I'd rather be lucky than good.

There is a beaver in that trap. So looks like it was good placement

Not necessarily bad trap placement....

Beaver's approach could have been not as you planned. That just happens sometimes.

Trappers that say they never have that happen are not being truthful or they are inexperienced.

This^^^^ YES!

But you gotta love a square jaw trap!

Always set for the left foot. It’s in the new dobbins video

Pan tension too light or set too deep, maybe both.

Perfect, nice job

Lever threw the foot up and barely got caught

Maybe this - or just bad luck.
They do not always approach as we predict.
I have been turning the lever perpendicular to the bank lately and the number of toe catches has been greatly reduced.
Stepping between the jaws and not over them prevents the jaw from lifting the beaver's foot away from the trap when fired, although the levers can also lift the feet, but I think it is worse if the jaw lifts it.

Im with swamp wolf on this one.^^^^^^

This what I was thinking of. Check your pan tension. After last years of bad luck with plenty of caught toe nails i increased my pan tension this year and did much better.

More pan tension will help prevent this. Beavers tend to stumble around a dam break trying to assess what exactly needs to be done.
It will place it's feet all over the place without any particular purpose in mind. This leads to it stepping on jaws, or levers or just the edge of the pan.
If your pan tension is to low, you will have empty sprung traps or toe catches. A heavier set pan will not fire until its entire foot is on the pan.

Trap that don't lock up properly? Cause of what most people call toe catches on cannines.

I'll add to the many things mentioned that can change a well made beaver set....water fluctuation.
Water rising and drops can change what happens as the beaver works a set.

I've seen worse.

For sure!

There is still a beaver attached to what's caught in HT's pic.

Sometimes there isn't in some of my pics...lol

It’s a win - dead beaver.

Considering the huge variation in body size of beaver, there is NO perfect trap placement underwater. If possible, I like to set above the waterline in a depression so the pan is below ground level. Cover trap with some wet leaves. Make absolutely certain that there is ZERO castor scent on the trap or you will catch whiskers.