Extending the marten line and catching some beaver

With marten season opening up on November 1, Dakota and I hit the trapline to get some more marten boxes set up and to deal with our beaver issue. I wanted to extend our marten route further down south; in fact, my plan was to add an additional 10 kilometres, round trip, with another 10 marten boxes.

But first Dakota had a woodpile to split and stack on the porch. It takes both sides of the cabin stacked with a single row to last the trapping season, so his job was to get at least half of it done while I put up the satellite dish. Yup! Satellite dish. Listening to a single radio station is driving us nuts, so for those long nights during trapping season it will be nice to watch a hockey game, movie or something. The generator came along with us.

Dakota starting in on the woodpile.

Satellite dish is up and working. Notice the fancy rock work in front of the new deck.

Once it started to get late in the afternoon, we went down and broke the beaver dam, knowing they would soon show up to fix it. Our plan was to shoot as many beaver as we could. Trying to catch the old girl in a Conibear has been impossible; she's educated to their danger, so the .22 was an easy option. I don't have the time to try and catch her with a slide wire and I don't trust walking on what is essentially moving water with a thin frozen top, so catching her under the ice is out of the question.

Just before dusk the three beavers returned to the dam. I grabbed the .22 and we snuck up as close as we could. I trained the .22 on who I assumed was the old girl and with one shot her dam building days came to an end. The other two quickly vanished while Dakota reigned in the big beaver, letting her lay in the current below the dam. Soon, another curious beaver returned to also meet his demise. We'd managed to get just the two but I was extremely happy, maybe we could reduce the water levels near the cabin back to where they had been.

Dakota with the second beaver, a two-year-old.

Notice the large adult beside the two-year-old.

After realizing one of the beavers was a two-year-old, I knew something wasn't right. We thought the old girl only had two small kits left, now we'd killed a two-year-old, which means there must be more beaver than we suspected again. If there are two-year-olds and kits, just how many are there? We decided we'd set up a couple Conibears nearer their house and then again wait at the broken dam the next evening, hoping the one beaver we knew existed came back.

One of two Conibear traps nearer the beaver house.

The next morning we loaded up the quads and hit the trail. By quad to where I wanted to start the extension of the line takes nearly an hour, so we got an early start. We wanted to get back early enough to do some chores and deal with our beaver.

The country on the south end of the trapline is beautiful, with an older coniferous forest perfect for holding marten. We managed to get nine of our 10 boxes up before we reached what I deemed would be the turnaround.

Early on the extension route. Heading directly south.

One of the new marten boxes Peter Milberry helped me build.

We got back to the cabin early, well before our beaver had awaken. Both the Conibears were as we'd left them. The dam we noticed in the morning was still broken, although there had been some work done to it during the night. With supper on the grill, my timing was terrible. Dakota suddenly came rushing back from the dam, one of the beavers had returned! After pulling our steaks away from the heat on the grill, Dakota grabbed the .22 and we snuck back down to the dam only to find the beaver had left. With supper cooking, I went back to the grill leaving Dakota there, but not before I grabbed my binoculars. I could see one of the traps from the firepit. Looking through the binoculars I was astonished to see another large adult beaver swimming by the Conibear, not daring to go near it! Then another smaller beaver appeared swimming in the distance. Now I had no idea how many beaver were still there. For the rest of that evening, we never saw the beaver again.

The next morning we checked the traps and discovered we'd caught a kit. We'd go home with three beaver but the big one that's been avoiding us still remains. With above-freezing temperatures in the forecast and a little luck, maybe we'll get her next weekend. At least we're slowing them down.

Dakota with our catch.

Can't believe we're watching TV, almost doesn't seem right in the middle of nowhere.

Until next time!