Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping How to keep a boy out of trouble

Today's fun.



Craig

Based on the title and the forum it was in I half expecting to see a kid with a foot stuck in a bear trap. Your way looks like it's working to though.

Hey Craig, you wouldn't believe it.

Sherpa had nowhere else to go for Tgving so he's sitting here talking about trapping and verminating mammals this winter to supplement the summer leeching and year round minnow trapping.

So, care to help keep Sherpa outta trouble?

Especially, tips on fur care and local buyers would be MOST appreciated.

GE

Boy, that's a tall order. Fact is the boy is more of a trapper than me. He just makes me buy the gear! I trap mostly beaver for self defense.


Other than that, for the Sherpa,

1. Get a license
2. Follow the rules
3. Carry a small rifle. Most of these things bite!

Craig

Fleshing boards.
Knives.
Stretchers.

A couple of comments on beaver:

I have found the easiest way for me to harvest beaver is using snares on bait poles under the ice, I think snares are legal in MN. Take the chain saw out to cut the holes in the ice, wear raingear and on a very cold day keep the saw running so it is does not ice up. Cut some aspen about 3 inches in diameter, using a knife skin some of the bark off leaving it attached on the bottom then if there is any current the bark will flutter so the beaver will see it better. Attach the snares so that when the beavers are swimming around they get caught. Set 3-5 poles with 4 snares on them around a house.

I would leave the snares in for two weeks the fur keeps fine and the beaver will be a little skittish for a while after running the chainsaw. Fire the chainsaw up and pull the poles, done right in a good sized house you should have at least one beaver per pole, two baggers are common. This method has been used in Canada for a long time, it is much more effective and easier than the traditional ladder set with conibears.

You can make the snares at night by buying the components and carry a 100 in pack basket easily. You will not be able to reuse the snare wire after catching a beaver but save the slide.

On fur handling skin the beaver and freeze them unless you have someone skilled who can teach you how to flesh or clean skin the beaver and than stretch. With beaver you are probably better off spending your time trapping and do a rough skin and freeze them. You will probably end up skinning the beaver in the field if you use snares as you may catch too many to fit on your sled. I bought fur about 30 years and saw a lot of ruined fur from people who did not know how to properly handle it. Skin it and freeze it and you will be fine.

I am sorry for the long-winded reply but I get excited about beaver trapping.

Thanks

wade