I've noticed with just about every beaver that I have harvested this year my set ends up getting destroyed and all of the guiding sticks I use end up getting pulled out of the bank. My question is, is this pretty common and do you think it's the beaver that is caught that does it or will beaver travel in groups and it could be another beaver tearing down my guiding sticks as it's friend struggles to get out of the trap? My set is a drowning cable castor mound set and so I use 8-10 guiding sticks to funnel them to the castor mound but have to remake this set every single catch due to it being wiped out.

Could be either way. It’s possible beaver are working the set then being caught, or but more likely that beaver are visiting the set after a catch is made. If you’re making sets at locations where beaver frequent, you are probably getting visits from most or all that swim past at some point or another. They really respond well to castor in my experience, at least until they have a negative experience. That’s when it’s time to leave castor at the truck.

So far I've had great success with Backbreaker lure on a castor mound set. My Bridger #5 has been tripped 8 times and only one miss, which was my fault, but still had a toe in the trap on the miss which likely means one educated beaver roaming the waters. I'm going to keep plugging away with the castor mound until it cools down.

Castor mound trapping makes up 99% of my sets and I do alright with my numbers. Most years I catch 10-20% of all beaver caught in my state.

I guess I should have mentioned that by the time I get a chance at them they’ve been trapped, shot at, den excavated by a track hoe, or any number of ways a person can think to get rid of beavers or even continued harassment after arriving. That’s why I mention leaving the lure at the truck.


If you’re not trying to catch spooked beavers then by all means use castor, because it works great

Beaver generally come in to destroy an enemies castor mound. That said, i cabt recall a set area ever being destroyed unless the animal was caught live and kept near the set.

Why all the elaborate guiding sticks?
No need for that.keep it simple.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This

I will give this a try on the next remake. I was under the impression that if you don't have the guiding sticks then your leaving it up to the beaver to decide how to approach the castor mound compared to the guiding sticks telling the beaver where you want them to go. Am I over thinking this?

Pick your sites where there's only one way to get to the set. Flatter the bank, the more likely they'll leave the water and approach from the back so you can't fence. They leave straight out to the water everytime.

I agree with Boco, get rid of the sticks, you really shouldnt need any or maybe one if you have a wide open side anyway they will come to the set with no sticks and you just have to have your trap in their approach.

Pick your sites where there's only one way to get to the set. Flatter the bank, the more likely they'll leave the water and approach from the back so you can't fence. They leave straight out to the water everytime.

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This is what happened to me. The banks were too flat and I got all kinds of pictures of them sneaking in the backdoor. They did make the mistake of leaving in the wrong direction and I caught my first

The Stink Stick set...quick ..easy... effective

I don't think I have ever thought about the sticks being knocked down as a problem. Have you ever seen a beaver react the instant it is caught? Google it, if not. Second, if what you are doing is working I wouldn't change it. There are a lot of people out there that have a hard time catching one.

yes if its working don't change a thing

Do what works for you

When lure trapping beaver in open water all you need to do is suggest the place you want the beaver to go.
Guiding is a better word to describe it.Very minimal,maybe two small sticks the size of your thumb to suggest to the beaver where to make his approach and line him up-fencing or blocking,used at lured sets will,in my experience ,cause the beaver to balk,or find a way around.
Fencing and blocking have their place,but a lured set is not one of them,in my experience.

You can expect some tearing up of the set with a foothold trap. I almost always used 330s when I could. They never tear the set up as much with those as they do with footholds. Usually, just the sticks that hold the trap in place.