With my last day of trapping for the next week here I once again woke up early, worked out, and set out for my line at first light. My first stop was going to be the two new traps which I set the day before near the bank den before heading over to the fish ladder.
Shivering as I put my waders and gloves on, I thought about what might be waiting for me... but, just like the day before the two new traps I had set out where untouched. Reluctantly, I disarmed the traps and sulked a bit as I meandered slowly through the cold water back to my truck. My last hope now lay in the original four traps that I had set two days ago, including the one that had already been tripped and reset.
As I began to get a bit closer to the fish ladder, I got a quick shot of adrenaline as I pulled up and noticed something floating in the water near the trap I had reset the day before. Temporarily tempering my excitement I squinted to see if it was a log or a beaver. To be honest, I quickly convinced myself that it was in fact a log that had smacked into my trap, but I would need to get out of the car to confirm.
Thankfully, my initial conclusion was wrong. As I got closer to the water I could see a very large beaver submerged in the water in an absolutely perfect catch in my trap. The beaver had done exactly what I had expected it to and dove down into my trap thanks to the dive stick I had placed at the top. This resulted in the beaver being caught perfectly around the neck with my 330 conibear, leading to a perfectly quick and humane dispatching.
It was only after getting in the water and pulling him out that I realized just how big this beaver was. He was topping the scales near fifty pounds and was the key culprit in damming up our fish ladder. With a bit of excitement and a quick prayer of thanks, I hauled this big-boy up to my truck to get him home to start the real work — skinning, fleshing, hooping, and then prepping all of the meat to be frozen for later meals. It’s funny how in hunting and trapping you get excited for the catch, but the real hard work only starts at that point... the rest of my day would now be busy!