Last Updated: Friday, January 2, 2009 9:29 AM CST
A KAMO beaver trapping expedition
Mark Walters
Columnist
Hello friends.
It took us a couple of years to put KAMO (Kids And Mentors Outdoors) together, but the readers of this column have put an organization together, that has chapters in four parts of Wisconsin, that is centered around taking kids on outdoor activities.
Please read further about a couple of days on the ice with Joe Flater, a well known hunting and fishing guide and member of “The Indianhead Chapter” of KAMO (Ladysmith-Cornell area), as he takes five young men on their first, beaver trapping expedition.
Wednesday, Dec. 10
High 16, Low minus 14
Even though I was warm, I got cold just watching Joe Flater clear ice with his bare hands and then set a 330-Conibear “body grip” trap without the aid of a trap, setting tool.
Today, Joe Flater and I set 11 Conibear traps, six snares and a couple of leg, hold traps at four different locations. I was simply a grunt laborer and observer.
Our goal was to make enough good sets to teach some kids the art of beaver trapping the following Saturday. In case you are not aware of it, trapping beaver under the ice is labor intensive and somewhat dangerous.
Joe Flater likes trapping the entrances to huts and the runs leading to huts and areas where beaver have stored aspen branches under the ice for their winter dining entertainment.
Saturday, Dec. 13
High 28, Low 14
Nine of us met at Flater’s Resort this morning for a day of learning and adventure. The young men involved in this outing were Sam Mahun, Elliot Smith, Spud Downes, Josiah Schumacher and Donald Webster.
It was interesting to listen to the stories throughout the day of other KAMO adventures these kids have been on, ranging from deer hunts, float fishing trips and bear hunts.
We created KAMO to teach kids about the outdoors and how to enjoy it, from what I am seeing each chapter is being successful.
One of the first things that we taught the young trappers today was to be careful of bad ice when approaching a beaver hut. Because of regular swimming from the beaver, the ice leading up to the huts can be quite thin.
At our first location, which was a single hut on a large pond where Joe had set two 330 Conibear’s, both traps were sprung and on both occasions, each one was empty.
A wise old beaver had sprung at least one of the traps as it had shoved a piece of chewed up aspen branch into the trap, to set it off, we would witness this more than once today.
All four of the sites that we checked traps at required driving and walking, so the kids saw some country and really got into the trap checking as each set had to have the ice chopped and cleaned out from it. Next, Joe Flater would teach a young man how to pull the trap out of the water, which after we caught our first beaver, created a lot of excitement with the kids.
An interesting observation we had was our first two beaver were taken was that the water was so shallow the beaver would soon be iced out and either die or be forced to migrate in the middle of winter.
We had a lot of fun at our next set, as I had picked the spot to make the set and I gave Joe a lot of razing leading up to pulling the trap. I had told the kids there would be a big beaver in it and when Donald Webster was finally able to hoist the “blanket beaver” from under the ice, it was a dandy.
Throughout our day, snowball fights and stories from Joe Flater about his life in the outdoors as an old school outdoorsman were shared and listened to. You do not see a lot of electronics in Joe Flater’s life and whether he is skiing the Birkie, musky guiding on the Flambeau or in pursuit of black bear, Joe Flater does just about everything, the hard way.
Our last pond was a dandy, with a huge hut in deep water, which is tough to trap. The whole idea is to get the beaver to swim through the trap. The more water that you have around your trap, the less your chance is of having a beaver in your trap.
Our goal was five beaver, one for each kid and by days end a chorus of hooting and hollering was done, when we met that goal.
KAMO is for the kids, for information on starting a chapter or becoming involved in a present chapter, go to www.kamokids.org
We are always looking for kids to take on outdoor experiences!
Sunset
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