What is the most proper way to make a castor mound for beaver trapping, and what should the finished product look like? And should it be real close to the waters edge, and near a beaver slide.

A pile of mud and/or wet debris....It doesn’t need to be fancy. I’ve seen them as just mud, just debris, or a mixture of the two. Sometimes they’re the size of a baseball, sometimes they’re much larger. You can just use lure with no visual, but I’m definitely a trapper that will create a visual attraction under normal circumstances.


Don’t put them too close to the water. There needs to be enough space between it and your set so that they have to commit to your ambush before they’re able to get a good whiff. A couple feet or more back.


I make sure that I rake the vegetation and debris away from a spot so that whatever I put really stands out. The last thing I do is splash some water. I want it to look like a big ole soaking wet beaver just climbed up on the bank and slid back in. Rub your wet gauntlet around the slide to slick it up. Your lure will be all over the place and hopefully on top of the water going downstream too once you splash water.

^^^ and i put my lure on both sides of the mound

When catching the last one or "stealth" beaver. Leave for 2 weeks or more.

When you come back use fresh lure. Then start paying close attention. You will see signs of small "push ups" of weeds near your set. 1 or 2 at first there will be little or no knawing and peeled sticks. Keep freshening up set every 2 to 3 days (fresh lure from a different beaver every time). Many times the beaver will not exit the water. After you start seeing more push ups, make a small push up in the middle of the area he has become active and set a foot hold. Use fresh removed castor, maybe adding sack oil also as your lure.

You also may want cover the pan with a large leaf.

The small push ups he is making are territorial responses to the fresh scent he is smelling. The change up of fresh lure from different beaver every 2 or three days drives him nuts. He then begins to show a pattern. You set to the pattern.

It could be more than two weeks before he commits.

Here, when it is warm they seem to pay attention to your scent. By placing fresh cut out castor in a jar that has been dipped in pond water, then pouring where you just pushed up and touched, helps to hide your scent.

It hasn,t been long before I explained this to a landowner. He witnessed the added activity before the catch when I made the second set.

Doesn't need to look like anything. Key is to figure out how the beaver will approach the set given wind, current and terrain.

I use my boot to slick up a spot on the bank.Doesnt matter how steep or flat-same thing slick it up with a few good hard kicks of your boot from the water side.I will set a 330 rock solid by shoving two sticks about 16 inches long into the mud about 8 inches apart about a foot or so out in front of where the water meets the bank in the water.Then I snap off nice green willow or poplar about pinkie thick,dab some lure on the end and stick it up close to the ground at the water line directly behind the trap.
Now you got fresh mud,fresh cut feed,fresh castor,and your two support sticks for a guide,and your lure right on the ground directly behind the trap for a sure catch every time.
Wire off trap with long wire and beaver will be down and out in the water.After the trap snaps it is loose from the supports,and the supports are short enough not to hinder the beaver from getting out in the water and safe from territorial assault by another beaver.
This set takes about 30 seconds to make and you can set a whack of them in a day if you are a sucker for punishment when it comes to skinning.

Doesn't have to be near a slide, but a slide can be used as a castor mound. Make the castor sets anywhere you expect a beaver to swim and where you want to catch the beaver. If you like to use footholds, find a place with good drowning water and a gently sloping bank. If you like using 330's, find a place with a cut in the bank. Here's a couple before and afters:











You don't need all that mud, I use a lot if I have the time and it's readily available.

Interesting. Great info so far
Thanks

That set is illegal in most if not all states in the lower U.S.. There might be a state or two, but most states say 330's have to be at least 1/2 submerged.

Yea you guys are really restricted with your trapping laws compared to us.
Our Federation fought to have the regs read "in the water" as opposed to "under water"just for the reason you stated.

It only has to be in the water here.

I don't even scrape up mud at times as in the pic below
Mine look like goldy and bocos cept I was taught by Claudie Taylor to break the outline a bit
This 330 is on a Sullivan Stabilizer so don't need sticks
Caught 2 beavers in 2 nights with this set...an ADC job in an HOA, in their fenced in rain water retention pond.

Here- exposed conibears, in winter, will catch 0ne maybe two. To consistently catch more (here), at the same location, use a leg hold trap.

I never set a caston mound made by the beaver.
I looked for a place that made it eazy to put a trap in. Then I made my own castor mound.
Now I no longer even set a castor mound on land.

I make a lured snare set where the beaver feels safe. OUT IN THE WATER.

Mud Is just for eye appeal.