Another Wildlife Mystery

O.K. Thanks for that information. :)

If we get one, I'll let you know. Probably the best bet there will be the cross bow (with a bow fishing line if they are in the stream), finish it with a spear if it's still kicking... but we still will probably need some type of night vision. I'll experiment with the cooking if we bag one and let you know. Bow fishing might be the best bet for the carp too. I've had a hard time getting one, even with a hair rig. They'll just mouth it and spit it out.
 
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Tai,
I am not a hunter but I use to teach about handguns to the people in the Cal Hunter Safety course.

I know some states have laws that say no hunting at night. Fish & Game have no sense of humor when it comes to hunting laws so I suggest you check it out first before spearing or bowing a Beaver at night.

Big Ticket or worse?
 
Good idea Laurence.

It is private property though and a lot of the laws won't apply. I should check on it though. I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to shoot guns at night, but we can't shoot guns there anyway. Bow fishing for carp is allowed on some public lands in the state.

From all I can gather you don't need a hunting or fishing license on private land in AZ.

I don't think Fish and Game is too concerned about rodents on private land.

I want to do it legal though.
 
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Some of the laws are pretty weird and the wording is hard to understand. On that stretch of stream, it's a public waterway through private land.

A buddy of mine that lives up there was saying that if people go though there on some kind of floatation devise (or swimming) and their feet aren't touching the river bed, it's not trespassing. But, if they wade through and their feet touch the bottom it is.

Public waterways on private land are sort of a grey area.

A lot of the wild game here is invasive and/or introduced, or, as so it is becoming. I know it's true with the carp and crawdads in this particular stretch of stream. I'm not sure about these particular giant "bank beavers", but it wouldn't surprise me. I don't remember seeing or hearing about them when I was a kid. They don't want you too transport live crawdads is all. Carp are messing up natural vegetation and eating indigenous fish eggs and minnows. None of it is good. They want you to pay for a license for those species on public land anyway, but they aren't regulated much more than that as far as I know.

Best way to deal with a lot of these invasive critters, nuisances and species,... is to eat them.

DSCN7350_zps90f337eb.jpg~original
 
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Fish & Game have no sense of humor when it comes to hunting laws so I suggest you check it out first
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That is the truth. Up here in Canada I can hunt from a stationary boat, if that boat is moving (under power or not) there are big fines. Beaver carcass is commonly used for bear bait up here.
 
I'm not saying beavers are inherently bad. I'm sure they serve a purpose. I'm just saying that shooting and eating a few where they might not belong or be wanted,... might not be a bad thing. I have nothing against beavers in general.
 
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I just don’t see where beaver hunting on private land could get a man fined or thrown in jail,… I could be wrong though.

I’ll look into it and see what I can find out.
 
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... next thing I know someone is going to tell me it's illegal to kill/eat a rat on my own land.

Ooops, I almost sounded tea party one that one. LOL
 
Up where I live beavers flood a lot of farm land. The rule of thumb is if they stay in the woods they are a fur bearer and have a season, in a brook through a field then they are considered a pest. I don't even know what a beaver pelt is worth anymore. Seams like domestic fur is high and wild fur is low now. I say find the regs and give it to them Tai

next thing I know someone is going to tell me it's illegal to kill/eat a rat on my own land.
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I hope I'm never that hungry, I will stick to deer
 
O.K., I checked the AZ fish and game website and it says that trapping beavers is allowed, but not hunting beavers. I don't know if that applies to private land or not. It doesn't say.

In general, some of the state hunting/fishing regulations do apply to private land and some don't, as far as I know. The specific species and how they are taken seems to be a big part of it. Might as well open a can of worms and eat them! LOL

It also says that beavers were once widespread throughout AZ, then disappeared from trapping pressure for a while and now they are back.

I'll give the trapping some more thought... Apparently it's O.K. to kill a beaver, but not shoot one... generally speaking. Building a live trap might be worth it, just so I can sleep at night.
 
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I'm sure with your skills building a beaver trap will be simple. Try chumming the carp with corn or bread and a big doughball for bait or a wad of corn. Carp are not too hard to catch just gotta get them feeding and toss your bait into the mix.
 
I chummed the carp with hemp seed while they were feeding, tried all kinds of stuff, but best I've been able to get is a nibble. They come up through that spot to feed in the shallows every morning. Tried corn, bollies, dough balls, worms, flies, crawdads, you name it. I think these are smart ones, because of all the human traffic etc. Even though it's private land it isn't posted well and there is public access close by.

What should I bait the beaver trap with?

Some of the regulations seem to be more about transportation. I'm wondering if it matters if you shoot it on private land with the owner's permission and eat it there? Who should care?

I'm still not sure what to do with it after I trap it live?... jump in with a knife? LOL
 
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A castor mound set might work or just find what they have been feeding on and get some small pieces and scrape some bark off for eye appeal. You can look at trapperman.com and sullivansline.com for much more info including making a castor mound set. Darn now you have me wanting to go trapping. Could try apples or carrots too but less likely to succeed. Carp have very sensitive mouth so if they feel any pressure they will let it go. Try setting rod down and not touching it till they run with it.

Austin
 
O.K. Thanks. I'm stating to think it might be more trouble than it's worth, just to try experimenting with beaver as a food source. I may not like it and wonder if the castor oil just naturally leaks onto the tail and fouls the meat at the hind end over time. If that spot gets over populated with beavers and they really start messing things up there, I guess they should be thinned out somehow though. I think there is already quite a few, judging by all the bank burrows.

I think the mistake I made with the carp last time is I cast upstream with a weight just heavy enough to hold the bait down, but as soon as the carp would mouth the bait the current would wash it down stream a little and spook the carp. Next time I'll try casting it down stream with a fairly tight line so it won't move. The only problem is getting a line out into the shallows where they were feeding, which is upstream from the sand bar I was casting from. It's about the only spot on that side I can cast from. The rest is all over grown. I'll probably have to wade across to the other side to get a line out to them, which might be better after it warms up again. It's a bit cold for wading right now.

With the hair rig the bait is not on the hook, but attached to a little line off the back of the hook, so they don't feel the hook while they are mouthing the bait. It was designed especially for finicky carp.

Hair rig:
http://www.americancarpsociety.com/cypr_2tam_rigs.html
 
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Up here this is the type of trap most often used. Once they get their head in that its all over.

Do you guys need a trapping licence down there in the US? Up here in the true north wild and regulated you need to take a two day course on trapping with all the various fees etc.
 
Yes, I think you need a license for trapping on public land, not sure about private land.

I probably couldn't use a trap like that there, unless I guarded it all night. Too many dogs and people around. I don't think my stepdaughter or neighbors would be too happy if I trapped one of their dogs.

There are also other large rodents, birds and critters there and I was wanting the trap to be as beaver specific and safe as possible. That's why shooting one really makes more sense there.
 
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Those traps are set below water or on the waters edge. Beaver dams are another location people set them. It is frowned on to make a breach in a dam and set a trap in it though. Trapping is best done in the bush away from homes and pets.
Yes, I think you need a license for trapping on public land, not sure about private land.
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Up here Her Majesty the Queen (Lizzie) owns all the wildlife so you can block game from entering your property but once it is there the game laws apply, same with fishing. If the beavers are causing property damage I would think you could shoot them. However I have a hard time staying current with Canadian laws let alone US laws
 
On my land I've had problems with javelina. I can't shoot them because it's also too close to other houses and usually at night. You have to be at least 1/4 mile away from houses to shoot guns. The only options I had was to live trap them and relocate, or call fish and game to come out live trap and relocate them, or make them go away somehow. One big one took up residence behind my shop by the pond, which I didn't want. It was digging up the yard etc., and they can be dangerous. They have the largest teeth of anything out here, including mountain lions and bears, and are not afraid of people. I tried throwing rocks at it etc., but that didn't work. They are very stubborn. I ended up putting cactus in it's burrows and finally it got tired of that and decided to move on. Most of them go away on their own during the day except this one. Next time I should probably trap/kill and eat it, but I'd have to check if I need a permit or license first for those.

I think I could live trap and relocate the beavers up at my stepdaughter's place. If it comes to that, then it would be worth it to build a trap, and I'd probably kill one at that point just to try eating it. There's good chance it will come to that, so it's good I'm thinking about it. For sure they messed it up for night fishing that night and I’m sure the splashing spooked the fish. Right now there are cattails and other aquatic vegetation for them to eat, but other maybe more desirable critters also rely on those for food. I haven’t noticed if they are killing trees yet or not, but will look harder for signs of that next time. They are digging a lot of burrows along the bank, and if it were my land, I probably would want to get rid of them for the most part.
 
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Here’s a thought...

My stepdaughter has some pretty big sporty dogs, a catahoula leopard dog, weimaraner and a husky cross. I wonder how hard it would be to train them to go out at night and chase the beavers off or at least harass them enough to make them move on. The catahoula is real smart and the alpha dog. Maybe just train him "Doc" and the other dogs would follow suit.

I had thought about teaching Doc to catch the carp in the shallows, but decided he’d probably clean them out so fast there would never be any to fish for. It would be good for the native fish though,... trout, bass, catfish, sunfish, etc., which would be harder for him to catch, except maybe big catfish close to the bank. I think all I’d have to do is point the carp out and tell him to go get 'em.
 
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If the beavers want to stay they will stay until they are removed. They probably feed on small saplings very small like pencil size. just look for slides where they enter the water. Beavers are very hard to catch if you miss them once. wasn't talking about the carp feeling the hook just the tension on the line. Some places you can snag/snare them. I wouldn't mess with the beavers unless they were causing too much damage or if your starving. Lots of work for meat that you may hate.
 
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