The last 2 beaver I caught were drowned by their rear toe, 52lb and 68lbs. Both had marks on their rear ankles (was going for rear foot catch) as though the trap had clamped exactly where it should, but they somehow wriggled almost completely out. These were fairly new, strong Bridger #5s. Granted, these were pretty big beaver, but what do you think? Is that normal or is there a stronger trap that gives a little more of a guarantee of a solid catch? I worry that I won't be as lucky one of these times.

Were those #5 coils or longsprings?

I've seen that b4. I've always assumed those higher skint places on the legs were caused by the beav fighting trap after being caught by the toe....and b4 drowning.

If you're pan tension is stiff then the beavs approach may have been not what you set for and trap flipped over in soft bottom and grabbed only a toe.

Weak springs can cause that.

I have an old timer who has the same problem but with TS 85's. They seem to work fine as long as the trap catches them above the ankle, otherwise they would slip down to the toes and off.

These are longsprings. I've owned them for about a year, just a light coating of rust. I think they're about as strong as they were new.

While I suppose it's possible, my gut tells me that the trap initially grabbed them by the ankle based on the marks all around the ankle. Especially considering it was two in a row. I feel like with their size and strength they probably would have ripped a toe off and gotten away had they initially been caught by the toe...more often than not.

I think that to heavy of an anchor on your drowning give the animal a solid wack to your gear when they fight. Sort of like the reason to using a shock spring on the land critters. I feel I want the anchor to give a little with each tug that the beaver gives when fighting. just me thinking......jk

I trap beaver for a living, i don't own any 5 longs, should tell you all you need to know. Drifter on here called it catching them on the installment plan, lol. I only want to catch them once.

Hey that's a good thought, very interesting. This rock I used as an anchor was, I believe, heavy enough to cause this problem.

What do you prefer to use?

Hard to beat the MB-750, IMO. I've tried most everything else.

my gut tells me that the trap initially grabbed them by the ankle based on the marks all around the ankle.


That's why all beaver traps should have teeth.

I’ll probably not try anything else until i lose a few beaver. havent lost any yet with those traps and i remember choosing the #5 dls because of their rugged simple nostalgic style (and functionality of course). I wonder how much of peoples choice in trap is just due to recency bias. kinda like switching broadheads because you just got unlucky enough to miss an artery and got a bad blood trail, when in reality it had not much to do with the broadhead.

i do like the slighty movable anchor idea, like a shock spring on a land trap.

I have a half dozen 5 LS I use for the occasional nuisance beaver that does not like bodygrips.
I dont remember ever missing any.I have had pull outs with the old #4 victor DLS because of the weakening of springs from years of use.Over the years I have taken many more beaver with #4 vic LS than I ever will with the 5's.

I'm not saying that's the case with beaver, most folks are pretty loyal to the same few beaver traps BUT trappers are gear junkies too and they often jump on the next new trap that comes out and swear its the best thing since sliced bread.. Sometimes it is and sometimes its no better than anything we already have but its just "new"... Then after a season or two you see a ton of them show up for sale in the trap shed..

I've tried just about every beaver trap out there, just for experimental and fun. MB750's have been unbeatable for me. None of the Bridger 5's have performed satisfactory for me.

This^^^ is very true!

I'm leaning back towards 750s being my go-to trap.

Yea, I like my beaver footholds. I admit that, I like using different ones but I have more 750's by far..They are like a dependable old tractor. They just flat work, strong as heck and lock up solid, almost too solid sometimes...workhorse trap