Is this a viable option or is it destined to fail? Have done limited amount of beaver snaring, but was curious about it being an affective method of dispatch for removal in some very hard to access areas where a snare might be a light weight and lethal option?

Any thoughts welcome.

If you know how to neck snare beaver I’m all ears, they usually get hung up by their shoulders

Loop sizes of 9" or 10" will get you beaver snared with 1 or both front legs thru the snare (which I prefer.)

Slightly smaller loop sizes will get you some neck snared beavers, but it will also get you some knocked down snares.

Ive never seen the need for a kill spring on a beaver snare. We can only legally snare beaver here in Georgia.

I’m with swamp. Especially if you are doing control work, I prefer at least one front leg through. I have a number of videos that show beavers fighting a neck snare for about 30 seconds, then they stop and study the situation. I have watched them use a front foot to claw and pull at the loop and remove it. And these were good behind the head holds, using several different lock styles. Doesn’t happen a lot, but does happen. Get at least one front leg through, they will be right there waiting for you every time. Never seen a single exception.
Fur trapping, you may end up with a more value degrading snare mark with a mid-body catch.

Curious why you want a lethal snare setup for beavers? I use 5/64” 1x19 cable, and dont even use swivels. Beavers don’t get out of them, they just wait there on the leash. Now a raccoon I would want swivels, or something quickly lethal if no swivels.

Just would prefer a dead, down n out beaver. Just mostly curious on how likely those type of setups are. I'd love to RAM snare some but that's more money than I am willing to get into at this time.

Loosanarrow, you going to the NTA in Harrisonburg?

No not this year.

Probably the last 40 or so beaver I tried to catch were caught by the neck, every single one of them. Small 7-8" loop, lots of guiding. I probably missed a number as well, but no big deal to reset and the beaver were none the wiser. Beaver prices were low so I was trying things I wouldn't dare try when prices are up, ie kinda like learning to foot snare coyote when they're only worth $10.
Anyway, I used 7x7 5/64 with John Graham's Amberg lock and kill spring, since these were my coyote snares I had on hand. Every one was tangled and dead, but may have been anyway without the kill spring. I'm fairly sure that a non-relaxing lock would be imperative, but haven't tried to head snare without one to be sure. Most of my sets were on trails at waters edge. Some were the old leaning pole against tree/bank with lure on the pole. Worked great but you gotta set your snare with the bottom of the loop only 1" under water. Beaver swim, at least near shore, with their front legs extended out like superman flying, not folded back like an otter. You want that loop to go between his bottom jaw and his legs extending forward. Hang it too deep and the front legs go through the snare. Once they cinch that snare up with a non-relaxing lock, they're yours.
IMHO

Almost all the beaver I snare on land are neck snared. Key part of neck snaring beaver is fast loaded snares and proper HEIGHT. This 2" off the ground stuff you see is silly. You'll get misses and bad catches. Talk of beaver throwing the snare off their heads is somewhat possible if you dont use a loaded snare and a not so aggressive lock.

If i have shallow water sets where I can get em walking like for a foot hold set, I keep the snare 4 inches off the the walking surface just like my dry land snares. Swimming sets can be a bit tricker but if you can keep the bottom of the loop fairly shallow you can have better chances keeping them neck snared.

My snares are super fast loaded, but we are required to use “relaxing” locks so that may be a factor. The ones I have on video pulling the loop off were 7/64 1x19 with Amburg reverse bend washer locks. I do expect an aggressive or spring assist lock would do much better but then my regs would require 50% under water. Also, the ones that were pulled off showed very little sign of the catch or what happened - that is to say, I would never have known what happened without the video, just a barely kinked small loop laying there without a catch circle or really any telltale way to know what happened.
But no matter how they are loaded, after the beaver fights the snare for a bit how it was loaded is no longer a factor.

Attempting to neck snare a hatter beaver is simply a waste of time. I can't see the need for that.

Op is in North Carolina...where most, if not all, are hatters.

If I was wanting a dead beaver with a snare...then I'd affix the snare to a drowning cable or rod.

The more reading i do, the more unavoidable a drowning rod seems. Still interesting though. Thanks to everyone for their input.

Less misses with neck snaring than with big, low loops. If you gotta avoid otter then thats probably a good thing. Back when fox and raccoon were worth something, picked up lot of them in those snares set for beaver. would of missed the fox with the "typical beaver loop". I could set mink snares or coyote snares and raccoon will still find a way to get into them.

Sniper, I may have to respectfully disagree with that, depending on what you mean. My many hours of video of snare catches show only the very very rare miss with big low loop snares that are around 10” in diameter. If I recall correctly (talking dry land only here). I have over 90 catches on video and exactly one small beaver makes it through a loop without being caught. A couple tail catches.
Now I do agree that you will get more misses on raccoons- and that is my goal. In fact I have watched half dozen raccoons walk nimbly through a low big loop, then along comes a beaver and is caught in that same loop. And that is exactly what I want. In fact I have endeavored to turn missing raccoons in snares that still catch the beaver into an art form. Best I have been able to do is about 12 to 15 beaver per raccoon - most of the raccoons that do get tangled in my snares turn and sniff or do something odd instead of just walking through the loop. Or the raccoon is an xxxl size….

Good snare info guys ...thanks!
I am slowly going to loaded cable more and more.
I still favor the 7x7 5/64 snares using John Graham's Amberg lock....no kill springs allowed.... besides we have to use a deer stop.
I set a 10-12 inch loop and do well as we have to set in the water, otter population is low here.
Muskrats are my biggest nemesis for knocking snares loops down.
Now IF we could legally snare on land here I see the raccoon possibilities.

If youre using loaded snares you can get a away with the lower snares. Running the cave man 3/32 cable unloaded snares will get more misses.

My snaring experience is beaver only as that is all we can use them for here in Georgia. Any incidental must be released or discarded. I rarely snare a coon (and we have a high population). I do get an otter occasionally at a crossover, but its rare....only 6 or 7 in decades of beaver snaring. I do get some knocked down/pulled loops, but close inspections shows that was an otter, a coon, a large turtle, or a big gator.

I load my snares to a circle loop. I prefer slim locks or micro locks. Use some penny locks too. Use 1/19 5/64" cable and a vinyl whammy and a #9 wire support. A #6 barrel swivel is made onto the snare and I attach a 7x7 3/32" extension with an 1/8" quick link. Some are half-hitched to trees, some are rebar staked, some are wood staked.

This is good information. I snare them on land because I can and they are 95% neck snared, the others are typically little pup beaver. They are dead if there is entanglement and that with deer stops on the snares (per the regulations). That's only 10-20 beaver a year for several years sample size though so YMMV.

I’ve only tail snared one. It was small. But 90% of my snared beavers have been neck snared. I took some time with Ron Jones and the Southern Snaring school. And have corresponded significantly with Dale Billingsley. I tend to use 5/65 7x7 or 5/64 1x19 —whatever I have available at the time I’m building snares. But, ALL are loaded. It seems to make a huge difference