Beaver Trapping in WY question

[COEngineer]

I went fishing on a small public section of a small stream in WY last weekend and the water level was in the sweet range - high, but coming down, and wadable. I have fished this particular section roughly annually for the past 25 years. However, the water was a little too murky and had a little more sediment than I expected and there were zero fish (that I saw, and there are usually quite a few). Perhaps it was some other factor, but I noticed that there were no beaver dams where there used to be several. One other little piece of information is that I saw a beaver trap near the stream last summer for the first time ever. It is BLM land, so I assume trapping is legal, but my question is whether there are any restrictions on number of beaver that can be trapped in an area? There is so much private land around this section that they could probably be trapped out even without trapping on the BLM land.

 

[huronmtns]

I went fishing on a small public section of a small stream in WY last weekend and the water level was in the sweet range - high, but coming down, and wadable. I have fished this particular section roughly annually for the past 25 years. However, the water was a little too murky and had a little more sediment than I expected and there were zero fish (that I saw, and there are usually quite a few). Perhaps it was some other factor, but I noticed that there were no beaver dams where there used to be several. One other little piece of information is that I saw a beaver trap near the stream last summer for the first time ever. It is BLM land, so I assume trapping is legal, but my question is whether there are any restrictions on number of beaver that can be trapped in an area? There is so much private land around this section that they could probably be trapped out even without trapping on the BLM land.

Beaver traps are best placed in water. Are you sure it was a beaver trap? What type of trap was it. Also summer trapping is not for fur value. If it was actually a beaver set, it may have been set for stream habitat management or was neglected or forgotten about from previous beaver trapping efforts. I have no idea about Wyoming trapping regulations so I cant address the legal human factors involved.

Beaver ponds are sediment traps while the dams holds back water. If these ponds had little vegetation growth to stabilize the silt and sediment yet, The ponds may be flushing the sediment out with the high water run-off.

 

[COEngineer]

I should have taken a picture. The trap was in a low-lying spot, but you're right, it was not in the water. So maybe it was for some other critter or it had been submerged previously and the water receded. I have so little experience with traps, that I would probably butcher any description of it. All I remember is thinking, "Well, I'm not crawling through there." (it's very overgrown with brush along the stream and you pretty much have to crawl sometimes to get to the water)

I just assumed it was for beaver because that is the only thing I have ever seen along there, but there are probably other species that I just haven't encountered.