I deal with wised up beavers year round, and my advice is set more footholds. Different location, no lure - blind sets only - trap fully well concealed. The disadvantage of footholds for beavers is that you will occasionally get a toenail. The advantage is that you can fully conceal them and catch that same beaver the very next night in another foothold at a different location. If they are avoiding your foothold, either the foothold is not well concealed or something else like lure, a particular type of set, or other disturbance to the set area is alerting them. Don’t just hide the trap, hide the stake, any slide wire or chain, everything. Don’t use a rod if you used a rod when you took the toenail unless you can figure out a way to conceal the rod under the mud and still keep it working. They are most likely just avoiding your castor mounds. Blind sets are how you get the wise ones.
Figure out where it is leaving sign and fully conceal a foothold there. If it won’t go through a snare or body grip, footholds are all you have left, other than shooting it if that is legal. The wisest beaver, one that is missing two toenails from footholds, with a dent on the forehead from getting smacked with a 330 miss, and wearing a broken snare can still be caught in a well done blind set foothold.
I’m also not sure I understand why a rocky bottom stops you from setting a 330. There are supports and other methods that can hold a 330 even on concrete or riprap, and for that matter a rocky bottom that makes supporting 330’s difficult also makes bedding a foothold difficult - I use a magnebed for footholds in those situations if I am not able to bed the trap properly otherwise. A poorly bedded trap is also a leading cause of toenail catches come to think of it. Make sure your footholds are rock solid AND fully concealed.
Edit: deep water and feed beds as others mentioned while I was typing may also be possible depending on the situation. Boco recently said snares around the feed bed under ice, and I believe that 100%, we just don’t get enough ice.
Last edited by loosanarrow; 01/07/24 10:19 PM.