Silly questions – Beaver

So, now that we have locked up all the local water. Are beaver still active under the ice for a time or do they den up and basically hibernate now?

Not a silly question at all! I have wondered that myself…RR

Great question. Im not sure either . I have seen them in the trout streams moving in the winter here in Iowa while fishing.

They slow down but are still active as are muskrats. Thats why you must be careful walking around their lodges on the ice their activities can cause thin ice spots. I found out several times while trapping them in my youth. You can see their bubble trail thru clear ice. sometimes they travel pretty far and go into tunnels that go underground into steep banks etc.

Mwal

The best beaver you can get is starting now. (let the jokes begin) This time of year is when I start hitting them hard. As the winter gets longer they are looking for anything other than what is in there feeder to eat. Thats when I start setting 330s with a carrot on the trigger right in there feeder. (out on the ends) If you know where the main entrance to the house is you can really put the smack down on them. You don’t need to set the trap in a run just suspend the trap in the water and they will find it. I have no real distance below the ice to set the trap, you just have to play with that and see what works best. I have cable attached to both ends of the trap and anchor it on top of the ice using just a log with each end of cable wrapped around the log. One log for each end of cable. I will cover the hole I cut in the ice with snow to darken up the whole. Most of the time I will check the set every other day to keep the noise on the ice down.

They can be very active at times. Generally, once a lake or river is iced up, you won’t see a beaver above the ice ( in the case of heaves or gaps in the ice).
They will have feed piles usually close to their den. They frequent the pile, much like Kooty would frequent a fridge for a fresh beer If you look close in the foreground in front of the den, you’ll see the feed pile they keep putting in front of where I like to run my boat at 60mph