My guess is water shrews as well. They are known to scavenge. It would have to be a bunch of them to eat that much though.

At this point I'm convinced it was a turtle. You can see where bite sized chunks were removed from the shoulder and tail. And bear in mind, this was a one day check so the trap had been checked 18 hours earlier.

Yeah, I think so too. The damage being mostly around the legs might be because the turtle may use the Beavers feet for something to hang on to while ripping open skin. I cant see a crawdad getting through Beaver skin that fast or at all, unless the skin was rotten.

Read about snappers here in the 70s. Article was about them in Fern Ridge. Sort of close to home for you.

Well, it was (is) news to me. I had no idea. And you're right Ted, that beaver came out of water connected to Fern Ridge reservoir.