Popper,
There are some dams where that would be real handy. I took one out this summer that was 12' thick across the TOP. I had as many hours in getting it opened up. I've considered getting certified to blast them and could from one of the mines. The problem is getting insurance coverage. Last I inquired only Loyds of London would insure. I have to carry a million dollar liability now, and that is enough.
Ian,
Yes, most often I put them under the ice. The green poles are the bait, and the later in the year the more attractive they are. A beavers feed pile gets slimy/sour from being under water all winter. I'm just offering him a fresher bait than what is available to him after being ice locked for up to five months. Even at first ice, like is pictured here, beaver are still in the gathering mode, so bait poles like these are attractive until around Christmas time. Around Christmas the beaver go into a doldrum state for a couple weeks and I go pheasant hunting. The hides are also primer after Christmas and peak prime is usually through the middle of March. The slimier their feed pile gets, the better I do on the snare poles. I most often only have access to the majority of the remote colonies by snow mobile and carrying a lot of traps is not a real conducive means of getting out a long line. I can carry a square five gallon bucket full of my "Beaver Spikes", a ice chisel, and a chainsaw, and set all day. After I get the line set I pull a trailer behind my snow mobile to carry my catch. In the summer I set snares in open water conditions, but, by law they are not capable of drowning the beaver, I have to check them every 24 hours. If I use body grip type traps, footholds type traps or snares on drowning rods, capable of drowning my catch, I only need checking every 72 hours. Under ice is unlimited, and I usually check every fourth day, depending on weather conditions. I rotate my beaver lines every four years, and try to take about 70% of the beaver from any given flowage. This way I am always leaving some seed, and have "farmed" most of my lines for over 30 years. Doing this keeps me in beaver that are not chewed up from over population and territorial fighting. Most of this area doesn't get trapped accept near the roads so it's rare, even in a good market, that these beaver ever see any trapping other than my efforts. This area I'm trapping for the forestry now is 78 miles south of me. A lot more people and roads, but again, the interior needs a good thinning. This contract is in a state forest (a big piece of bog that they can't do much else with except manage the timber), and I intend to make a run at it this winter. The beaver here are a fairly long haired red to brown beaver that sell well tanned. Not a highly sought item in the fur industry because they don't die well to darker colors but do well in the curio market where my wife markets them for me. I believe I can remove around 200 from this block and stay well within my 70% quota. I've already taken a little over 40 and the conditions are horrible. It was rainy/ snow there today but suppose to get a little colder the next week. Deer season ends this Sunday, so I don't have to worry about theft soon. I already had a beaver shot with a 20 ga. shotgun, and the snare poles stolen along with the beaver last Friday. The "Wizard" that stole it's truck was parked in the water, that was running over the road where he shot it, so you'd think he'd have figured it out. Deer season is a love hate affair for most trappers here.
^These are multiple poles at one beaver lodge. The two on the right caught beaver and you can see how the "Beaver Spikes" go on the bait poles. There is a safety cable that goes through the loops of each spike and cinched on the center of a safety stick, that holds the pole upright until they freeze in, like the pole to the far left. The spikes are just driven into the poles about 1/2", just enough to stay in place to set the snare lock when the beaver gets caught. The system with the safety cable allows the beaver to go to the bottom of the pole when caught and entangle on the bottom of the pole, so it's butt or back don't freeze to the bottom of the ice, once they drown. The number or spikes/ snares put on the poles depends on the water depth at the set. Also notice the scores on the bait poles, where I remove the bark near the snare to give it eye appeal under water. Most often the beaver seeing the score thinks it is where the last beaver chewed on the pole, and is where I put my snares/spikes. I keep track of the number of beaver caught at each colony by notching a stick I stand up in the snow, and leave at each colony. That's what that dead peeled stick is behind my ice chisel.
I catch 15-18% of my beaver under ice by the extremities (feet, nose, tail). Here's one I got today by the nose.
Most of the beaver are caught with their head and at least one leg through the snare and caught right behind the front shoulders. Most of the time the first beaver caught knocks down all the snares on the pole and ruins/ bends up the one it gets caught in, while the others can be reused. I hand shape/ load every snare so when the beaver gets inside the loop of the snare, it snaps closed. The lock on the snare gets tighter as the beaver fights and won't release until I tilt the top back manually to release it off the caught beaver.
Sorry I can't find the pictures of my ready to go under the ice poles handy. I have a whole series of them but just got a new puter and the pictures are on a discs. My son will straighten it all out some day soon, before I use some of those new Ranch Dogs on this puter. LOL
Brad,
I usually take a lot of precautions, and usually avoid ice conditions like this. I can trap either open water or under ice just fine but this far south and this year it wants to conform to neither. They are paying mileage but I figured to be done with the contract by now. The rain today isn't helping ice conditions any. I'm going to skin a couple days and let it sit until she firms up some. See if we can get my dad a deer the next couple days.
Fiver,
Good analogy. The beaver house are built from the mud and sticks the beaver push up from just outside of the lodge, so the deepest water is usually just out from the lodge. That is also why the feed piles are there so they can stack it in the deepest water, so when it freezes, the snow load on the ice compresses the feed pile close to the lodge. Most often there are under water trails(runs) that come from the lodge and on either side of the feed pile/ cache. Most often there is also one run that goes from the center of the lodge , under the feed pile to the outside edge of the feed pile. Those bubbles trails (visible a couple pictures up) show the trails and are "high traffic" areas. In short, a good place to put traps or snare poles to get maximum exposure. On good ice conditions I can put just a single snare in those runs coming out of the house and catch a lot of beaver. I have to keep the snares far enough away from the lodges so that when caught, the beaver can't just swim back into the lodge. Surprising how strong an adult 40-70 lb. beaver is when they get their feet braced in a hole. Also sucks chopping frozen mud to get a shot at them!
Chris,
We also have a lot of Ash here. Makes great firewood. The paper companies here promote popple planting and it will regrow out of the stumps pretty fast. Tag Alders galore, which is a secondary beaver food source. I hate a dam that has tag alders in it. The young stuff is so tough and grows in all directions.
Definitely no shortage of flying friends here in the summer either. The skeeters were unreal earlier and we had a second spurt of deer flies for some reason. I believe that was the first time I can ever remember that happening. They were bad for about two weeks and were gone, then a second shorter batch. Seems like the older the dams the worse the mud smells. Strong tannic acid in all my ponds, so no need to dye snares. A couple days under water and they turn a nice dark color all on their own. Any chance you know of Johnny Thorpe? He was a trapper from the Adirondacks. I've met your Furbearer biologist, Gordon Bachelor. I worked with him on snare development for the BMP studies several years ago. Nice enough guy but NY is not a snare friendly state. We are working on it though.