Beavers can be especially destructive this time of year when the temperatures drop in the fall and winter. Shortly after college when I became interested in some of the "old ways" of our ancestors, I met up with a local trapper and for one season helped him harvest fur in my area. It was a learning experience and especially beneficial now that I live on a homestead and have the need to trap certain problem animals that may be posing a danger to livestock or simply being destructive.
An American Homestead is about modern homesteading education and this year we are going to be doing some more trapping videos. We will be showing how to run a trap line, process the animal and bring the fur to a usable product.
DISCLAIMER
I know some people feel very strongly about trapping and using animal products. Most of these people if they were honest have never lived in close proximity of the animals they would like to protect. Thus they never see the destructive nature of a Beaver, Raccoon or even a Coyote. I'm not a blood thirsty human. I just want to help conservation by controlling the population and at the same time not woefully discard an animal that could be used, appreciated and even passed down from generation to generation
One of my first beaver trapping experiences was about almost 12 years ago. I came across this huge dam. It stood about 5 feet tall.
Danger
Nearby this dam, were some electrical power lines. Beavers were slowing working on cutting down two trees that would have knocked out the power lines causing major damage. County authorities were called and they cut down the trees in a way that did not damage the power lines and I went to work on catching the beavers.
I pulled out 12 beavers from this one location. Everyday I went back to check my traps and sure enough, I had another beaver or two caught in my traps. This was a true infestation.
Beavers usually always travel along the same pathways. They are creatures of habit and so that makes catching them a bit easy. You just need to find their avenues of travel and set traps along side it. Rats are the same way. In fact, Beavers are closely related to the common rat.
Take a look at this photo. You can clearly see the rut pathway that has been formed in the mud because of the constant travel of the beavers. And you notice that this is where I placed my trap.
Since I have been homesteading, there have only been a few opportunities to use my trapping skills. Mostly because the trapping season in the south is not as long and also because there is so much more to do around here that I never find the time. But this year, we are going to make it happen for some of our winter episodes.
Two years ago there was a woman in town who needed help because she had a beaver problem. They were destroying her dam and pond by her house. The beavers were borrowing into the man made dam and weakening it. It was only a matter of time before the dam gave way and the pond would be ruined costing thousands of dollars worth of repair and completely destroying the ecosystem of the pond.
Here is a picture of the pond.
The evidence of the destruction was everywhere with trees being cut down and strewn about. It only takes 1 or 2 beavers to really destroy an area and quickly change its landscape.
So just like before, I quickly looked for and discovered the beavers well traveled paths and set traps in place to catch them. This was a path I found between two rocks on the edge of the pond. The trap went in easily.
It's also a good idea to search and find dens that have been created by the beavers. As you can imagine, these are also well traveled areas and make great locations for setting a trap. In this case, this is one of the holes/dens that was being borrowed in and thus weakening the dam. If this dam was destroyed, it would have been a disaster for the land owners.
Sure enough, the den trap produced a beaver the next day.
He was a good sized male but not a mature male. He probably was off and attempting to make a colony of his own in this area. There were no permanent streams nearby and only when it rains do beavers follow the runoff up to this pond. This was the only catch in the pond and after he was removed, the damage ceased and things got back to normal.
Coming up in a couple weeks, we will be working on trapping some raccoons for a neighbor. We will be showing the videos of this over at our Patreon page but posting pictures here on Steemit.
We are really trying to encourage our large Facebook audience to come over and give Steemit a try.
See you next time!
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Awesome to see solutions to the issues that impact folks!
Very informative! I just started learning how to prepare skins from animals that I have caught. So much has been forgotten by our generation and those after us. I would love to find a neighbor that had some of this "old knowledge" that everyone knew...
I will be doing a post on fleshing coming up next week. You are right that the best way to learn these skills is from hands on experience and someone who can physically show you. This has been lost mostly to history. Sad.
I have been practicing on squirrels since they are so abundant, and I don't care too much about actually ruining one of their hides. And the meat makes good chick feed. :)
what do you do with the meat? feed it to your chickens or eat it yourself?
We give it to our awkward teenage chicks...they always seem to have a little growth spurt afterwards!
Good seeing you back, how was South Africa? Good productive trip?
South Africa was beautiful!
This will be great! I would love to learn more about trapping and taking care of the pelts/hides.
Can you still make money now days as a casual trapper? Or is it more of just a hobby?
I know some people who still use it to supplement their income. When I start running the trapline this winer, I will let you know if you want to come down and watch the process.
I'm in I would love to get some hands on experience and advice. That would be great!
Very interesting!
What are you planning on doing with the pelts? Selling? Making something awesome?
Haha, looking forward to seeing what's next!
They can be tanned by either yourself or professionally tanned. I have tried tanning myself and was never really happy with the results. There is a company by the name of USA Foxx Furs that will professionally tan them for you and they look AWESOME and totally worth keeping forever.
Wow, that is so cool!
When I was a kid, I stopped on the side of the road and picked up a dead possum and tried to tan the skin with oak leaves. (Maybe I was a little weird... haha!)
It started working but I think I did not clean the skin well enough so it was blotchy looking, and eventually my mom made me throw it out because she was tired of it being around and grossing her out. Haven't tried tanning anything since, but it would be a cool skill to have.
I think it is a great idea to protect your land and animals you have for livestock. Most folks do not understand that your lively hood is at risk by even the smallest animals. But they would not hesitate to call an exterminator if a coon was in the attic! We recently had a neighbor down the road lose track of his hogs. They wound up running in a pack in the fields and woods in our area and could have easily started a wild hog group that would devastate our land, crops and deer and wildlife populations. Maybe even threaten my children playing outside. Sometimes killing an animal is protecting your family also. I am glad you continue to share your lifestyle and educate others even with the hype of politically correct individuals!
Fun story, i got my hand stuck in a coon trap as a teen. Thankfully it was a simple no teeth design, unfortunately it was hidden in the dog food container and i had not been informed. Stuck my hand down in there for what i thought was a feed bucket only to find a clamp around my knuckles. I tried to go to the house to call but lo, the thing is chained to the wall! ( guess they didnt want the critter to escape with the trap or get stuck in the barn attic crawl space and wind up stinking the place.) Eventually i quit crying and put on my best thinking cap, figured out the way it worked and freed myself with only a few blood blisters and sore knuckles! Even with that dramatic incident, i can fully support trapping! You arent in their safe zones trapping cheetahs or elk, you are protecting your and your neighbors property. Hope you have a productive season and manage to keep your land safe and reliable!
Finally found some thing more interseting then articles about bit coin on steemit lol good to see a fellow trapper been trapping since I was 8. Do you make any videos and if not you really should. Any crap from the dam Peta people yet? God I hate them.
nice to write and talk on it and i wait ur trapping videos which will u make and tell the more good solutions @mericanhomestead