Spring Beaver 2012

[lyonch]

Well gentlemen i kicked off the spring beaver season in MN this past friday. I did a lot of driving around and was only able to get out 44 sets in two days of setting. The only thing that was open was rivers and streams. the lakes and ponds were still a bit froze, but i did have a good time and got a lot of scouting done. two checks yielded 8 beaver for me. I topped my personal best beaver of 65 lbs, with one that went a little over 70 lbs. I need to make a custom board to stretch that giant! After skinning and fleshing, he measured right at 54 inches from the nose to the base of the tail hanging on a nail Well here are some pics from the season thus far. I have a goal of 200 beaver. 8 down and 192 to go!!

Brandons first beaver ever and it came from a float. Also it was the very first trap set, and checked!!


Deploying the float for more!


Second beaver of the season


Then came my personal record of a little over 70lbs of beaver!!



The fourth beaver of the first check from a float too! This is also brandons second beaver.



Tailgate shot of the first check for spring beaver 2012






Day two:

First trap checked for the day and we got one!!


Then while we were resetting a float that has tipped over, a beaver came and worked the set right when we put it out. I will be making higher sides on these floast, especially the back side by the plat form!!


Right where we caught the personal record beaver, we pluck out a big and roung like a basketball female!


Two spots later, another float strikes gold!! It a pur jet black beaver! No i do not need to lay off on the doughnuts!! I just have a lot of lures in that pouch on those waders LOL.


Then later in the day, Brandon catches his 3rd beaver!! Look at how close those lodges are!


Tailgate shot of the second check.

[devildogg]

Way to go chris that black one is a beauty and oh my god that other one is a toad!!!!

[bucksnbears]

good luck on 200. open water early should help.
did you get a new truck??.
whats up with the colors of the 330's? never seen that before. is it a paint or dye??.
those floats are a great idea. is it a new thing?.
looks like your new partner got "it". hope he works out well for ya.
lay OFF the doughnuts

[lyonch]

good luck on 200. open water early should help.
did you get a new truck??.
whats up with the colors of the 330's? never seen that before. is it a paint or dye??.
those floats are a great idea. is it a new thing?.
looks like your new partner got "it". hope he works out well for ya.
lay OFF the doughnuts

I'm still running with the same black F-150.

The colors on those 330's is what i painted them. I dipped them in a good white primer, then i dipped them in paint that was thinned way down.

A fellow trapper south of me ran one float last year and only two checks it didn't have a beaver in it, so we made up 42 one morning and he took 12 and i kept 30. I have a few left in the back of the truck. I do need to adjust the sides though, as i am getting climb overs just as i thought i was going to.

Brandon definitely has what it takes to be a trapper. He is out of the truck before it is in park, and down to the trap before i can even think about getting to the water. He catches on super fast, and has an amazing work ethic!

The doughnuts are my friends and we look good together

[lyonch]

Well last night i checked 6 traps that were kind of out of the way and south of my house. Tonight is my check night, so i thought i would shave a couple hours of checking off by checking a few last night. To my suprise, the water went way up at every set i went to and we only got a littl bit of rain. I guess the beaver dams are doing their job. Anyhow it produced two really nice beaver! 10 down and 190 to go!!

[Red Fox]

Thanks for the pictures. It makes me want to be out again. The ice went off way fast. Do you make your own lure?

[lyonch]

Red Fox - Right now i am using a homemade lure, and two lures that are boughten. I sent a guy 27lbs of castor in exchange for a bunch of lure and cash. So i am using his stuff too right now. Yes the ice did go out really fast. The beaver are starting to shed a little already too! All i can hope for is that the weather cools down enough to make it last at least an extra week.

[lyonch]

Well last nights check was a complete disaster!! I had 6 traps stolen, 40% + of me line was completely under water, and i ended up having three traps messed with, and they all had a letter attached to them that said "No Tresspassing". So today the landowner will be questioned by the local CO and be investigated for trap tampering. I ended up pulling a bunch of sets, because the water has rose 3' or more in some areas. A couple of the ponds i want to set this weekend had just a touch of ice left, so setting them this weekend should be just right. I did manage to pull out 3 beaver out of the 42 sets i had out. I now only have 28 sets out I am setting all day tomorrow and have all my spots planned out, so with me an another guy, we should easily get another 100+ sets out and operating 13 down and 187 to go!!

[Coyotehunter]

I hate having traps stolen. I had one set on A school section, I also had permission on all the deeded land around the section. Someone took a western Heavy Tom out of the trap, threw it down the drainage and stole the trap!?!? threw a $800 cat down a ditch to steal a #3 modified bridger.............

[Jerry Hunsley]

That shows you how ignorant some people can be. Were you able to salvage the cat?

[lyonch]

Well i set hard on Friday and got 92 sets out with a buddy. We only had 24 sets out on a 3,000 acre piece of land before noon, than we finally got on the road and piled up some miles. I checked saturday after the first 24 hour soak and pulled out 31. The second check i pulled out 22. 53 beaver in 48 hours!

[Jerry Hunsley]

Hey Chris ! Nice job. Looks like you got it right.

[lyonch]

Here is a quick update on how things have been going. I am just idling along picking up a few here and few there. We are in a serious drought and a lot of the lodges either have beaver that moved out, or have been exposed to too many predators. I did set up a state forrest north of me. I saw a lot of wolf and cat sign when i was there and will be taking notes of those locations for next fall.

7 beaver on this check


12 beaver on this check


caught 14 but only 12 made the pic


21 beaver for this check


14 beaver for this check