Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Interested in Trapping but Have Questions

TL;DR: I want to start trapping but I'm worried about incidental catches with killer traps and I want to minimize as much suffering as possible for the trapped animal
.
Hi all, new member and first post. I live in North Idaho (Lake Pend Oreille area) and I'm thinking of starting trapping, mostly for beaver. Before I spend a day going through trappers ed just to learn it isn't for me, I'm hoping to gain some insight here first. Despite raising chickens, hunting, and fishing, I won't lie, I'm a major softy for animals. So the biggest hurdle I have getting started (besides the license and gear) is dispatching a trapped animal. I've done it before for pest control, but it wasn't something I liked doing. That leads me to only want to use killer traps like conibears, but I'm a bit concerned about incidental catches using a powerful trap like that. I'm also questioning if only using killer traps makes sense because I assume they aren't foolproof and might not actually kill every time. Is that true or are conibears generally pretty good for a quick death? I do know about snares and footholds for beaver sets in water, but a 330 seems faster and more humane than drowning.
.
I hope I don't need to say this, but I'm by no means judging the type of trapping you do so long as it's not poaching. I'm just trying to figure out what might work for me

Connibears are pretty reliable killers, though it is possible to leg catch critters on occasion. Snares…..when they work, they work awesome. Too large of a loop though and body catches are somewhat common, which usually doesn’t kill the critter.

Will beavers go into live traps? I honestly don’t know as I haven’t really tried trapping beavers before. At least not the kind that live in ponds.

IMO check the laws regarding trapping for your area
first thing off the bat.
Every place is different as far as licensing and
seasons and trap types and dimensions, etc.
from what I understand
Here I can pretty much use whatever I want and
do whatever I want as long as I'm not harvesting
for sale any of the animal

If you have varmints molesting your livestock or
property and you're squeamish about dispatching
them, you might consider allowing a trapper to
come in and handle it for you

Good Luck

Im going to suggest what you didnt want to do and attend the trappers ed class first. This will most likely give you some needed insight. Its only for a day or two. Get some guidance first it will help you alot!

Look for some good instructional videos from reputable trappers regarding your target species. Some of the most important considerations may seem very basic: proper trap placement and trap staking, etc. I have never had to dispatch an animal in a bodygripper. Any kill trap should never be used where a domestic animal might get caught.

I think a trappers ed coarse will answer most of your questions and if they aren't bring them up in the class. Not setting where waterfowl retrievers or upland bird holding banks can go a long way to preventing accidental catches.

X-trappers ed instructor.

I’ve been through the IDFG trapping class and it was put on by a great group of trappers. If you’re even interested slightly in trapping, take it. It’s inexpensive and a great way to spend the day learning.

Good advice in my opinion. Even if you decide trapping is not for you, it will be a good learning experience.

Leg hold traps are not cruel, caught my hand a few times. You can release incidental catches with them. House cats are mean when caught, keep clear of their teeth, lol.
Take the trappers ed class if new to trapping.

You can reduce to about zero the number of non-target catches if you trap beaver under the ice, on rail sets you may catch the occasional muskrat or an otter. I find beaver easier to trap under the ice than any other method, the canadians have used snares on bait poles for generations to harvest beaver, you should be able find info on the net.

While under the ice beaver get sick of the stale wood they stowed in the feed pile so will be attracted to a fresh aspen pole like flies to a cow pie, putting snares on the pole will catch the beaver as they try to feed on the pole. I used a chainsaw to cut holes in the ice, wear raingear as it is wet work, place the pole. I would put 3-4 poles around the house, I would check them two weeks after placing them and rarely did I not have at least one beaver per pole, a couple of times I had three on a pole. The fur is fine as the beaver rots very slowly at the water temps you get in the winter. After two weeks I would move to another house, rinse and repeat. One nice thing is you can carry a couple hundred snares with you and they do not cost anywhere as much as conibears.

Here is a post about the methid I am referring to under ice beaver snaring

I hope this helps, I found it a fun and productive way to harvest beaver.

Check your traps regularly and don’t worry about animals suffering. Wild animals live a hard life, suffering disease to being eaten alive.
It’s not uncommon to come upon a trapped animal sleeping after it has fought the trap for a while. Modern traps and techniques are very humane compared to the wild life they lead.

Everything about Beaver trapping is hard but it needs to be done to control populations. The traps are heavy, expensive and hard to set. Once you catch one they are heavy to carry. Fleshing them is hard. Also, Conibears are "easy" but Beaver get wise to them FAST. Very fast sometimes. Most of mine I use a Bridger #5 coil on a 10 foot chain drowner if the environment supports it. My phone has been blowing up the last 2 weeks with nuisance calls now that winter is getting close.

Check out “Trapperman.com” all the info you need and some great members that will help you out.