I was hunting with Lars yesterday, we tented and hunted along a creek. We set up the tent and made a moose dinner on the fire. Went out and hunted about 19.00 we saw a lot of bird activity in the stream had a nice warm spring evening , changing winds made us move along the creek so we stalked the side of the creek until we came down to the hud and had the wind in our face. We should have talken the kayak (We had it with us) instead as it was difficult to walk quiet enough. In front of the hud we had a beaver circling the water but it decided something were wrong and never came up to give us a shooting opportunity. We got out in the morning a little late at 05.20 walked down to the same hud as the creek had a frosen skin on it the beaver had probably decide to stay inside during the night as we didn`t see ant trace of activity, except a lot of different kinds of birds.



https://www.thehuntinglife.com...cc6b1a40e8181152.jpg





https://www.thehuntinglife.com...596cb8e06412e984.jpg

Scouting the area during daytime.



The beaver didn`t want to come up to eat because it felt something were wrong.




https://www.thehuntinglife.com...9b6aff2bd48407d4.jpg

Morning coffe in the tent.


Two crazy Canada gooses two didn`t want to leave.

.

Looks like wonderful countryside !

Thanks for sharing!

.

Thanks

Beaver hunting are a nice hunt to do during the low season, a good way to get kids and other new hunters into the sport or to meet up with old friends. Its inexpensive, easy access, with a lot of different animals showing up.

Would love to do that except being up tp my junk in snow !

Tell me what do you do to with the beavers as per the hide, meat and tail ?

Nice post and pictures !!!

Hip

I walked on top of the hard snow most of the time but Lars are heavy! The snow softens daytime and frose again during the night.

We use to take the skin, sometime I have also taken meat. Lars took the skull then he shot his first one it will become a nice thropy then its cleaned. You can take the teeths and make a montage on a tree plate(usually from an aspen trunk) it will look like wildboar tusks.

Lars tryed to stalk on a beaver put it slided onto the water before he could take a shot.

On an evening walk.

do people also trap beaver in Sweden?

You need a special permit to trap beaver and you need an special education ,you will not get a beaver trap permit in areas were otter lives which makes it difficult to start trapping so its rare. Fox, mink, marten, badger are the common animals for trapping here. If you need to get rid of beavers you can excavate their dam or get a permission to demolate their hud during the summer.

Great time! Mainly trap beaver here. Although I’ve shot a few as well. 22 mag is about the best caliber I feel. The kids and I caught 4 this winter. Amazing critters.

How are you finding the hide prices.

Here they are super low.

Part of the fun of trapping. I did a lot of it in years past.

Was making money.

Here are the smallest allowed cartridge .222r.
The price for beaver skin which are a fantastic resource are lower than the cost of preparation of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Nordic2:
Here are the smallest allowed cartridge .222r.
The price for beaver skin which are a fantastic resource are lower than the cost of preparation of it.

That's a nice way of saying they are mostly worthless.

Same here trapping has become a money losing activity

From Kristian "the Trapper" Nilssons homepage.

An example of price setting of a skin product(beaver gloves)
https://www.trappern.se/

THE HUNT
A price calculation for a hunt is very complicated and daring. Because when should I start counting? When should the compensation start? From the time I get out of bed in the morning, when I start sneaking out into the woods, from the time I take the passport outside the hut, when I insecure the weapon or when the beaver is hung on my shoulder and carried home? All hunts where I paddle and paddle again without seeing any signs of life at all. How should I price them? Because I "worked" well? Someone might laugh and think that it was still a pure pleasure, which can not demand payment? From an entrepreneurial perspective, I have to count on almost everything. After all, that was the basic idea, to be able to live as… or as I do. The hunt still has value, perhaps only for reasons of justice, but in any case. The hunt simply gets what is left. When everything else has been deducted. The actual work still lies in the sewing itself. Even if the hat had not been sewn without a beaver shot !? The hunt ends up symbolically - SEK 200

TO SKIN
Skinning a beaver is quite time consuming. Or a lot, depending on what you compare with. The animal is then one of the most difficult-to-skin game species available. No other skin has such an ability to dull a knife as the beaver. I can remember the time when I forgot my eyebrow at home during a distant forest hunt and the beaver was to be skinned directly on the spot. I will never forget a whetstone again. Of course, the work becomes even more burdensome if it is an adult beaver. The price is calculated on peeling and scraping - with all that entails. It takes about 180 minutes - 900: -

PREPARATION
So far, I only prepare beaver skins for my own use. This means that the customer has to pay for it himself, or that he pays me to send the skin away. I believe that there is not enough justification for a "home tanner" to receive such compensation, when the work is so extensive. I have taken a general price for this, which may be a benchmark. Prices otherwise vary between 600 and 1000 SEK for a skin. The skin should first be placed in a soaking bath. Then it should be put in a new bath to be washed thoroughly at the same time. Now let it drip dry and after that scrape. Scraping is worse than skinning. You can use the scraper tool in principle as much as you like without the skin actually being completely good. The back side towards the root of the tail is the worst and most incomprehensible. The membranes and fat in the subcutaneous tissue do not release in the same way. Once this is done, the skin should be put in a couple of different baths, to absorb the tannins. The process is thus several days long, but not continuous. Greasing and softening remain. It is the latter that makes me prefer not to prepare for anyone but myself. Greasing the skin is not particularly difficult, because it is done in connection with the other. The grease is lubricated on the leather side until it is saturated. The softening can make anyone completely discourage such a company, if it comes to quantities. Therefore, I leave it to machines elsewhere. Otherwise, just sit and pull, twist and rub the skin. Until it is completely soft as a textile, and above all it retains its consistency in the future. A beaver skin preparation takes a long time - SEK 800

SKIN VALUE
Of course, I would like to increase the value of the beaver skin much more, but after many considerations, I can not do it. The market value must therefore decide. The values ​​are at scornful levels in my opinion. Considering the qualities of the skins, and of course the deeply environmentally friendly aspect. No hazardous chemical emissions have occurred in this production. The beaver has carried the skin on his body all his life, in a fully harmonious and evolutionarily correct spirit. A skin from a game is the most organic you can imagine. If the skin is also bark tanned, the environmental considerations are the greatest. I mean, is that worth anything? To pay, in the right way… to live in a clean future. Compare everything in a consumer society, which unfortunately to some extent must exist. In that social concept, you buy imported winter gloves in consistently synthetic material, which due to the poorer quality must be replaced every other year. Also do not forget that the gloves usually went on a tanker from China ... The beaver skin gives at least no more than fifty kroner for a small yearling and at most maybe three hundred kroner for an adult - 300: -

SEWING
Here is the work! It does not matter if it is a pair of beaver leather gloves or a beaver skin hat that I am going to sew - it takes a very long time anyway. And as the situation is now, I value my time more now than before. Anyone who is often on my page sees here that I have completely adjusted the text. I have received so many fun assignments of all kinds, orders and inquiries so time has fallen more in love with me. Recently I made a pair of fox fur gloves as I really felt during the sewing process that it no longer lasts. All possible raw material prices go up in time and out of time. The tannery I work with has raised prices shockingly. A reindeer skin of excellent quality, which is sometimes used on the inside of the gloves nowadays costs the shirt. This may well be so. But now it is my time that I value higher. My craft has increased in demand and the product range in general. I want to be out in the woods more than at home at the workbench. When I now sat and sewed on the foxskin gloves, I spontaneously felt that if people can pay several, sometimes several several thousand kroner on membrane pants, hunting gear, down jackets and boots, then why should I be ashamed to reasonably charge for the extremely high quality crafts that I make? When I also, as a self-employed person, have to pay my fees, and then finally take out a salary - there is usually not much left. Sewing is so terribly time consuming and puts so much strain on hands and fingers that it can probably never be understood if you have not tried it yourself. The edging, for example, on the foxskin gloves; I really hate it! There are three layers of leather to be fitted, fur to be poked away and everything must be sewn with one and the same thread that extends all around the wrist. That moment is the worst I know. If I take it easy and do not stress, I can sit for almost two working days for a pair of beaver leather gloves. Then I get lunch and coffee moments. No machine in the world can replace what my hands do, and I will continue to sew everything by hand. So far, there are people out there who appreciate genuine craftsmanship. All prices are adjusted. My craft can not be compared with anything else - 2800: -

If one is doing it as a business one needs to start calculation with every penny spent. Every hour worked.

If one is doing it as a hobby then there is no need to calculate at all.

The last time I did any serious trapping. After all the expenses. I had my children keep track as part of their lessons.

I made a whole. $1.65 an hour far less then I was making at my regular job.

Back when fur prices were good. I could in a few weeks make more money then in a whole summer of labor.

I have hobbies that are a lot more fun and a lot less labor. To spend money on.