It's a good thing some one gave It to you.
I have yet to see anyone place the bait stick In front of the trap. No one places a 330 in the vertical potion In a steep pull out. I could go on.
If the guy has them you just have to learn to get It done with what you have. But He does need to get some real beaver traps. I would suggest MB750s
A bait stick in front of a foot trap is deadly. Especially on beaver that for whatever reason have stopped working your sets and you know they're there.
Yellow poplar and black cherry work well.
Make a false slide...put a fresh bait stick..Jerry always peels alittle.of the bark back for.contrast on the stick and for.more scent..set your foothold at the bottom of the slide..and wait.
Do NOT use lure on this set.
Jerry has caught 1000s of beaver in 4 coiled #3s. That's the trap that Charlie Dobbins showed Jerry how to use.. Charlie's way of thinking on beaver trapping according to what he taught jerry was..buy the cheapest trap you can buy for the job and buy more of them.n theory you'll catch more beaver than the next guy if you have the same work ethic because you have more traps set.
Jerry.doesnt own any belisles or 750s or anything like that and he's caught literally 1000s of beaver in #3.footholds.
Some.People.would say BS but the proofs in the fur shed.
What you have will work.
The true reason most people want the biggest trap with the biggest jaw spread is because they don't have precise trap placement figured out.
Your traps will work just fine.
Set for the front foot..you can drown em in less water and if you miss the front foot you still have a chance at a back foot catch.
I am a nuisance trapper. Of course I will not argue with anything said by someone who has caught thousands of beaver setting for front feet, and that is exactly what I would do in that situation. However, in my world of year round trapping, often in high visibility locations, setting a trap shallow for front foot catches results in snapped traps due to geese (summertime before they migrate south), raccoons year round when temps are over 20°F, and turtles when water is over about 45°F - I just cant do it.
So I use big traps and set for rear feet, which almost 100% eliminates non-targets. It also causes missed beaver compared to setting for front feet, but that is the tradeoff. As a side note, none of the beaver footholds 7.5” and 8.5” sizes, are big enough to eliminate misses on a large beaver’s back foot. However, the beauty of a foothold for beaver is that they can be completely hidden underwater, and the same beaver that was missed a day or two earlier will step in another one because it is undetectable.
Setting for front foot with smaller OR larger traps will get you more beaver, especially if you are not dealing with non target species, but if you are nuisance trapping year round my advice is learn to set deep for back foot catches.
As for offset, I agree with most everyone else that you will lose a few that you might not have lost, but overall they will work, and they are still footholds so if you conceal them well you can get another chance at one that escapes because of the offset not closing fully on toes.
