaver set

buckpasser

Senior Member
My beaver guy won’t return my calls or texts, so I assume he’s very busy at his real job. That said, I bought a 330 last week and set it the best I knew how. I’m somewhat concerned that I might have overdone it on the brushing in. It’s set on the only used trail from the downstream creek to the duck pond that they like to plug up for me. I had some beaver castor gland in my coyote box, so I smeared a small dab right on the trail at the trap, thinking that might add a little incentive to go that way. Below is the set, and any advice or comment is appreciated. Thanks!


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Throwback

Chief Big Taw
As long as the hole you want to to go through isn’t stopped up you should be ok. I dint put near that much around mine usually but look at it from the beavers perspective and see if it’s a clear trail
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
Here’s a post catch of the last beaver I caught it was about a month ago. I had the conibear between the dam and that stake and I breached the dam on both sides of the trap so as he went between the holes in the dam to repair it he would go through the conibear. I put a small limb across the top of the conibear (you can see it laying on the dam just to the right of true guide stick) and a piece of grass or two. I took a pic before it caught the beaver but I deleted it at some point. I think it took a week or so to catch it. I had 5 other sets out but this was the one that finally connected. Nothing glamorous but it worked.
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antharper

“Well Rounded Outdoorsman MOD “
Staff member
I went with a friend beaver trapping a few times and he would find a dam and bust it and set trap right where he busted the dam and had good success , we caught a 8lb bass the first time I went with him .
 

fatback

Senior Member
I have had real good luck with a drowning rig set on a cable. I have not been able to connect with the conibear traps myself. I hope to get better with them. Good luck and let us know how you do.
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
I have had real good luck with a drowning rig set on a cable. I have not been able to connect with the conibear traps myself. I hope to get better with them. Good luck and let us know how you do.

What trap do you use on the drowning cable? The guy that normally takes care of them for us was using what looked like a 650 or larger. It was painted, but just laying on top of the mud right at the waters edge.
 

Philbow

Senior Member
I make a "fence" inside the springs with sticks to stop the beaver from going around the trap and it helps stabilize the 330. I don't put anything over the top of the 330, but that's just me.
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
I don’t think they could climb over it too easily where it is, but it just looked so obvious to me with the steel shining. Maybe I’d be better off without it? Thanks for the input everyone. The beavers may humble me, but I’m used to setting a long time between coyotes, so I can take it! Haha
 

Throwback

Chief Big Taw
I have had real good luck with a drowning rig set on a cable. I have not been able to connect with the conibear traps myself. I hope to get better with them. Good luck and let us know how you do.
Lol I’m just the opposite. A snare or a conibear and I’m good. A foot hold not so much
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
Well, it worked! He somehow bypassed the set on the way upstream, plugged up the spillway, and promptly screwed up on the way home. He was very fresh this morning. It was pretty satisfying to finally meet the guy that caused me to blow out my back clearing out his debris!

Also, I fully butchered him, collected his pelt for displaying in my den, saved his glands and some meat for coyote trapping, and ate his backstraps for lunch. Not too bad either. The remainder of the carcass is in front of my cell cam for coyote recon. Literally no waste! Haha.497D37DA-B3AE-46D8-A347-81324A6BA5A2.jpeg01C4CF68-1EA3-4F4C-8900-1B11DAC7383E.jpeg
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
Awesome. Be on the look out, might be more than one around.

After a pretty intense struggle to remove that guy from the 330, I set right back. I feel 100% confident he has been swimming up to my set from downstream and didn’t feel comfortable passing through. I’m thinking all this rain and creek flow finally forced him to come up and just get forgetful on the slide leaving. I’m hoping if anyone else comes to take over the project they meet the same fate.
 

antharper

“Well Rounded Outdoorsman MOD “
Staff member
I know they are destructive and can ruin some land but I’ve never had the desire to kill one ! Maybe because they aren’t ruining my land lol , great catch buckpasser I knew you’d catch him !
 

antharper

“Well Rounded Outdoorsman MOD “
Staff member
Also wanted to add that I went trapping with a man in south ga that had a fox pen when I was a kid and that’s all he used for bait for coyotes . He would freeze them whole and wack it up in pieces with a chainsaw , no joke
 

buckpasser

Senior Member
Also wanted to add that I went trapping with a man in south ga that had a fox pen when I was a kid and that’s all he used for bait for coyotes . He would freeze them whole and wack it up in pieces with a chainsaw , no joke

I bet that guy and his saw looked like something off of a low budget horror film after that! I saved all the goody I could for this fall’s coyote campaign.

I know what you mean about killing them. I shot quite a few on two new ponds many years ago to keep a lot of money from being wasted. This deal involves our one and only floodable duck pond. They prematurely flooded and killed around 30% of my corn already this year. Even with watching it closely, they can trap a pile of water in just a few hours after these big rain events. They add insult to injury by cutting off my corn and using it for packing! I wish they’d at least eat the cob, but it’s usually packed right in there as well. Still, a respectable animal for sure.
 

Doug B.

Senior Member
They also make bank dens. I trap for a few farmers. You can drive around a field edge next to a creek where beavers have a bank den and it sink in and swallow your truck or the farmer on his tractor!
 
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