We just received a photo of a monster 73 pound beaver caught in the “workhorse” 12x18x39 Comstock Beaver Trap, topping our best of 66 pounds. We have caught 66’s a couple of times with quite a few above 60. The 73 is the largest beaver we have seen caught in the Comstock Trap that was put on a scale. The trap used in this case was 39 inches long for the 73 pounder, while the first 66 pounder we caught was actually in a 36 inch long trap. There was evidence of a number of monster beaver as big or bigger were taken in Massachusetts seven years ago, but those were not weighed. We see no reason that these traps can’t handle 80 pounders or larger. Like other animals, beaver seem to add more width than length when they become that heavy.
The other day I placed a pair of these cages in about a foot of water so the top of the cage was at water level while the cages were placed about 20 feet apart. Castor was located in between the two traps so that beaver could approach from two directions. Right after setting at dark I watched one two year old beaver climb up onto the cage a couple of times to wind the lure. With the stability in the cage, the beaver was able to climb aboard without firing the trap. The following day there was a beaver in each trap. The day after there were two more. The interesting part was one of the beaver had made a small castor mound on top of the trap. I guess you make do with what you have. In four days 6 of them have come out of the “double colony,” two year olds, yearlings and one of the big guys.
The nuisance season is winding down, but next year we should make the 1,000 mark for beaver we have taken in the Comstock Swim Through Beaver Cage Traps in our ADC work.
