# finally caught somthing



## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

Been trying to trap a coyote but have only educated them. Wanted to try some beaver meat for cat fox and yotes so I set a vic#3 long spring in a slide on a creek yesterday afternoon. checked it this mourning and had this one. 39lb. First thing I ever trapped other than mice and my own fingers( dang them 550 MB's have a bite!)





Gonna have to get it chuncked up now.

Steve


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Congrats ! on the beaver....congrats to your fingers also, on not getting caught !


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## A10hunter (Jan 30, 2013)

Cant beat a fine beaver pelt, I wish I lived in a place to trap them.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Sweet! Congratulations on your first Beaver!.. don't forget to get the castor sacs, and hang them on a wire in a dark cool place to dry...


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## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

I watched a video on how to get the castors. might add them to the bait.

Steve


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

:thumbsup: That's a good look'in beaver. Post up some pics of the stretched hide if you can---you know how we love pictures.

awprint:


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

congrats on the beaver catch!!


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

stevec said:


> I watched a video on how to get the castors. might add them to the bait.
> 
> Steve


Let your beaver castors cure (dry) for 7-10 days--- it will be easier to grind them.

I either use tainted beaver meat as bait or beaver castor (with additives) as lure for cats and fox. I never mix them (that's just me). The combination of beaver and castor seems to get a lot of walk-bys with such an overpowering scent. Use the beaver sac oil with some glycerin as a stand alone lure.

awprint:


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## jimmy shutt (Jun 2, 2013)

nice work on your bio-chainsaw extra sweet being first catch......i have been waiting on the Racoon pics, good luck on em!


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## fulch (Apr 2, 2013)

azpredatorhunter said:


> Sweet! Congratulations on your first Beaver!.. don't forget to get the castor sacs, and hang them on a wire in a dark cool place to dry...


Old timer that taught me said to cut them up every 3/4" or so and drop them in a jar of mineral oil. Worked for me and he had been doing it for 60+ years. Never tried them dried.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Congrats. on your catch.


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## beavertrapper (Dec 31, 2012)

nice job....save a little of the meat and turn it into pulled bbq....its awesome!


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## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

jimmy shutt said:


> nice work on your bio-chainsaw extra sweet being first catch......i have been waiting on the Racoon pics, good luck on em!


raccoons wont start till dec 1. but I have two bait buckets out now and raccoons are thick!

Cat, I didn't keep the hide, not worth anything from Oklahoma ($2 finished) and I tore it up pretty bad trying to skin it. I was mostly interested in the meat and castors. I get another and I may tan it just to hang in the reloading room. Thanks for the tip on the castors, I wont mix it with the meat. I may try some Dobbins bait solution to soak it in.

The castors have a strange aroma, not repulsive but, didn't make me hungry. never smelled anything quite like it!

Steve


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

beavertrapper said:


> nice job....save a little of the meat and turn it into pulled bbq....its awesome!


I'm with ya beavertrapper--- Just about every beaver that comes to this outfit gets its hind quarters removed and fried up in the skillet--- as long as its taken in a month that has an R in it.

awprint:


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Dobbins? Look out guys, we have a Trapperman here lol... what's your t-man handle???


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## jswift (Dec 24, 2012)

Congrats on the catch- hopefully leads to many more.


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## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

Been reading the archives on T-man. Pretty good info. Bought some traps on there real reasonable also.

raccoons are thick, keep finding more and more cat sign and fox sign. hope I can do better on them than I am on yotes.

Steve


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## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

Got this one today on the same slide. Noticed that the beaver were climbing out of the water at the edge of the pocket instead of in it. Moved the trap three inches to the left yesterday and it was in it this mourning.



Didn't skin this one. It got staked out in a hay meadow with 3 #3 vic double longs and 2 mb 550's around it.

Steve


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## catcapper (Feb 11, 2010)

stevec said:


> Got this one today on the same slide. Noticed that the beaver were climbing out of the water at the edge of the pocket instead of in it. Moved the trap three inches to the left yesterday and it was in it this mourning.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


A fella cant catch too many beaver.lol. :roflmao:

Whats your trap location from the carcass. Gang set'in a flat open field with bait usually doesn't have a high catch rate (but you may catch a coyote every night--- who knows.) . If the traps are set back far enough from the bait for a hind foot catch, I would think you would still have problems with crows/ravens/magpies trip'in the traps druing the day. With the traps back far enough (10' or more) from the bait, its a hit or miss percentage, hope'in a critter (skunks and grinners don't count.lol)may step in a trap.

The above problem exists in an "open flat field" many times.

My father, grandfather and great grandfather all had the same oppion about traps and trap'in. When a person sets a trap--- that trap should be in a location where an animal is gonna put a foot in it. Singles or gang sets--- every trap must be positioned so it hits.

Since Don got me ramble'in from a PM I answered this morn'in--- lets talk (as in PredatorTALK.lol.) about a baited gang set and use Mr.Coyote as the intended victim.

I've made mention of one of the problems that may arise with a set out in an open field, so how to better the set?.

Steve has a good bait for fox, cat and coyote. A good bait needs a good location. We all know about set'in on sign--- but a good carcass bait can pull critters in from quite a distance--- so "we" have more of a choice on our location.

When I make a baited gang set--- I look for an area with 1-2 foot tall sage or grease weed--- or a brushed up area that has tight spots with easily distinguished trails or paths run'in through it. I tuck the bait (like the beaver carcass.) up under a good size piece of brush and stake it down so it cant be carried off, and the birds have a harder time find'in it. I like to have a 5 to 6 foot open area in front of the bait (no traps here.) to give an animal feed'in room. I'll back off 15 to 20 feet from the bait and put steel in all the tight openings (trails) servicing the carcess. Now there is a circle of traps around the bait on all approach trails.

What Mr.coyote does when your not look'in.

Some pilgrams think a coyote smells a bait and says, "Humm--- no ones around so I'll just troddle on over there and do some pig'in out"--- NOT.

I coyote wants to know everything about the meal he's just found, and he wants all his senses to tell him its O.K. He'll stay back a ways and listen. He'll go down wind, up wind, and cross wind to try to catch a scent of any danger. Finally he wants to verify his target by sight. All this time he has been over here, over there--- up this trail and down that trail. All the miles he's put on around the bait while work'in it increases the changes he'll step in one of the traps that you've placed in a travel route. Your percentage of a catch goes up.

No traps in front of the bait. If he made it through the gauntlet of steel around the bait and fed--- he"ll be back.

I've caught as many as four coyotes at a set like this in one night.

awprint:


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

Great advice cat!!!!


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Some great advice there Cat and logic.


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## stevec (Jul 9, 2013)

Cat, Thank you! Makes a lot of scense. I put it in the corner of a hay meadow. Traps about four feet away, thinking the crows would land closer to the bait. I will try it in the woods next time.

Steve


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

That is some dang good advise. Talk about thinking like a coyote.


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