beav

[big wood]

the 32# beaver I caught tonight had some huge gashes on its back and neck. I can only figure it got whooped on by a dominent male. does anyone think the same or know something different??

[one more]

Some beaver seem to do more fighting than others.  Most older beaver, males and females, have a lot of scars that heal up quite well.  Usually you can't see the old scars on the fur side unless the wounds had been infected and the fur grows back scraggly.  Also when the beaver fight each other there will be at least a couple places where you can see upper teeth cuts.   

My friend in Galena believed that otters would sometimes attack beaver.  According to books cougars and bears attack beavers.   Beaver meat does make the best bait for almost everything.
Diane

[nwwanderer]

Check out the trail cam predators on the beaver dam.  Looks like everything likes them.

[Humptulips]

Too high a poulation of beaver and they fight. Later in the year towards spring you get more damaged beaver too.

I think if a cougar or bear grabs one you won't see any scars. They're toast.

[big wood]

bruce, do you think I should stop for the year. I was going to stop march 1st and finish the year on land

[big wood]

Here is a pic under the jaw. Also 4 or 5 bites on back

[Humptulips]

bruce, do you think I should stop for the year. I was going to stop march 1st and finish the year on land

If you have the beaver I wouldn't. It could be still a small percentage chewed up. If you get a few in a row that are all chewed up then I would reconsider trapping them.

[big wood]

I think there are quite a few in there. I see new sign almost every day.and I caught 1 26# and the rest have been 30# to 45#. not one kit. all with one set.

[scotty1969]

i wonder if it got into the fight while it was in the trap.

[big wood]

wound seemed a couple days old. and starting to stink a little

[Humptulips]

I don't know how  a beaver could do much damage to each other through a cage.
Before cage traps I have caught a few that got into a fight when in a trap. Not typical to have a live beaver in a trap but sometimes the unexpected happens. When a beaver is in a trap and a fight ensues it is always killed and it will have many bites. Had some with well over a hundred bites.

[pnwmtnmn]

Have had one beaver that didn't go down the slide wire and it looked like a rawhide net.

[castor gitter]

  yes hundreds of bites like Bruce said when you could used other traps. Once I had one in a shallow water set caught in a conibear, well others didn't like it in the channel and worked over the hide. My thought is if you catch several like that in the same spot, keep trapping! Need to thin the population.

Here's a thought from a Canadian friend and how he runs his line. They trap out whole colonies, then leave one alone and go back and forth like that. Idea is that the juveniles when dispersing will have a place to go closer and less fighting/scaring happens. This of course in a densely populated area. And rotate which colonies get trapped each year to get healthier colonies in general. Also if you take all the older beaver you leave no breeders, kits might not make it on their own so why let em die like that. Then if you only take one adult you can run the risk of it being very territorial and not letting a new one in to breed. Or they do inbreed- studies shown that a black beaver is inbred usually. This is all his saying but I tend to agree. Areas are different but we all manage/farm our lines accordingly.

[big wood]

sounds like good advice castor. But I pulled them and figured that I would leave the seed for next year.

[castor gitter]

All depends on your area, no one can make the call but you. Usually your gut feeling is good to follow . Especially on a good river you can trap alot!!! Without hurting the population. Years of trapping the same area gives you the best way to judge. Time on the line:). Happy trapping