[KegRiver]

I used to take most of my beaver under the ice. I used snares almost exclusively for that and have written about the set on other threads.

That was a lot of years ago, (1966 to 1994) back then my goal was at least fifty beaver per winter. Beaver were our bread and butter catch.
The big profit was in Fisher, Marten and Lynx but beaver outnumbered all the rest ten to one. So beaver were the primary target.

I used a home made ice chisel to cut holes in ice.
A lot of our beaver ponds are shallow. This is muskeg country.
Here a good colony will often have very thin ice over the runs so a chain saw would be a huge waste of time and money for the purpose.

The few deep water ponds, (four feet or more), that we have can be trapped using an ice chisel, if it's a good design. Ive never seen a commercially available ice chisel that was any good.
There a chain saw would work better but we didn't have enough deep water ponds to warrant the cost or maintenance.

Catching beaver under the ice is never easy. It takes work and a good bit of learning. But it can be some of the best hides one will take in a year.

With the prices fur is going for these days I don't see it being profitable, but it can be good recreation and quiet a challenge.