Big castor mounds

Last year I trapped 25 beaver out of this lake. The lake has 6 active lodges. While fishing on the lake last weekend I spotted these 3 huge castor mounds. Biggest I've ever seen. They are located in the center of all the lodges.

that's a serious caster mound! Lol it looks more like a rat feeder hut from my area. 25 from one lake that must be a big lake! best I ever did from one lake was 9 but I missed one got it this past season. I bet you caught a few toads ! I know I did breeding pair was huge boar weighed 67 sow 71

How bad was the bite marks on those beaver? We don't get many places with that many colonies that close together nor castor mounds that size. Biggest I've seen here is basketball sized.

I've seen some like that when I trapped In SC. Saw a otter toilet just about that big.

The number of castor mounds in an area is indicative of the closeness of neighboring beaver colonies.The average number of scent mounds are highest when neighboring colonies are within 200 meters.
Not all beaver colonys will have castor mounds. Colonys with neighboring beavers within about 1/2 km will almost always maintain scent mounds.Outside of that the number of colonys maintaining scent mounds drops to around 30%,according to several well documented studies,and confirmed by my own observations.
When I notice a number of obvious scent mounds in an area I know that there will be another colony close,either upstream or downstream.This is useful information when doing nuisance beaver removal,as it helps you remove all the nuisance beaver in an area in a shorter amount of time.
Setting a good sized scent mound can produce quite a few beaver over time.

They weren't bit up at all. I was shocked. 2 colonies are on the other end of 200 acre lake. The 4 colonies that are closest to the castor mounds all have their own 10 acre bay and the mounds are located where the 4 bays meet. It is fun trapping these colonies. I didn't trap any of the castor mound because I figured the trapped beaver would be swiss cheese by morning. I only set runs leading to fresh cuttings last fall.

I caught a huge Male(69#) at the lodge that wasn't maintained very well. Small feed pile. Biggest female was 62# at a different lodge. 2 kits and the rest were 2 year olds.

I trap one lake that has giant mounds similar to those. There are two of them on an island about 5 yards apart. I'd say about three feet across and 2 feet tall. I can't begin to guess how many beaver I have trapped there over the years. The beaver use the same mounds year after year. No lure needed from me. Just bed a 750 in front of each mound and start collecting beaver. Also caught several otter at them.