Sophomore season

[ouchfoss]

This will be my first full season of trapping and so far I think I'm doing ok. I gets to be really exciting and worth the money and effort when you start actually getting animals. Got beavers #4 and #5 today and they are my biggest so far. I ended up getting them both in the same pond area and was wondering if I should pull the traps and leave that spot alone for the year. I am almost positive there is still another beaver in the pond but both beavers I got were in the 40 lb range so I would assume they were the ma and pa of the that area (not sure how to sex them yet).

[billythekidrock]

Congrats Jesse.

[rasbo]

love trapping them,congrats on a fine catch

[Machias]

Awesome job, congrats.

[3nails]

 I pulled 12 out of a pond last year and there were several more there when I left. A couple 60+ lbers and another 5-6 50+. I say take a couple more. If there's a river system nearby or a lake there'll still be plenty around.
 Good job!

[ouchfoss]

I pulled 12 out of a pond last year and there were several more there when I left. A couple 60+ lbers and another 5-6 50+. I say take a couple more. If there's a river system nearby or a lake there'll still be plenty around.
 Good job!

Thats kinda what I was thinking but wanted an opinion on this since this is still a learning experience for me. I would hate to ruin an area for the next years trapping season but then again the main channel of the Quinault river is about 200 yards away and there also seems to be a lot of beaver activity in every direction around this area. It seems like there is alot more activity everywhere you go this year but that could also be because I am actually looking for it now during elk and deer season (Beaver scouting    ).

[Alpinist]

...both beavers I got were in the 40 lb range so I would assume they were the ma and pa of the that area (not sure how to sex them yet).

Sexing a beaver in the field is not easy (and don't let anyone see you trying it). Beaver have a common urogenital opening (called a cloaca), kinda like a chicken. There is no external genitalia (probably a good thing when you live in cold water). Four enlarged nipples can be observed in nursing females, but otherwise they're not noticeable. Males can sometimes be identified by feeling the lower abdomen for the penis bone. (Or for the more intrepid biologist, by inserting a finger into the cloaca to feel for the penis bone.)

One of the most reliable methods biologists use to determine the sex of a beaver in the field is by the color and consistency of the anal gland secretions (castor). If it's brown or sepia and thick, it's from a male. If it's olive to yellowish-tan and more runny, it's from a female.

Once you've skinned a beaver it's pretty easy to tell whether it has a penis and testes.

[ouchfoss]

After skinning we found out it was two females. A couple of the ponds were dirty this morning so there must still more left in there but nothing was in the traps today.
Kinda odd but there was a dead yearling beaver in the most upstream pond that was froze into the ice. Looks like maybe an 8-10 lb one and im guessing its been there since before i started trapping in that area.

[jackmaster]

back when we trapped an area we would pull are sets once we started catchn small beavers, it always seems like we started out catchn big ones and then they would consistently catch small ones so we would move out of that area until the next year. do you do any cats sets ?

[ouchfoss]

Not yet. I only have three cat traps built at the moment and I want to have more ready to go before I start on my live trapping sets. I have seen fresh cat tracks in a couple different spots over the last week, not mention fresh coon tracks everywhere.

[hardkorrhunter]

Good goin foss, them beaver been out smarting me since the season opener.

[ouchfoss]

Good goin foss, them beaver been out smarting me since the season opener.

Thanks. There was one pond area that I spent two weeks targeting because it was full of active beaver sign and I never got one so I know the frustration. Got five muskrat from there though so it wasnt a complete waste of time.

[ouchfoss]

Havent done much trapping in the last few weeks and figured it was about time to start going after dry land fur so I put out one of my newly designed cat traps and on day 5 I got one!
Maybe 15 pound female that is really red. 

[billythekidrock]

Nice!

[hardkorrhunter]

Sweetness!

[Machias]

Very pretty!

[ouchfoss]

Very red.

[ouchfoss]

Otter #2 for the year. Not a jumbo but I'm still happy!