Spring Beaver ?

I am located in Wisconsin where it is a pretty long drive to get to any real long stretches of public land with Rivers. Most places where I can trap are just small 40 acres stretches of river and creeks. I have trapped beaver out of these places when I get lucky and they move in and start making active sign. My question is could I set up these places this spring with Castor mounds and be somewhat successful? With no sign of beaver? I figure beaver must pass thru these areas especially in the spring when they are dispersing a little more. I drive by most of these places every day on my to work so checking definitely wouldn't be problem. Thanks for any feedback on spring beavers!

I get them every year in the scenario you describe. Little sign.....but in my area, most creeks big enough to navigate with a canoe will have some beavers living there. You may have to wait them out a little longer than setting near areas with a lot of activity. Beavers are like bucks....during their rut they will cover some territory looking for mates.

Medium sized rivers(in beaver country),say 30 to 50 foot across are beaver highways in the spring right after ice out.All the smaller tributaries will also be good.You can hammer the beaver in spring on these rivers with castor sets,and blind sets on the small tributaries.
A few things to keep in mind.Make sets to cover all the wind direction changes.Set heavy,Make sure caught beaver are down and out or they will be damaged by other beaver at this time of year.

Right after ice goes out (here anyway),the ground is still frozen solid and you cannot drive a stake.Also water levels can fluctuate on a river daily if nights are freezing and days warm,and any rain runs over the frozen ground right to the drainages raising water quickly.
One other thing to remember-pelt quality goes down fast after the ice goes out.I have found that after about 2 weeks 50% or more of your beaver will be shedders(low value).

Great advice guys!

You ever have any success setting up on a waterway or a creek that connects two lakes?

Jake, and water connecting 2 lakes will also be a great spot. Especially if you know there are beaver on the lakes. And in this country almost every lake seems to have beaver. Get some good caster based lures and set all the spots you mentioned. Then sharpen your skinning knife and get ready!

Jake, if you have a treelined waterway of any size (30-40' across), you will have beaver traveling it right after ice out. I would make castor mound sets with or without sign after ice out. We can trap the public right aways with a 48 hour check in SD, but have to use footholds. If your trapping private ground, my preference is a castor mound using a 330.