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Hamlin vs. the beaver
Hunter finds new challenge in trapping
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MARENGO — An avid hunter and outdoors man, Scott Hamlin, of Marengo, has found a new challenge.
When he’s not quietly waiting for deer or turkeys to come into range, he’s trying to outsmart a large rodent — the beaver.
Trapping is making a comeback, said Hamlin during a check of his traps along the Iowa River last week. “It is a sustainable, renewable resource.”
Furs are natural materials and, as such, are biodegradable, said Hamlin. Beaver pelts can bring anywhere from $10-$40, depending on the size and quality.
“I’m just learning,” said Hamlin. “I’m still an apprentice.” He’s been trapping for about five years, learning from friends and through his own research.
“It was just something I always want to try,” said Hamlin. He has friends in town who trap, and he was able to borrow traps to start.
Hamlin’s always been enjoyed the outdoors. It’s good for his psyche.
Hamlin likes bow hunting, and he’s out during muzzleloader season. He hunts deer, pheasant and turkey.
“I’ve tried everything a little bit,” said Hamlin. “For some reason, I’m drawn to challenging opportunities.”
Beavers are challenging. Hamlin has to outsmart them. “It’s kind of an art,” he said. A lost art. Hamlin enjoys learning the art and passing his knowledge on to others.
It’s challenging to take on the beaver and other furbearers in their own environments, said Hamlin. Same with deer. The animals know their surroundings. “We’re visitors,” said Hamlin.
Hamlin described beavers as bulldozers on four legs. “It’s so educational. They never cease to teach me and amaze me.
“They live in one of the most challenging environments,” Hamlin said. “And they don’t let anything get in their way.”
Hamlin caught two beavers March 26. That’s about 100 pounds of beaver he had to carry back to his Polaris Ranger. First-year kits (beaver babies) will run 20-25 pounds, said Hamlin.
Hamlin has an old gun sling with a couple of choke collars on it on which he hangs the beavers to carry them back to his vehicle.
By law, a trapper has to check the traps every 24 hours. Hamlin sets leg-hold traps, which have hundreds of years of history of catching animals by their legs when they step in the traps.
The Conibear brand of traps are meant to kill the animals instantly.
Hamlin also puts out snares, and he has some drowner traps that keep the animals from escaping the water.
Ideally the snare will tighten around the neck of an animal and pull tight, but beavers don’t have much of a neck, Hamlin said. The snare usually wraps around their bodies, and Hamlin has to finish them off with his .22 pistol.
Hamlin traps on the Iowa River north of Gateway Park. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources regulates the river basin and the park area. Public hunting and trapping are not allowed at Gateway Park.
Beaver is the only thing you can trap right now, said Hamlin. Trapping season for other furbearers ended in February, though Hamlin will be trapping muskrats in the off-season for Iowa County. The DNR gave the county permission to trap muskrats in the sewage lagoons on the former county home property because the animals have become a nuisance.
Hamlin has about a dozen beaver traps along the Iowa River. “And for me personally, that’s plenty of entertainment.”
Some trappers have a hundred traps, he said, but that’s usually during furbearing season, Nov. 2 through Feb. 28, when they can trap coyotes, foxes, mink, muskrat, raccoon, badger, opossum, weasel, striped skunk, beaver, bobcat and river otter.
Hamlin caught his limit of three otters this year during the season.
Beaver season runs through April 15. “I love the spring beaver trapping,” said Hamlin.
Otters sometimes get caught in beaver traps in the off-season, but they have to be turned in to the DNR, said Hamlin.
Beavers need food, water and cover, said Hamlin. He finds where the beavers are eating and where they’re living, and sets his traps there.
Hamlin also looks for their slides. “That’s their highway, their sidewalk,” he said.
The Iowa River is six or seven feet at its deepest right now, said Hamlin. “It’s a little higher than I like,” said Hamlin.
During the summer, if the river’s down, Hamlin can walk his trap line in his hip waders.
His balance is a little shaky as he climbs up and down the muddy bank, he said. One day he lost his balance and fell face first into the water. He now has the Life360 app on his phone, so his wife knows where he is at all times.
Hamlin learned the hard way that he needs cleats on his boots when he’s on the ice. He once fell and busted two ribs when the river was frozen over, he said.
Hamlin’s been caught in his 220 Conibear trap and had to use his trap tool to get out. He wouldn’t have been able to get out of the 330 by himself, he said. It can break bones.
Hamlin has also been charged by a beaver. Any animal that gets cornered can be vicious, Hamlin said.
“I spent a week trying to outsmart this beaver,” said Hamlin as he made a bed for a leg trap at the top of a beaver slide. The animal tripped the traps or went around them, but he had always escaped.
“They become trap wise,” said Hamlin.
The water sets are toughest, said Hamlin. He can’t see them in the muddy river and has to feel for them — without getting caught in them.
Hamlin uses a metal pole — it doubles as a walking stick on the trail — to find the traps. The pole also gives him leverage when he has to pull himself out of the knee-deep mud.
“The activity’s really picking up this week,” said Hamlin. He’s happy catching one beaver a week, but he had two in traps Wednesday morning.
He also had to reset two snares that had been knocked down but caught nothing.
All traps have to have copper tags with the trapper’s name and address on them. Hamlin is careful not to trap near someone else’s trap.
Trapping takes patience and persistence, said Hamlin. Beavers have both, and a trapper has to match that patience and persistent to win the contest.
It’s a challenge Hamlin is happy to take on.
