This will be interesting. I haven't decided the best way to set this yet. It's on a large river. The poor lady's yard is under attack from beaver(s) & the beaver appear to be largely using this 1, wide, approach. I can't find the bank den or a lodge, & I couldn't find where the beaver are going with the sticks. There's a vacant woodlot next to the house, yet the beaver are preferring trees in the yard (probably because it's an easier drag). Beaver trapping is always interesting.

Is that typical of all her shoreline? is there current in the river?

An MB 750 with a piece of poplar behind it....on a drowner. They are seeking food right now for the feed bed. No need to waste time finding the hut or den....you found the sweet spot... 3-4 sets along that bank

I’d take a trowel, rake or hoe and ‘dig’ an artificial slide there. Then you could use a cable restraint on a drowning cable. Or a 220 within your states restrictions. Or a beaver sized cage trap (deKalb or Ztrap has them) at the waterline. You could do a castor mound and foot trap or 330 in the water at the base of the slide, but I’d fence it heavily to direct them and put foot trap on drowner.

Has the river level been changing quite a bit in the last week? Probably just need to put on my glasses but I'm not seeing a lot of recent activity.

I'd snare the slide but I don't think that is legal in Wi so I'd go with simple sets like Boco or just a couple easy castor mounds.

I think your wasting your time setting there.
But you never know.

good luck keep us posted

Ive set spots like that and it was always a crap shoot to see what you could catch. Variety of sets worked for me. A castor mound, a blind set, a baited set, and something completely different like a set lured with something attractive but non-castor like popular bud oil, birch oil, or maybe just sac oil.
If you catch some or even just keep seeing new sign while running these, you are in business, but if the sign gets old and nothing new shows up you have to assume the beaver are searching for food have taken what they wanted from here and have moved on.
One thing I'd did learn from Mr. Dobbins, beaver are always interested in work of other beavers. A little work with your spade making slicked up trails, peeled sticks like a mock feed bed, or even a planted beaver stump something new and different can be a great set location. If they don't give you a good trail give them one. Take your wet boots and spade and work a nice shiny trail right up into that bank.
Jim

Typical as far as steepness. Some of her shoreline has light riprap instead of sand . There is some sign up and down her shoreline, but this photo is the beavers main approach it appeared. They've lived here for years & not had beaver problems. It is a flowing river, though it's upstream from a dam...kinda a slow mowing area. Not a very fluctuating h20 level this time of year.

Yea, I was wondering more along the lines of the shoreline material, the beach sand not being the easiest to form or manipulate for sets like ADC and Nessie suggested but you can really make use of blocking too. I was thinking floating bait or lure sets if you had current and/or fluctuating water levels in the river, I don't use them personally but obviously others have good success. I got completely away from setting dry land sets for beaver very early on. Too high percentage for problems. Good post, let us know how you make out.

When inspecting sign like this just before freeze up check to see if the cut ends are still moist and/or sticky and if the wood chips are on top or under the recent drop of leaf debris to get a sense of how recent it is.

The chips appeared to be on top, but good point. I'll take a better look. I evaluated over my lunch hour today. The lady just called this week. Given the damage sustsained in her yard, I gotta believe its fresh or I woulda thought she woulda been on the horn weeks ago. I didn't see any tracks in the sand though. It rained hard earlier in the week, but I forget which day.

Lots of great responses above

You could set it best with a 3 swiveled chain and foothold. A drowned set if deep enough. I'd add a game camera to see in a couple nights if and how many are using that location.

Good points so far, thanks.

Some of the trees are gnawed thru pretty far but not yet toppled. I'm thinking the beaver will be back. It's a bold beaver(s), stealing trees from right near the house.

I got a call years ago because they were actually on the house, lol. (or cottage I should say)

Keep us in the loop on your sets. Thanks

I have a lot of that high bank territory also. Can make it tough on an old guy.

It never ceases to amaze me how much of this type of damage a couple beavers can do around a lake front property in a couple nights this time of year. Sometimes lakefront home owners pay less attention to their waterfront this time of year and can experience major damage before they have any idea.

I think I figured out where the beaver are coming from. I looked directly across the river & saw tons of sign. It's a wide river, probly 200 yards across. The other side is less developed & has a creek near it. It looked like they're living over there. But they've hammered this lady's yard. She's lived there 16 yrs & has never had beaver damage. I think that shows how hi today's beaver population is, given low fur prices & less trappers. I made 5 sets. I'm optomistic they'll come back across the river. I used some Backbreaker & Woodchipper