Back foot snated beaver

I have caught beaver on snare poles by front foot,back foot toes tail,teeth and nose.
All under water sets where beaver is swimming.
Any time I have snared beaver on land all were either by the neck or behind one or both front legs.
Not a fan of live snaring beaver and I use it as a last resort for certain stubborn nuisance beaver.
Would never live snare a fur beaver.
If that snare was set where beaver was walking,the snare may have not been stabilized adequaely at the lock,and may have been knocked down by another beaver previously or by the caught beaver.
If snare was set where beaver was swimming an extremity catch is not too uncommon.

I once set a foothold on an 8ft drowner cable
cought a beaver but it didn't go down the cable
when I pulled the set up the trap was at the end of the cable
the beaver had its hind foot twisted in the cable near the top stake
weird stuff happens

I imagine he stepped his back foot in the snare or almost made all the way through the snare. I have had some weird experiences with snares.

Probably a castor mound, and the beaver came in head high/ aggressive, head above the loop, knocked the snare down and got caught by the same rear foot as the snare support was located, left or right side of support. Happens more often when the beaver is swimming than on land, but both are possible.
The beaver may also have been carrying mud in its front feet, walking on its rear feet, to cover your lure with, knocked the snare down and got caught by the rear foot on either the approach or exit.
You can simulate these scenarios pretty easy. Set a snare with your usual beaver height/ diameter loop. Then push on the top of the snare while moving forward, to simulate the beavers body contacting the snare rather than their head /body entering the loop. If your snare is loaded, it will close partially until the loop hits the ground, and will remain there partially open, and instead of centered in the trail will be pushed more towards the side of the support wire/ support stick. If the snare is not loaded, the beaver has to physically pull it shut, and most often pulls the loop down quite small as it pushes forward, or catches on a front foot or snares support side rear foot. Either scenario can account for front or rear foot catches.

I have snared several beaver, by the front foot, by the back foot and even the tail.

Boco,
Like this? Love it, and pretty beaver.

Exactly RWH
Gotta love under ice beaver snaring.

I've seen some really unique and awkward snare catches in my 29 years of trapping, and the majority of those "off the wall" catches were on coyote. I'm not a big water trapper but had some crazy snare catches on beaver as well...

Caught a coyote by the back foot and by only 2 toes at that, one time in a fence crawl under. The landowner was impressed! I was like how the (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) did that ever happen.

Several beaver by the tail and back foot in snares for me. Believe the beaver gets through the snare (as they all don't slide as smooth as you see in the guy's shop!). Beaver can be moving slow and/or fast on slides or slimmer/slipperier in the water approaching from a different direction than you think. At the convention booth or on the "Tube", its one thing, but its not all that controlled atmosphere in Nature. In man's advertisements, its always a new bright cable with some oil coating left on with a new slick lock for demonstration. If you wax, paint or dip a snare and don't run it (cable) through the lock several times, you will have minor Imperfections that can hang/slow the lock up for a second or two when closing. This allows the beaver to get farther through than your "loaded" cable showed you before the coating. Even the "baking soda bath" will leave a residue stiffening and slowing the snare closing time someone will show you at the Convention or on the YouTube channel. Front foot catches, though rare are the beaver hitting the snare off center with its chest and the "loaded" snare doing like you want - closing fast! Better locks have helped. The old bent washer types didn't do much as the beaver could usually turn and slip the front foot out before it locked. And really if you look at that washer there was a lot of room on a partially closed one depending on your washer diameter and how the bend was done on it. My experience and an explanation per request. ..............................the mike ..............oh here's one for you to compare, In 1984 near Pilger NE I was scheduled to head home to spend Christmas at my mom's house in Southern NE. I went through the coyote line and disabled every snare on the trails they were set to a about a 2.5" loop. Most were just knocked down to dangle over or on the trails. When (after 4 days at mom's house) I returned and was resetting the snares, that 2.5" loop dangling over the trail, perhaps 6" above the ground, had SNAGGED A COYOTE BY THE FRONT FOOT! He was tangled and dead but from that experience I learned that you could foot snare some animals and it set me to experiment for years on what and how a device can work as a harvest tool! Several coyotes and a few red fox caught by the mouth in snares through the years but that's another story (I even have pictures LOL) ......................... the mike again.

(This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) I’ve snared beaver by the front foot, back foot, even the tail. I used to sit there in the truck and try to figure how I caught the backside and not the head, but then realized who cares I got the beaver. Most of time it was head and at least one foot through, but then there were head scratcher catches too. Just part of snaring I guess.
Had a deer leg bone in a coyote snare once and that must have been in its mouth when it hit the snare. I’ve caught coyotes by just the snout too. Never got their whole head through just the snout and it held them.
Jim

I caught a bobcat by the back foot in a mink snare tied off to a brick drag in the cattails. No season for cats here and had 2 division biologists trying to sedate and cage him, What a Sh@tshow lol

I had camera running video on a snare a couple years ago and snared a beaver by a front foot.
It was a big one, over 50lbs, and it the snare was a foot or so from the water edge on a dry land trail the beaver was using to access a cornfield and cut corn. The first time it showed up, it went around the snare (did not appear to be intentionally avoiding it, just didn?t follow the exact path) and then as it came back dragging a cornstalk it knocked the snare into the water. Maybe 20 minutes later it returned and as it brought another cornstalk into the water, it somehow got the front foot through the snare that was now under a couple inches of water and laying flat on the bottom, and just kept walking until it cinched tight. I was using 5/64? 1x19 with a C lock, and I sure was favorably impressed by its ability to lock down that tight. Held it for about 14 hours until I arrived with almost zero foot damage.

Anything Can and Will happen on a trap/snareline

I was texting the customer where I caught that beaver by the front foot, and I saw that I had sent him a picture of it. It was Newt’s C lock with 5/64” 1x19, and it cinched that tight…

Sucker would have been gone here...with our deer stop regs.

Yeah our only snare restriction is that without a relaxing lock, the loop must be under 15” circumference or half under water. For beavers I don't even use swivels.
I had good quality video of this catch, and if it would not have been so belligerent and just yanked sideways instead of pulling its foot up and out, it would not have been caught.
Im still not convinced that beavers can, or maybe they don’t know to, or don’t consider walking backwards. Canines backstep regularly if they have a reason, but I have yet to see a beaver do it on video.

Caught more than I'd like by the front foot on dryland snares. That's why I don't like to set on slides themselves if I can help it. I try to get them either before the slide or when they get to the top of the bank on the flat.

It's a wonder how things happen sometimes. I caught a gray fox years ago in a log crossing; the snare was tight at he base of his tail. He was in the water and drowned; it's still hard to believe it held.