I like to set my footholds in a shallow trap bed with a ridge of mud in front of the trap. The beaver will breast out on the mud and step over into the trap. Gets em' comin' or goin'

Heres the result.

Nice pictures. Is that a Bridger #5?

id say ya got em nice pic

Congrats thanks for the pics!I'm planning on goin after some beaver this coming weekend...

Yes. I have a few #5 bridgers in amongst' my other footholds. Their good traps. Ive never lost a beaver out of one. Actually pretty cheap as the big traps go. You can get them for 21$ each from Montgomery fur. P.S I got this ridge of mud tip from Paul. I had used stepping sticks and what not befor but the mud works better and easier I think.

Why do you think you caught that beaver by the wrong front foot? If it approached as you expected, it should have been caught by the right foot.... dontcha think?

nice pic

Approaching from the front you would think so. Unless it came from the backside of the mound, then it would have been caught as expected. There was a feedbed to left of that set, wide open bank all around. It could have approached from the left and stepped over that guide stick to.

I'd say it charged the mound and straddled your guide stick. They very often do this when using a castor lure. They get so enraged that they charge the mound and not much gets in their way.

What makes me think it was that rather than catching it coming off the mound is the position of the dog shown with trap on the beaver's foot. If you look at the trap's position in the set before the beaver was caught, the dog was facing to the right. On the beaver's foot, the dog is facing toward the beaver's belly. If the beaver was caught coming off the mound, the dog should be pointing away from the beaver.

Nothing is for sure, but that's the way it looks.

Good job!!!

Inspector Dobbins cracks another tough case, lol.

I didnt notice that Paul. Your probably right. I like to set my footholds that way. Ive noticed that befor when setting deep for a hind foot catch I missed a few beaver. Not many mind you, but any is to many to me. The set would be all smeared and mashed up with a big fresh dose of castor on top. I know several of the misses were beaver that approached from the back and swam out over the deep set trap. Thats what looked like happened anyway. I started setting like this two or three years ago when you gave me that tip and havent had that happen since.

good pict good thread

Alot of good info here for those of us that need some help with that type of set. Thanks now I see what I need to change with my sets. Can't wait to see how much it improves my catches!

KY, a couple years ago I went to setting my traps at castor mound sets shallow for the very same reason you mentioned. They will sometimes charge the mound and not use the approach, but they'll usually use the approach on their way off the mound.

You know Paul thats probably what happened to this beaver. It was a castor mound set. He may have come in from the side and slid into the trap resulting in that front foot only.???? Hard to see how a beaver could get caught by the front foot only in a 330.

I can't get enough of all this great beaver info,keep it coming guys. That last pic is a great illustration of why some people choose Belisle bodygrippers.

Belisles Rock and your photot's Rock too!

very nice!

Nice pics, I have caught a few by the tail???

Do you not worry about them having their front feet full of mud and leaves when they approach the mound from the water?