Built a castor mound with a foothold and trapped a beaver. Next day it was set off but no beaver in the trap but I have still seen more in the area. Will the beaver check out the castor mound again if he set the trap off or do I need to change up my approach?

Try a nice piece of their favorite wood.as bait.

Here I would use a fresh piece of Poplar...with a foothold in front of it.

Do you think it will ever check out another castor mound?

Will said beaver never make another mound in its life?

Are you sure it was even a beaver that fired the trap?

what nessmuck said. yes you made him smarter . was the trap all the way down your drowning line?

Check you pan tension and the beaver might be back but.... it might be best to add another trap in that general area just in case.

Muskrat set it off?

Where was your trap placed in relation to the castor mound? Were you targeting a front foot walking or back foot?

Make a new set another spot with a different beaver lure

I would do this. A couple weeks ago on a damage job, I got a hind foot toenail in a foothold on a castor mound. I was bummed figuring I now had a tough one to get. The next morning, I had it (missing the toenail) in a 330 RBG with Popple and Woodchipper as bait and lure. This second set was about 75 feet away from the first set. Glad that it was over so quickly.

Keep trying

A good blind set will nail a wised up beaver.

Use a few drops of the sac oil from the first one you caught on a different mound.

Blind sets with well concealed footholds. You can miss it 3 more times, and if it does not leave the area, a well concealed blind set foothold will get it a 5th time. Blind and well concealed footholds are where the buck stops with educated beaver, just like boco says.

That said, sometimes a body grip or snare will work. Depends on if they are wise to those. I typically try whatever is easiest first, but within a couple nights if the snares and body grips don’t work, go straight to blind footholds. The beaver will show you where if you know how to look.

Might have wised up...might not. I've caught a lot of "dumb" beaver in my day

Beaverpeeler makes a good point.

Back in the days when I was using some traps with springs that were not strong enough, I had video of catching a big male high on a front foot. Perfect catch. Trap was empty at the bottom of the slide.
Switched to an older CDR, reset at same exact spot, and caught that same beaver two nights later by the other foot at the exact same location. And the foot that pulled out looked sore, so it SHOULD have learned the lesson. So that’s a fact, occasionally one is just dumber than expected.

Lots of expert advice.

If it is fur trapping….who cares
Seed is good

If it is ADC,,,,,,you should not have taken on the job if you need to ask this question

If there's one that don't want to play games, blind set any possible spot that looks like a beaver could use to climb out onto the bank and don't make any disturbance at all.

Thanks everyone. This is just for fur trapping. I am using a Duke #3. The trap was all the way down to the weight. I will try some of y’all’s tips. Trap was set just offset of the castor mound in front of it under the water. I have seen multiple beaver out there since I got the first one but have never seen any musket/mink out there. Thanks everyone.

You could always try a new spot with the same setup, but instead of castor, use some sac oil (very little, like just a small dot on the bank). Iffin you didn't keep the castor and oil sacs out of the beaver you caught, learn how to do so! You need at least 4 or 5 lbs tension on that pan.