I’ve been coming up empty as I try to remove beaver from one of our rivers. I know the populations are high as they have downed trees along the banks for a good 5 mile stretch. There are dams every mile or so, but I’m focused on mainly 2 one mile stretches where i do other trapping. The river is about 60 ft wide and 2-4 feet deep. Both one mile stretches I’m targeting have decent sized food caches with banks dens adjacent. One bank den produced a 40 pounder but that’s it. Three days later that same 330 had a giant log pushed through the trap...they’re on to me. The other bank den which had open water in the opening when I started, hasn’t produced anything in a month. At this point I’m sure they’re using a back door and the ice is too thick to find it. My question is, is there any way to trap around the food cache effectively? Do they travel much this late into winter? Thanks in advance

This time of year beaver movement is limited in the northern states. The food caches are getting stale now though, and bait sets (with popple) work if you can find a place to make a set. I don't know how long your season is open, but if you can wait until the end of march and until the river is ice free, you'll have much more beaver movement.

near the bottom of the page is Under Ice threads......most of us never set the lodge, either, since it can spook others when they see their kin dead in the doorway.

https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/10/1/Water_Trapping_Archive

keep after them!