A couple of days ago I set two #2 CS on a trail going through shallow water through grass. It was a well worn trail and I figured I would catch something using it. One of the #2's I set had a light pan, really light. Next day I saw the grass tore up and when I walked over the cable was pulled tight and the trap empty. I checked the trap and there as a toe nail from the hind foot of a beaver, I didn't expect a beaver to use this trail. It looked like it was broke off at the first joint. I felt really bad as if I would have had more tension on the pan I would have made a nice hind foot catch. I knew this beaver was going to be trap shy and it was going to be in pain for a very long time, and if infection set in it would die a slow death.

How to catch this beaver kept me up at night. I got an idea...I took a castor glad from a kit that was out of the same colony and made a castor mound using it. I took a shovel and made a ditch about 2 foot long the width of a beaver going to the castor mound. I set a 330 and really didn't much blocking due to the ditch. I figured since I hit this colony hard they would be looking for the missing members.

Two days later I caught the beaver with the missing hind toenail. Its hind foot was severally swollen and infected. I was so grateful to God for giving me the wisdom to catch this beaver.

I kill hundreds of animals each year. I accept it as I'm a trapper who specializes in land management. But when something bad happens it really makes me feel horrible as I do my best to be as humanly as possible.

Any of you feel this way?

Yeah, I do. God gave us animals to utilize for food and clothing and I have no problem harvesting them. We accept the possibility that something like this could happen but take every measure to lessen the risk. As a kid I had a coon chew the limb I was using as a drag in two and get away. ( the limb was way too small ) I found him several weeks later tangled in honey suckle vines. Trap still attached. That bothered me tremendously. Good job on that beaver Brother. Well done.

I feel the same. Like you guys said it's our responsibility to just do everything we can to prevent things like this. It's our responsibility to make harvests in hunting, trapping or fishing as humanely as possible. Great job on catching the beaver. I had a similar experience when I first started trapping. I pegged a beaver in a 330 and it was definitely trap shy. 2 days later the pond froze over and there was a distinct underwater trail. I set a snare under the ice and had the pegged beaver snared. That also bothered me, but I learned from it and have avoided doing so since. That was 8 or 9 years ago.