As the beaver swims with its front feet folded in at its sides, there is a chance that it will spring the trap with its belly. Place a small branch near the center of the cubby and place your trap just to one side and slightly back of this branch. When the beaver strikes this branch with its stomach, it will stop swimming, and as it settles down to eat, a hind foot should come down upon the trap. When trapping beaver, the good trappers always plan for a hind foot catch. A beaver caught by a front foot will often twist its foot off in the trap unless it drowns first.
Beavers often use scent mounds along the shore.
These are mud piles upon which the beavers deposit some of the secretion from their castor glands. Artificial scent mounds can be made by heaping up a little pile of mud and placing a few drops of beaver castoreum for lure on the mound. They can be used for beaver sets simply by placing traps at the bases of the mounds. If these mounds are near the water's edge use a drowning wire. Sometimes it is necessary to make dry land sets for beaver although you should stick to water sets if possible.