bears and destroyed traps
 

i've heard of bears destroying live traps up in the high country here in ca where that's the only sort of trap you can use. what are some ways of preventing this?

Bears and Traps
 

Two ways, either don't trap bears , or use a much bigger trap.

sorry, i meant when trapping other animals or if the bear wants the bait inside.

Never having to deal with bears
The only thing I can think of is just use it as a blind set.
Sort of a small tunnel that small critters would have to enter to stay on the same path they are following.Or maybe just off the path
Cover the trap with grass twigs etc. Maybe even plastic.
Be careful that it has NO bait smell.
You may even use urine from your target species.
Try to make it uninteresting to bears but something the smaller critters would check out.