I tried live trapping down on an ADC job near a creek that had notice able slides as they came out of the water there was a flat I set the live trap on, also put castor in the very back with a few new chiseld limbs, they flat ignored it and went around it, i sanded inthe floor mesh also , this cage trap is VERY BIG bout 4ft long x 2ft opening i wasnt crowding them i still couldnt catch any with live trap.
_________________________
Did you have the trap covered or debris around where the approaching beaver could not get close to the bait unless he goes in the trap?
They will smell from the out side and not go in, if their curiosity is satisfied, just like a bobcat or fox.
What could have happened. If you were using a standard pan trigger, depending as to location of the pan inside the cage, the beaver may have come in up to the front edge of the pan leaned over and smelled lure and not put front feet down on pan, turned and left. I have video showing how that can happen or how they react that way. The pan may have needed a thin piece of plywood on top of it to fire when the beaver was a little further from the pan than he would be if you had not done that.
Sometimes if you just caught a bobcat or other predator in the trap and the trap smells of him or another smell they don,t like, they will not enter.
If it is a very hot day when the trap is set, if on land, the heat will cause the smells inside the cage trap to be more pronounced affecting how the animal responds.
The customers dog may have come up and marked his territory on your trap. The same dog that was harassing them.
Setting in water, with any trap, even if it is just a few inches of water, helps to make the set more effective.
I explained in my last several demos at the NTA how to make a pan trigger more effective for beaver, to allow one to make the best use of what he had on hand.