Beaver trapping 2021-22

[Undeg01]

My neighbor got one of the last beavers off my place a few weeks back. 80+ pounds. Glad he got him too because the area around my creek looks like a Vietcong booby trap field with all of the small oak tree spikes about 16 - 18” tall.

 

[pointrow]

cool. My uncle and I trapped a couple 50 pounders with some conibear traps we pulled out of the shed. Always wanted to skin and eat one but uncle said you weren’t supposed to eat anything that was smothered to death and they would only come out at night.

 

[TwentyFive-Yard]

My neighbor got one of the last beavers off my place a few weeks back. 80+ pounds. Glad he got him too because the area around my creek looks like a Vietcong booby trap field with all of the small oak tree spikes about 16 - 18” tall.

I’ve trapped over 40+ beavers in the last 14 months, I’ve had about 7-8 50 pounders, still chasing the 60 pound mark. 80 pounds is dang impressive, that’s a big damn beaver. The North American record I believe is around 110 pounds from Iron county Wisconsin. They are decimators if left unchecked.

 

[204_ruger]

I love trapping. I done more coyote trapping this pass season. I pull my traps turkey season fixing to come in. In Arkansas we trap predators yr around on private land. But i did catch several beavers. I like snaring them mostly.

 

[BG10]

Thanks for posting those trapped beavers. I know this is a western hunting forum but I have a soft spot for the water trapper. Most people have no idea the amount of work put into a trapline. I paid a lot of bills in my younger days trapping beavers for landowners and timber companies in the south.

 

[TwentyFive-Yard]

Thanks for posting those trapped beavers. I know this is a western hunting forum but I have a soft spot for the water trapper. Most people have no idea the amount of work put into a trapline. I paid a lot of bills in my younger days trapping beavers for landowners and timber companies in the south.

The work is real. I volunteered my trapping over the last two years on the same ranch in exchange for duck and goose hunting access. The amount of work that goes in to the trapping alone is significant, then you have to take into account pelt care. Stretching and drying is significant in its own right, and I don’t know what’s more Western than that. Most of my beavers came trapped through the ice; I thrive when pulling beavers out of inches thick ice at below zero temperatures.

 

[Marmots]

Stoked to see everyone's success, trapping beavers in CO has been almost impossible being limited to box traps /live traps. Anyone have any experience live trapping beavers in the winter?

Are you allowed to use cable restraints? I honestly think they're the most humane way to live trap beaver. Beavers don't really have a neck, so they always end up wearing the cable over the shoulder or around the waist like a seatbelt. A beaver in a cable restraint usually just swims in lazy circles until I you come and grab them. Meanwhile, I have seen a lot of beavers in box traps break their teeth trying to get out. Or drown because boxes don't allow them to move with rising water levels.

I'd also rather spend a few dollars putting together a relaxing snare instead of dropping $300 on every Comstock cage trap. It's a whole lot easier to place and fine-tune a cable restraint, too.

If you have to use cage traps, I hate to say I haven't seen anything that compares to the largest (and most expensive) Comstock cage trap. They are expensive, but they are set up so animals can swim through them from either side. You can set them like a body gripper. I've had great luck with blind sets, putting lure on a branch above the box, or getting real greedy and putting apple or sweet potato right on the trigger. All the classic body grip sets can be adapted, you can sink them on poles, put them in or parallel to a culvert, kick out a dam, shove it in the lodge entrance, etc.

 

[sagerat]

Love this thread. It's been a few years since I put up fur. Are you guys selling your furs to NAFA?

 

[Marmots]

Love this thread. It's been a few years since I put up fur. Are you guys selling your furs to NAFA?

I haven't bothered putting up beavers for NAFA because fur prices are at an all-time low. At the last auction I went to there were a lot of nice pelts done up by a lot of guys who knew what they were doing, but the average beaver price was only about $11. I still put up pelts because beaver fur is beautiful, but at those prices I just use them for personal projects.

There's a lot more money to be made in selling the castor sacks to trapping supply shops. I've also had good luck dividing pelts into 2x2" squares and selling them to fly fishing supply stores, but it doesn't take more than a few animals to saturate that local market.

Ultimately the only way I've ever made decent money off of beaver is animal damage control work. A single pelt is suddenly worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to someone when the animal wearing it is dropping legacy cottonwoods through their barn roof.

 

[sagerat]

So sad the market dropped off. I quit trapping when I was a averaging $25 for a xl pelt. I live in WA and there is a ton on beaver to catch. We have to use cages unless you get a damage permit for private property. Miss it for sure. Here is a pic of what I sent to auction years ago.

 

[TwentyFive-Yard]

Love this thread. It's been a few years since I put up fur. Are you guys selling your furs to NAFA?

No, not selling the fur as of now. I am using the pelts I’ve put up for a personal projects as Marmots said as well. My main goal is to make a real blanket for my bed. After that I am planning to make all of my winter hunting gear out of beaver fur.

 

[Loo.wii]

No, not selling the fur as of now. I am using the pelts I’ve put up for a personal projects as Marmots said as well. My main goal is to make a real blanket for my bed. After that I am planning to make all of my winter hunting gear out of beaver fur.

Whats the progress on this?
Im very interested to see the result

 

[Trapperteacher]

When I shot my buck, my buddy showed up with a freshly trapped beaver in the back of the mule. I laughed when we got back to the lodge and the fellow who trapped it gave me the beaver… a first for me!

So I skinned it and froze the fresh carcass for cooking this spring. Read a bit about cooking it up but thought I’d ask… do you guys EAT BEAVER? (Ya, I know… sounds like college here ). But joking aside… and off topic a bit- but what say you trappers?

I thought I replied here. YES beaver meat is excellent if you process it right. Do everything to avoid getting castor or the oil on the meat or its gross. Brine in salt water for an hour or so and change the bloody water once or twice. It tastes like beef but 40% more calories, less fat and more nutrients. I use it in all my beef recipes. burgers, smoked and pulled on nachos, sammiches, beaver stew, beaver au jus and tacos. be sure to cook it above 165 because ya know, wild meat. Anyone I have ever fed it to has loved it.