# Looking for Places to Trap



## HunterTanner (Feb 4, 2012)

My dad and I have recently taken up trapping, and we are looking for some places to do so. If you are a landowner/farmer who is willing to come let us trap your land, please PM me! We are safe, ethical, and will help you if you need anything done.
Thanks! 
HunterTanner


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

If you are trapping beaver would you please find out if you can trap some of them out of the Logan River up near Tony Grove. They are making a mess of the area and need to be thinned out. I don't mind a dam or two but these 6 foot monstrosities they have built in there (and so many of them) are ruining and silting up a pretty good stretch of cutthroat water.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2013)

Tributaries from R hand fk logan river up closed to beaver trapping in 2013, 2014 season.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

HighNDry said:


> If you are trapping beaver would you please find out if you can trap some of them out of the Logan River up near Tony Grove. They are making a mess of the area and need to be thinned out. I don't mind a dam or two but these 6 foot monstrosities they have built in there (and so many of them) are ruining and silting up a pretty good stretch of cutthroat water.


What? Get in there early enough, and you will see that Cutts have no problem navigating those "monstrosities". Those big ponds also provide thermal cover on hot and dry years, like the last two we have had. Those ponds will grow big resident fish, that will be there ready to spawn when we do get a wet spring, and the dams are breached. When the dams are breached, they change the channels, wash gravel, and create new reds for spawning. The most productive cutthroat redds are above and below beaver dams.

Back in the '60s when they declared the Bonneville Cutthroat extinct, my grandfather tried telling the fish and game, that they were not. He had been fishing a particular section of a river(and others) since the '30s, that his father had fished long before him, that was "untouched", and full of "natives". Of course the DWR did not listen, or even go look. Its a six mile hike one way, and that's the short way in. So after five generations and 100 years of fishing this stream, what have learned about it? Well, for one, when the beavers are doing well, so are the fish. Cutts, like grouse, seem to cycle with the deer, but beavers are still key. So 100 years later, that stream is not what it used to be, but it can still be pretty amazing. The Cutts should be doing well there right now, and while they are not doing bad, they are not as good they could be, why?......Low beaver numbers.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2013)

What a great way for father and son to spend quality time together, I wish you guys the best of luck in finding areas to trap. A good number of muskrat are on private property and then there are a few you can catch in irrigation ditches along side roads but beware of trap thieves. With muskrat prices doing so well, the competition is pretty fierce.

Have fun and good trapping.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Lonetree said:


> What? Get in there early enough, and you will see that Cutts have no problem navigating those "monstrosities". Those big ponds also provide thermal cover on hot and dry years, like the last two we have had. Those ponds will grow big resident fish, that will be there ready to spawn when we do get a wet spring, and the dams are breached. When the dams are breached, they change the channels, wash gravel, and create new reds for spawning. The most productive cutthroat redds are above and below beaver dams.
> 
> Back in the '60s when they declared the Bonneville Cutthroat extinct, my grandfather tried telling the fish and game, that they were not. He had been fishing a particular section of a river(and others) since the '30s, that his father had fished long before him, that was "untouched", and full of "natives". Of course the DWR did not listen, or even go look. Its a six mile hike one way, and that's the short way in. So after five generations and 100 years of fishing this stream, what have learned about it? Well, for one, when the beavers are doing well, so are the fish. Cutts, like grouse, seem to cycle with the deer, but beavers are still key. So 100 years later, that stream is not what it used to be, but it can still be pretty amazing. The Cutts should be doing well there right now, and while they are not doing bad, they are not as good they could be, why?......Low beaver numbers.


Like I said, I don't mind a beaver dam or two but there are too many. Same thing happened on the EFBR a couple years ago. The DWR went in and had an area of the EFLB "remodeled" with curves, bends, boulders and streamside vegetation to provide for trout habitat. The beavers went in and made dam after dam after dam and silted the whole place up. I was glad to see that someone went in and took most of those dams out and returned it to how the DWR fixed it. The fishing was better. Rivers are rivers not ponds. The reason the best spawning is above and below beaver dams might just be because in the beaver dams it is nothing but silt. It is a known fact that trout do not spawn in silt but in good clean gravel. In fact the trout will actually clean areas of moss and silt to make a redd. Too much silt and they head for other areas. Plus the fact that they are cutting down all the vegetation that provides shade and cooler water can't be good.

I heard of a study in Yellowstone where they have found the trout are thriving better because the wolves are keeping the deer and elk herds from camping out on the river and stream banks and denuding all the vegetation. With better vegetation you get better cover for the fish and shade which helps in water temperature. I would imagine beaver cutting down and denuding vegetation would have the same effects.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

final-Beavers-and-Conservation-in-Oregon-Coastal-Watersheds.pdf

The willow and the aspen are regenerating in Yellowstone, but the concept of trophic cascade, where it was thought that wolves had lead to this, is being questioned. The evidence is just not there. taking too many willows, is typically not an issue. As they take more, and build more dams, they create more willow habitat, and therefor more willows.

Yeah, fishing ponds is not the best, but they are critical for cutthroat survival. I
am a huge fan of native cuts, it does not get any better.


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