The recent thread on hard to catch beaver reminded me of mountain trappers talking about trap shy beaver.

From John Bradbury, who travelled the West from 1809-1811:
They state that an old beaver, who has escaped from
a trap, can scarcely ever afterwards be caught, as travelling in situations where traps are usually
placed, he carries a stick in his mouth, with which he probes the sides of the river, that the stick
may be caught in the trap, and thus saves himself.

And the precautions they would take when setting traps.

From Robert Campbell's travels, 1825 to 1835:
They are seen near these dams and at their “lodges” on the banks of the stream, where they ooze
out this castoreum, which is understood to be a signal to other beavers. The trappers set their
traps at these places. This castoreum, some of the old hunters use in this way. They take a piece
of willow, strip off the bark and wash it, so as to leave no scent, as the beaver’s sense of smell is
exquisite, and then put castoreum on it.

From Jams O. Pattie, 1824-1830:
A canoe is a great advantage, where the beavers are wild; as the trapper can thus set his traps
along the shore without leaving his scent upon the ground about it.

From Joe Meek's tales in Rover of the West:
The trapper then throws water plentifully over the adjacent bank to conceal
any foot prints or scent by which the beaver would be alarmed, and going to some distance
wades out of the stream.

Bill Burrows, by Alfred Jacob Miller

I usually throw water over castor mound sets when I make them. But rather than doing it to remove scent, I do it to wash some castor scent into the water and to make it look wet and slicked up, like it was freshly used by a strange beaver.

Thank you for these Mountain Man posts Sir. Very interesting.

You're welcome.

I enjoy researching the topics, gives me a good excuse to go back through books I haven't picked up in some time.