When I trapped beaver my favorite set was a bait set with a drowner. For the drowner I would tie a large weight (usually a rock) on a piece of stranded clothes line wire and toss it in the water. Wire a couple of traps to a small L shaped bracket (these are about 1 1/2 or 2inches long) and slide the bracket on the wire with the trap chain end pointing to the weight. Drive a stake on land and tie off the wire making sure it is taunt. Set your traps in the water next to the bank and place some brush in the water making a vee to the traps. Dont use green wood for the v or the stake. Cut a green pole (I always used aspen) and place it at the waters edge behind the trap. strip some of the bark off and change it if you use the site more than a couple days. When bucky beaver patrols his water he will see and smell the bait stick and the brush will guide him right in to your traps, when he gets in a trap he will go to water for safety and will run the traps down to the end of the wire and will dround. As a kid i used to get anxious and run my trapline my traps in the middle of the night and again the next morning and have taken two beaver out of the same set in one night. Seems like I always caught the smaller ones before I could get the grandaddys. This set is hard for me to explain but:
Good Luck
|