Daughters quest for a beaver

[dakids]

After watching a lot of videos on youtube and talking for my neighbor, who traps, we set out to trap a beaver.  We left home on friday before noon and planned on setting 2 coniber traps.  After a 3 hour drive we were finally to our land. We quickly dropped off our gear in our cabin and we were off for a mile walk to the beaver lodge with the traps.  The snow was knee deep on top of the hills and waist deep in the low spots. My legs felt like jello by the time we got to the lodge.  We saw 2 does and 2 fawns on our way. We found 2 runs where the ice was only an inch thick.  I tried to see how deep the water was with the ice chisel and never hit bottom.   We used a peeled potato on one trap and a piece of poplar on the other as bait.  The traps were set and we were hopeful.  The walk back to the cabin was much easier but I was ready for bed.

[lentz]

When will u check them

[dakids]

Already did. Day 2 will be posted tommorrow

[MTCOMMER]

THE SUSPENSE IS KILLER!!!   

[ray634]

Good luck!I hope you get every last one of those .

[dakids]

Day 2 was very sunny and Sierra was chomping at the bit and eager to check the traps.  The mile walk was much easier due to the snow was now hard.  I had a hard time keeping up with the speed demon of a daughter.  The day before we piled a bunch of snow on top of the hole in the ice to help prevent it from freezing shut.  It helped.  The beaver were smart enough to avoid the traps so far.  We had one more day and hopefully one would make a mistake.  I brought a long stick with to check the water depth.  There was about 7 feet of water next to the lodge.  We had the trap about 2 feet below the ice and between the lodge and one of the big food cache in a run.  Here are a few pics.

Day 3 will be posted tommorrow. Stay tuned    

[Fawkinnae]

This is good stuff. I feel like I'm watching a movie.

[lentz]

There will be a beaver in one of the traps

[glenn57]

WHEN YOUR DONE THERE i know a few places over by talmoon and spring lake you can have a day with them dang things!!!!!!!!

[dakids]

If I lived up north I would take you up on the offer.  I trapped a little bit when I was younger and loved it.  Its fun to try and figure out where to put the trap.  Its a little like deer hunting, A small detail can make all the differance.

[dakids]

Day 3
My speed demon daughter decided to sleep in Sunday morning because we stayed up late the night before watching "Escanabe in Damoonlight".  We started the trek to the beaver lodge around 11.  She wasn't as enthused as the day before and I could actually keep up with her.  When we got to the lodge it didn't look like the sticks that the traps were attached to had moved.  She scraped the snow off the hole in the ice and pulled on the trap.  Nothing in the first trap.  Still hopeful she eagerly cleared the snow off the other hole and pulled the trap.  Nothing in that trap as well.  She was a little disappointed but vows to not give up.  She said "They may have won the first battle but we will win the war."  There was a lot of green leaves and small saplings still visible when we looked down the hole so the beavers were not starving.   We did learn a few things.  Next time we won't have to make a lot of noise the first day looking for the runs and we won't pull the traps out of the water when we check them.  We probably scared the crap out of them with all the pounding we did.  We will also bring really long poles to secure the traps to as apposed to just letting them swing below the ice.  Also try and use white birch instead of poplar as bait.  It was a lot of fun watching my daughter get excited about something new.  The weekend was PRICELESS.

The first pic below is of the vent hole in the lodge so we knew that there were beavers using the lodge.

[deadeye]

Great pictures and I'm sure you had a great time.  Trapping below the ice is tricky.  A guy that used to post here came with me a couple years ago and set some traps through the ice.  I think ever trap was set off or had a beaver or muskrat in it.   

[weldgasman]

Can't wait to hear about the next attempt. Good Luck!!