Author Topic: early beaver trapping  (Read 1039 times)

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Offline Dand

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early beaver trapping
« on: October 17, 2008, 12:10:29 AM »
Out here in GMU 17 beaver trapping season opens Oct 10.

Last summer when the city asked me to eliminate some beavers that were blocking a culvert I found a new beaver dam near our neighborhood. I eliminated 3 beaver that were damming the culvert but, this group mostly stayed out of the culvert.  I decided to wait for the Oct 10 trapping opener to get these as I'm sure they'd eventually start plugging culverts.  So I set up as soon I had the opportunity after the season opened. While the hides might not be fully prime, I thought it would be a good time before there was enough snow and ice for kids to run around with snogos and mess with any set or follow my tracks to the sets.

I made 3 sets on Tuesday.  Wednesday evening I took the boys to check it. 

Bingo, 2 less culvert cloggers!  The smaller one weighed 34.5 lbs and was caught in a 330 Conibear.  That trap really mashed the animal - you can see how the one on the right seems to have a crease across it.  The hide itself has a dark mark on the inside.



 The bigger one (Emmett is clowning with) weighed 48.4 pounds. I caught it with a #3 Duke coil spring - front foot catch.  The animals had been digging their "pond" deeper and piling the mud on their new little house. I'm  pleased that I could have success overnight, especially with the foot hold trap. I'm not a very experienced trapper.

Ben dragged the big beaver about 1/4 mile (through the woods on snow) to where we could put it on a sled and drag it home. Sure glad he's big enough to be a real help. Winter has come early and the snow has stayed on the ground.

Lots of fleshing to do.  Might do a beaver roast this weekend. This is turning into a real fun fall for us. I'll get the hides tanned and have a local lady make mittens for the boys.


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liberal Justice Hugo Black said, and I quote: "There are 'absolutes' in our Bill of Rights, and they were put there on purpose by men who knew what words meant and meant their prohibitions to be 'absolutes.'" End quote. From a recent article by Wayne LaPierre NRA

Offline S.E.Ak

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Re: early beaver trapping
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2008, 05:31:41 AM »
Looks like you are catching on real fast. Good luck on your trapping future and mind how your stick floats.

Offline Dand

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Re: early beaver trapping
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2008, 12:42:38 PM »
roasted up a hind leg of the big beaver last night. It turned out pretty darned good.  I'm always surprised how good it can be.  It  would have been better if I'd not pre-boiled it quite so long (40 min) used a bit less bay leaf, and roasted it at 300 for 1.5 hrs instead of 325 for that long. Still darned good. Gave the rest to a musher. Dang! His dogs will be eating really well.  Might save more meat for myself next time.
NRA Life

liberal Justice Hugo Black said, and I quote: "There are 'absolutes' in our Bill of Rights, and they were put there on purpose by men who knew what words meant and meant their prohibitions to be 'absolutes.'" End quote. From a recent article by Wayne LaPierre NRA

Offline S.E.Ak

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Re: early beaver trapping
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2008, 04:25:09 PM »
Skin out the tail next time and fry it up

Offline Dand

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Re: early beaver trapping
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2008, 05:45:40 PM »
I looked at them but haven't tried them.  Does the fat in the tail taste different from the fat on the meat?  I'm saving the tails for trap bait at this point.

NRA Life

liberal Justice Hugo Black said, and I quote: "There are 'absolutes' in our Bill of Rights, and they were put there on purpose by men who knew what words meant and meant their prohibitions to be 'absolutes.'" End quote. From a recent article by Wayne LaPierre NRA

Offline S.E.Ak

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Re: early beaver trapping
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2008, 04:45:04 AM »
Don't remember a taste difference.We cut most of the fat off leaving mostly a very strong mussel.Fried it good and had it with fried potatoes and onion.Heck I was alot younger then but think it was fairly good eating.The other option was potted meat or sewer trout