I remember reading one time that they liked, and would come to, the smell of one of those rub on joint medicines. "Icee Hot" or some such. Let the smell blow out over the water and wait. Never tried it myself. miles
A really good tip if you are going to trap them with footholds, carry in empty sandbags and fill them with rocks on site (if there are any) for the slide wires. My old boss and I trapped some beavers that were a 2 mile hike in and he was packing in 50lb dumbells until I showed him that trick. Made the hike a whole lot easier.
Here [FL.] we can only snare and use cage traps going to trap heavy next year - injured last summer - didn't get to do much of anything hunting/trapping .
I'll keep the tips in mind - well some of them anyway .
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Ive been trying to kill these things everytime I go back to the family farm to visit... One summer my dad and I shot 25 over three weekends and would see bears come to the pond to eat the carcasses.
Heres what I learned::
22 lr works better when they are out of the water. The body bouncy really takes energy out of the hit so get more energy. 22 mag or bigger works much better. 12 gauge buckshot looks cool when you see the balls skip on the water. I aim slightly low to use the skipping feature as a "cut off the top" function. Get as high up above the water to make a bigger target and better kil shooting down on them. I erect a portable ladder stand near the pond edge to get above them. Dont put the ladder stand on a tree they will eat!!! Opening a hole in the dam really brings them in. Open it early in the morning if you want to drain water because it seems like they only work at night.
Finally.. you can sit there getting chewed up by bugs and have a big grin when you smoke them... but I'm going to start doing weekend connibear sets too.
I hate them enough that I have dedicated beaver guns.
Favorite... savage 24 in 12 ga and 223. Oh baby...
i shoot them here on the farm because they build dams which flood some of my timber. i set up a ladder stand near a dam, dig a 2-3ft. hole in said dam around first light, and let the water drain all day. before sundown i set up a spotlight attached to a car battery, shining in front of the hole i made that morning. beaver often show up about 30 minutes to 1 hr after full dark. they aren't usually afraid of the light as long as it isn't moving. i shoot them using a 12ga and #1 buck. have often killed 2-4 in one sitting. another place on the farm has a large ditch from an adjoining farm. about 4 years ago i shot 13 coming up the ditch in 3 hours. local warden has given me a depredation permit so i shoot them usually at night. 17hmr, 22lr, 223 have all worked for me but 12ga works best for me.
This is damn near a yearly problem growing rice near a river. The easiest way I found to catch them in the south is with a 330 conibear. Just find where they have a ditch dammed up. Dig a ditch through the top of the dam just wide enough to get your trap in and deep enough that they can hear water running down the backside of the dam. Funnel them into it with sticks stuck in the dam and don't forget the top of the trap to keep them going over the top. You'll get damn near one a day until they leave or you kill them all.
I never snared one this way but if that's what I had to use, this is how I'd start. You'll catch a otter every now and then doing this so if that's a problem, you've been warned
Last edited by DryPowder; 02/19/18.
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I have shot quite a few nuisance beaver. I've used .22 lr, .22 mag., .25-20, 10 mm auto and .44 magnum. Maybe a few others I've forgotten. They all work, like anything else you shoot, it's not so much what you use, it's how you use it.
