I'm trapping a large pond...beavers have been stopping up the outflow pipe and built a dam around it. I caught three juveniles and days later finally caught a 54 lb. female. All's well. About an hour after I left with the big beaver in my truck, I got a picture on my cellular camera of another beaver swimming very close to the dam -- middle of the day. I got multiple pics daytime and nighttime for about 24 hours and then nothing. I have not gotten a picture for several days and the dam breach has not been fixed or touched. I'm wondering if that other adult beaver felt pressured and moved on? Would that be normal? Or maybe that other beaver was a transient male that no longer has interest as the female is now missing? I'm curious what others have experienced....

Nope, he's still there. Now it becomes a waiting game. He seen his relatives dead and disappear. Now, he's very cautious.
Use some oil sac on a set away, I mean far away from the dam. He's associating the dam as danger.
Good luck.

Sarge

Actually, i just got a picture of him on the other side of the pond. Darn. Would the beaver be less likely to shy away from sac oil? He sure doesn't want anything to do with castor or Tom Florin's Beaver Buster. I have some snares set with those lures up high, but no action. I also wonder how long he can stand to keep away from that breached dam. The water level in the pond is going down noticeably....wouldn't think he could tolerate that for long, but I don't know. I really wish there was a nice channel or some pinch point, but there's not. Maybe sac oil can win the day...

Sac oil is worth a try with a snare set or two. Let the water continue to go down. I've seen beavers live in basically nothing but a mud hole. He'll commit eventually. Like I said. Keep reading the sign. He will tell you what he will and won't do. Keep planning and setting accordingly. It's a waiting game. Sometimes this happens and other jobs are so easy that we think couldn't possibly be so easy.
Water going down is good. He's gotta eat. Find a pull out or a trail going to a food source and set snares.

Sarge

Had one not touch a dam during the winter for a month, big old girl. Had taken 3 out in the first 2 days, no snapped traps or anything. Took me a month of chess to catch her, finally got her in a 330 set along the feed pile and dam where it came together. You could not tell where the branches ended and the trap was, bugger to set. She would not go anywhere near scent and if there was a disturbance at all, she holed up for days at a time. Had her on camera sniffing snare wire and booking it out of there. Set up the lodge and she chewed out to avoid the 330's. That one cost me money and a client as it was my first job for them.........

Good luck and enjoy the feeling if/when you finally catch em.

Question:

Would it be wise or beneficial to pull out for a couple of weeks and then go back and reset? I can't work for free...I make a $25 charge each time I have to go service the traps, which is every day. I feel bad running up a bill and not catching the darn thing....I just wonder if I pulled traps and let it go about it's business with no pressure for a while if that would make it a hair easier to catch -- even if I had to wait a month? Good idea/bad idea?

Dusty, you are right you can't work for free....educate your land owner about these critters and let him know the issues.
Pulling out for a short period and going back in later WITH SOME NEW ATTRACTORS would certainly work. Like Sarge
mentioned it can be a waiting game and that obviously requires you to check your sets. By the way $25 a check is not too
much to ask at all(probably not enough but I don't know what your conditions are for trapping, hunting and fishing permission).
Just my take

Thanks guys. I appreciate this website very much! Trappers helping trappers....

With the water level down, look for a bank lodge. Not just the one the family used to live in. A spooked beaver will hole up in an old bank den which the original beaver created before they raised the level of the pond. That could be the reason why it isn't fixing the dam. The current low water level may be adequate for the old bank den now.
There is also a chance that the lone survivor moved on.
I'd let the customer know to call you if the dam ever gets fixed again, or if there are new cuttings.