Redi's Trap line

[Norman89]

I watch a lot of Clint Locklear of predator control group and I've been debating to build a monster horse panel trap for beaver and otter like he did just for fast moving water where you can't really make a standard swim through work super well

[huntingfool7]

How big would a colony trap for beaver need to be?  With the swing panel doors and a beaver plugging one end, seems it'd have to be 4'-5' long or so.

[Norman89]

The one Clint made was I believe 2'x2'x6' he built it for one exact spot where the water was just way too fast to set. If I recall right it was made of 2x4 horse panel weight over a hundred pounds. But his first check I think he had a beaver and an otter in it pinned by the water against the down stream side. Pretty much he relied on the speed at which the critters were moving through there to slam them into the trap and it worked very well for him. I'll see if I can find the video quick

[Norman89]

Watch "How to trap otter and beaver with colony cage trap trapping" on YouTube

[redi]

Good info thank you.

[huntingfool7]

I'd read that some guys in the Midwest were using large colony traps for beaver.  Those traps were round with the round funnel similar to muskrat traps.  They were very large and were built on site.

[Humptulips]

I didn't watch the video posted but I did watch video of Clint's trap in the past. Maybe the same video. I have to question the usability of such a trap. His trap was big and heavy so let's talk transport of the thing. It seems like it would be a pain to get it to where you could use it plus the size is going to limit where you can use it. Also he mentioned catching multiple animals at once. That sounds good until you think about getting a heavy trap to start with that contains a couple big beavers out of the water.
I think one would be better with a more portable and more versatile trap.
For those large channels I would opt to stack traps. This year I have done that in a couple places.
For swift current I have explained on here in the past several times how to set a swim through in swift water without the current springing the trap. The biggest concern I have in current is drift washing into the trap. In my experience that will clog up a colony trap just as fast as a swim through.

[Norman89]

Oh I completely agree Bruce you can see in the video how hard he struggles to bring this tank out of the water! 100+ pound trap with a 25lb otter and 50lb beaver in it would be an absolute BEAR to wrestle around! I do think there could be an application for a large colony but this is far overbuilt to what I think is necessary. Now if you constructed a large colony of that wire you use on your traps Bruce and made it folding? I could see a use for that for sure. Not terrible to pack around, not to heavy, a good pinch point and it could pay off big in 1 catch. But I bet it would be a healthy bill to sell one for the amount of material obviously depending on the size of it just my

[redi]

Couple more beaver. Saw the bigger one feeding next to a farm on the ditch bank. Got permission and put a basket trap in the culvert.

[Norman89]

Nice work 

[lewy]

 

[redi]

Got a 35 pound beaver and 21 pound coon yesterday

[redi]

Got my son out to check traps today. We got a nice muskrat in a colony trap and set another beaver trap. Always good to be out with my best partner. He always brings luck.

[3nails]

 Glad you can water trap now. Looks like we'll be frozen out for awhile.

[bobcat]

Nice catch!