When winter comes, the beavers seem to be hibernating. But they remain active throughout the winter. With the onset of frost, these animals are only suppressed, but with the onset of the thaw, they return to their usual way of life. During the thaw period, beavers appear on the surface of the reservoir, where their tracks remain in the snow. On the ice, you can catch beavers with traps, because loops are prohibited in many places and are considered a poaching method of hunting.
Instructions
Step 1
If you want to catch a beaver in winter, choose the deepest spot in the beaver settlement. It is better to do the exploration in the fall and leave the landmarks so that you can easily find these places in the winter. Here, make an ice-hole measuring half a meter by half a meter. Take the trunk of a small tree so long that the upper edge sticks out above the surface of the ice, and the lower one rests against the bottom of the reservoir. Keep the angle between the tree and the bottom at about 45%.
Step 2
On the trunk of the tree, mark the depth 1.5 m from the inner edge of the ice. Build a small area for your trap. Make sure that the platform runs parallel to the bottom after placing the pole in the water. Place a trap on the platform. Tie it with thin threads so that it does not fall or the passing beaver does not run over it. Now fix the trap, but not with a stake driven into the bottom, but with a chock. Choose a chock with a diameter of more than 10 cm, and a length of more than a meter. Tie the cable from the trap in the middle of the chocks, which you set across the hole.
Step 3
Prepare a broom, preferably from aspen twigs. You can use willow or birch. Make the length of the branches in a broom no more than 1 meter. The diameter of the broom should allow you to push it into the hole. You don't have to tie the broom, because the branches will not sink, but will freeze into the ice in the hole.
Step 4
Remember the main feature of setting a trap: place a trap on the site about half a meter from the lower edge of the branches. Beavers, seeing delicious food from aspen branches, will not swim past, they will begin to gnaw them. So the beast will fall into your trap.
Step 5
Place the loop after freeze-up, when the thickness of the river ice freely supports the weight of a person. Install loops on the channels where the beaver swims. You will recognize this by the air bubbles that the water displaces from the beaver's fur. Bubbles accumulate under the lower edge of the ice. Punch out a small hole in the ice and place a loop there. Place the upper edge of the loop 5-10 cm from the inner edge of the ice, the diameter of the loop is about 40 cm. Tie the loop to a thick block, which is set across the channel.
