A few nights ago I arrived at a nuisance beaver location close to dark and found the six foot culvert better than half plugged, as expected, not unusual by any stretch. I had asked the highway department to pull out some of what had been a dam nearly six feet high. They did. Having trapped this location a number of times over the years I was quite familiar with the layout, but daylight was fading fast. In order to attract the beaver and also lower the water level to make it easier to navigate the newly created pond, I pulled another bunch of brush out of the culvert and got the water flowing.
Very nearly dark, I had just enough daylight to set the cage. Since the water was well over my hip boots in the center of the stream where the trap was to be placed there was no way for me to set the trap and place it directly in the deep channel. Because I knew about where the beaver should be traveling, I waded out as far out as I could and merely tossed the trap into the stream. The trap flew about six feet before hitting the water and dropping to the bottom. With this trap design the traps will remain set after they hit the water and sink to the bottom. No other trap in the world can duplicate that accomplishment or in any way come close to this kind of versatility. And, with darkness at hand, though I frequently end up moving the traps slightly to line them up in the channels after throwing them, it was too dark to see the trap and I’m not sure I could have reached the trap with the potato hook anyway.
Minus any expectations, I returned the following day to find a 30 pound beaver waiting for me. The whole process of setting and tossing the trap had taken about 2 minutes, while taking my best guess as to where to toss the trap in an 12 foot wide stream. With experience in using 330’s, 280’s, 220’s, 660’s, footholds, snares, Hancocks, Baileys and Comstock Cages over the past 54 years, while now having a trap that will allow such ease in setting and placing, this trap has made a world of difference in trapping problem beaver. What I now take for granted is something I would not have even thought possible just ten years ago. To be able to just pitch a trap into a deep wide creek in the dark and make the catch…
After resetting the trap in the same manner as before on the second trip, this time I was able to reach the trap with the hook to move it slightly. Trip number two produced the mate to the first catch. One trap, two nights, two beaver, it was game over.
The interesting thing is there were quite a few sticks in the dam the first night and more the second night, though fewer than the first as you would expect. What this meant was the beaver were not caught on the first trip or even the sixth trip up the creek to get brush for the dam, but after swimming up stream a number of times, he did hit the trap. Bottom line, the beaver only has to travel where the trap is but once. With a breech in the dam, the chances of connecting are quite good even if you are not in a tight run.
