There are several beaver on my property eating whole apple trees so I plan to thin them out.

I've never dealt with one of these large rodents before and am not sure if you skin them like a deer, cut through the belly, or some other way.

I am looking to get a hide or two tanned, fur on, for some pillows in the living room.

Advice?

hello Ann,
Try http://www.mntrappers.com/skinning.html. I use a pruning shears for the feet. You will need to remove the beaver from your neighbor's property to. If not new ones will fill the void on your land.
John

Cool, thanks! Yip, I will get them all.

Best way to eradicate them is to spotlight them at night. Break the dam at sunset and then wait with a spotlight and .22 Hornet or 12 guage with buckshot.

They do seem nocturnal, is that correct? BTW- also on my list is porkypines, they are chowing tree tops and bark but I have not seen them during daylight hours.

330's and maybe a 22 at dusk will clean them out quick.
John

They are nocturnal. The easiest "legal" way is to trap them with 330 conibears. Set the traps underwater in route to paths they take on land. Set up a dive pole to make them dive under the surface and into the trap. It kills them almost instantly.

Foot traps are much harder to take beaver with and require some sort of drowning rig or they will chew a leg off...I had that happen.

Since I am scouting now I wonder how, when legal season starts, just how well trapping will work with ice on the water?

How do you all deal with that?

That really gets your attention when they start eatin your good apple trees. Hope you get them. I caught 3 beavers last year, its not too hard, but i used foot traps. If you use 330's be careful, and good luck.

Plinker

I all most always fall thru. Good fun in january. If you can trap by the hut you can see were they are coming out and hitting the feed cake. Any other place they come out will be easy to see. Beaver leave a lot of sigh on what they are doing.
John

If snaring is legal in Vermont, they are easy to catch under the ice. I would be happy to telll you how if snaring is legal. Let me know by email if snaring is legal and I will post the method on this forum.

wade at dajanibrown.com

Wade,

Unfortunately snaring isn't legal here in Vermont, I am very good with snares and find them to be the safest method. Dog people fear them yet they do not kill dogs, a snared dog will sit there unharmed until you release it. Wild K-9s fight the snare and die very quickly.

So here where I am, one has to use foot holds and conibears, I do not like either. Both are bad in my eyes, conibears do not offer someones pet a chance, it kills no matter what. A foot hold/leg hold causes pain and anguish until a trapped animal is dispatched or it chews itself free. Then, what if you do trap someone's dog? I would be afraid to try and release a trapped, hurting, snapping angry dog.

Just my .02!

Zola, what's a feed cake?

Also, is there anything else useable on a beaver besides the pelt? Is the meat good, bad? I don't like waste if possible.

Where are the castors? I'd like to try trapping fisher cats and mink as well. What's the best way to preserve them?

Ann,
The pile of branches that they place next to the hut. Feed cake may not be the right term, I learned it from a friend. Coni's are safe if you use them under water. Safe for dogs that is not beavers and your fingers. Wade right up something about snaring under water. I always like to try new things.
John

The castors are located on either side of the animal very near the anal opening. they will be under some fat and you need to cut them out and dry them and then grind them. they smell wonderful (at least to me.

Fisher are easy to trap. Cubby sets work very well. A good skunk based lure is best in the winter. I used to drive around in the fall picking up dead skunks off the road and then saving them for the winter to use for trapping. If there is any smell to them they will get almost every critters attention in the winter because those critters know that skunk has fat on it and that is what they need to survive. I once buried a skunk in about 3 feet of hard packed snow and within a week it was dug out by coyotes.

Ann,

If your pond or wherever the hut is located is frozen over, the beavers will lay out on top of the hut and sleep n the cold sunny days. If I can get close to the hut, I use a heavy load of buckshot in my 1100 Remington and sometimes kill all of them. Actually it doesn't have to be iced over. Just a real cold but bright, sunny day will bring them out to sun and/or sleep.

If you can't get closer than about 40 yards, then use a scoped centerfire if legal in the area. If not a .22 will work but you will might/will cripple them up. Beavers are tough and can take a lot of lead. On those cold, clear days just wait till its warms up about noon or so and check the huts. I have wiped them out of certain places with this method. And it is the easiest by far compared to trapping.

If the water is iced over they will just keep on coming back to the hut and you can hit them twice a day. They have no other place to go.

RE: Conibears, get some scent and it will improve your chances.. Beaver get spooky of conibears pretty quick if they snap a trap and don't get caught. I can give more info on conibears if needed. I've caught several hundred beaver with the 330's. You can order safety devices to protect your fingers from trapping supply catalogs. Just remember to remove it when your trap is set or it won't catch the beaver; just snap on it and then you have a trap wary beaver. Merg

(deleted, for the good of all)

You guys are great, 'cept you, Collins.

I am not a trapper Ann but I have used the 330's to get rid of coons in my chicken yard. You need to get your self a trap setting aid, what I mean is, I made a big pair ao pliers about 30" long out of some 1/4" by 1 1/2" steel with grooves in the end and a bolt in the middle, to set and handle them. Easy on the fingers.

These conibear traps sound pretty dangerous! Wish I could use my snares, they are sooooo easy.

BTW- Thank you, Collins, you're a good man after all!

Ann,

There is a good trapping supplier in Louisana that has about anything imaginable needed for trapping about any critter.

They carry trap tongs like chain mentioned that are made especially for conibears so they might hold the trap a little better and only cost about $12.00. They are called large trap tongs and really work good. Also the little spring loaded deal that protects your fingers is called a "safety gripper".

R-P Outdoors 1-800-762-2706 Just call them toll free at this number and about anyone who answers will fix up your order and send you a catalog, but in the meantime, you don't have to mess with looking up the stuff. They also carry all kinds of scents. The old standard Hawbakers works good for me but beaver will get scent smart too. Sometimes we use different scents on different trap sets in the same area.

If you find a scent mound that the beaver made, just put some of your scent on it and set the 330 out in the water so it only sticks out of the water about 2 inches max and about a foot out from the bank or wherever the mound is. Then place a few sticks in the mud to funnel the beaver into the trap. Sometimes we use floating logs or limbs to funnel them in.

If you can't find any mounds that are trapable, then make your own with sticks and mud. Throw that stuff 8 inches up the bank and then make a small "slide" with your boot by rubbing it up and down to the mound from down in the water so it will look like beaver has been messing around there. After setting the trap, you can lay a short dead stick on top of it to make the beaver dive into it but I know some good trappers who don't fool with doing that. That stick needs to be dead or beaver might swim up and grab it and set off the trap and not get caught. However, if they haven't been messed with much the beaver will just go right under the top of the trap sticking out of the water and be caught. Just DO NOT put any scent on the trap or beaver will bump it and not get caught.

Something else to attract beaver to the mound is to shave up some green maple sticks and drop on top of the mound. Mr. Beaver will come to see what's going on but the connibear will stop him short if things go right. Merg

Beavers make a scent mound?

Egads, these giant rats are far more complicated than I imagined!

Well, I've always enjoyed a challenge. I am glad you guys are around to educate me. I am sure I would be total loss in a blond moment with out you all.

I have noticed they do make some serious trails where it looks like they just kind of slide along like a seal or a land whale. I cannot believe how destructive they are yet at the same time be amazed at the structures they build and how strong they appear to be.

It really looks like a human made some of the dams, they are so precise.

Ann when all else fails, Blast them out. TNT Dynamite, Nitro Glycerin works every time

Ann,

If you are seeing slides as you describe you have a piece of cake! You can set your snare near the bottom of that slide at water's edge on the downhill side. Not where he is coming out but where he is going down so his inertia will carry him on in to the snare. You really need chest waders for beaver work cause you can do a better job of making the sets by getting out in the water on your knees where you can relax and stay dry and keep your mind on trapping and not falling in the water.

I still prefer connibears for this application. Set them about a foot out in the water with top of trap out of the water about two inches with a dive stick on top of the trap to make him dive into it instead of going over the top of it, ruining everything and not getting caught. Instant kill.

Problem with snares is the beaver stays alive chewing and tearing up everything it can reach which spooks the other beaver.

You really just need a good trapper to show you how to handle connibears. Its not that big of a deal if you have tongs and a safety gripper. Most of the time I don't use either one and have not gotten hurt by them yet. You must be confident in knowing what you are doing and not be scared of them. We often keep around 15 set every day in effort to protect over 10,000 acres of bottomland hardwood timber.

If you really want to experience the intricacies of beaver dam construction, just try tearing out a few manually with a potato rake. Beavers are amazing builders and beat the Corps of Engineers hydrologists hands down. They pick the very most efficient spot to construct a dam to catch water and then manage to have it under an overhang where it is well hidden. Then, if left alone, they will build a "check dam" below it in case the main one breaks, they won't lose all their water. Merg

Don't shoot them if you want them tanned (dressed is the proper term, you tan leather and you dress fur) . When you get to the point of dressing send them to Moyle Tannery in idaho, they are on the web, Google them and they will pop right up. Good folks

I hope you are good at skinning and fleshing. Beaver take alot of work to prepare properly, and improperly fleshed beaver are almost impossible to tan. If you need to locate your State Trapping Association (look in Trapper and Predator Caller Magazine) ask them for the name of a local who could help if you need it.


mike

I've always used a scoed 22 and sometimes a flashlight. Especially on moonlit nights, find a spot next to the water were you can see a pool of light from the moon. When the beaver swim by on the surface there will be a shimering v in the moon light. put the crosshairs on the tip of the v and squeeze the trigger. May need a small boat to recover them but they do float. May not help this time of year, I forget that ice and snow are endagered species in South Carolina, and It's rare for me to see either. Same technique works good for muskrat also.

Personally I think muskrat, beaver and otter are a pain in the a$$ to skin but they all taste good. Headshots preserve the hide. Took an otter today, target of opportunity, with my 375 H&H without ruining the hide, while thinning out hogs.

Hi Ann:
We chatted some months ago. Glad to hear you're still doing well up there.

Way back about 1961 when I was a kid working on a ranch. We went out looking for a elk and watched a young beaver swimming on a pond for hours.
Finally it was getting too late and he 7 miles to walk back to the house. Orin said if I could hit it in the head with my '06 we'd have some great eating the next night.

Well I shot a bit low and there wasn't anything left of the front end. So we had beaver roast. Sure was good, a bit greasy, but, it was good eating.

He said you've got to get 'em in their first yr, otherwise the meat's not very good tasting. Too long ago to recall what he said was wrong with it. Might be the flavor of the fat or something. Only way to know for sure is to try it.

Ground hog's the same way. Get a young one. But, we seldom have them around these parts in CO. What few there are is in the mtns and mostly on the other side of the mtns.

Wish you well,

George

By the way, if you are looking to get some tanned, I can personally recommend USA FOXX in Duluth, Minnesota. They tanned 35 of them for me a couple of years ago when I had a beaver coat made for the wife. Nice garment style tan.

George,

I wonder if an older one would cook up nice as a pot roast simmering all day in a crock pot?

22WRF,

How many "rat whales" did you need to make that coat? A coat sounds quite appealing to me.

I think it was something like 15 of so. it all depends on what size they are, and we had a hood made for it as well (this is a full lenght coat).

These were prime spring Minnesota beaver and if I had it to do all over again I would have had them sheared first as the full hair coat is a little bit on the heavy side. I still have a pile of those furs left just sitting here. Mabye I should have a jacket made for myself, although I just got a new jacket made from my own deer skins last fall from Ubers in Owatonna Minnesota.

http://www.usafoxx.com/

NYC now has it's first beaver in 200 years !!!Found in the Bronx river this male brings back some NYC history. The founding of NY was in part for the fur trade especially beaver .The Astor family made it's fortune in this business and the seal of NYC has a beaver !!! So Ann, send them to NYC !

If you have 330's and fairly thick ice, you can easily create an effective under-water set with 2 thin wires and a few choice bait sticks.

Attach the one end of the wires to the pivots twixt the jaws. You will use these to wire the bait sticks between the jaws (on the bottom). Be sure to space the sticks so that the trigger wires are well clear. If you do this right, the trap, when cocked will securely hold the bait sticks in a place to make the beaver enter the trap to chew the sticks out.

When the trap is prepared, find your area of iced over high activity and punch a hole in the ice. Lower the live trap down into the water. Lower slowly till you find bottom. Then pull up a foot or so. Use a stick to wrap the trap chain or wire around to keep the trap at the correct depth. Secure your hole by filling with reeds/weeds...or place card board box over hole and cover with snow.

Then every couple daze, break out the thin ice in the hole and pull the Conibear up to check. If a beaver spots your bait underwater, he will attempt to chew it out of your conibear. He will trip the wire and he will be yours.