Topic: Beaver eradication possibilities?

[mark]

what are the firearm laws there in the case of silencers? i know that theyre legal here. silenced 22 is q u i e t

Silencer? A .22 with a 26" barrel doesn't need a silencer.

It's actually quieter than a pellet gun.... with standard-velocity ammo anyway.



Edit: As far as I know, silencer/suppressors require a Federal Firearms License (F.F.L.) like that required for machine guns. A different class with maybe one or two less hoops to jump through but still an F.F.L. item.


Happy trails.

[Steve F]

Booby trap the trees with 220 volts of AC.  Drill a couple of holes where the little F*@[kers like to chew and string the wires through.  Lower jaw on one wire, upper jaw on another Dzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttt!

[narcoticrex]

napalm...make sure you play that song from the helicopter attack scene in apocalypse now.  and chant.."i love the smell of cooked beaver in the morning...it smells like....victory."

i now have a sig.

[74cb750]

Hmm....the picture of the gun looks exactly like the one I was/am/might  use.

General layout?, well I have almost 8 acres of very very steep land. The beavers have built dams along the side of the road for a length of 5 kilometers, where the stream meanders along a strip of marsh approximately 10-35 meters wide. Only  a corner of my land (where the driveway comes out) touches the marsh, and affords the beaver easy access to my trees. The land where the beavers are on is a
"private conservation area", in quotes because it is privately owned, but deeded for public recreational use in perpetuity. ?? Not sure what this means. This land is only bordered by me and a rooty-tooty private high school ($18,000/yr plus to attend). ie, more animal protection people w big bucks.

Fuzzybutt: if I obtain a F.F.L. and silencer, could I then go down to the pond and use my semi-auto Chinese AK-47 at 4 am?

Dams: can't blow them up/tear them down. 5 were built years ago by a crazy rich guy per local legend (whom deeded the land for conservation) for his entertainment. Long story.
The ten other dams I mention are maintained by the beavers. Most of these are level or near level to the current man-made dams. ie, wouldn't do much good tearing them down.
Besides I am certain people would hear a bulldozer and complain. :-)

SteveF: booby traps sound good in theory, but like I said, there are kids fishing here, so not pratical.

Craigslist: good idea. I will post today and see if I get some 'normal' practical answers, this does NOT mean I this the responses here are not mormal, please do not get me wrong. Lots of good ideas here.

I am headed down to the ponds now at 5 am to scare up some malicious animals.

Will keep you posted.
peace,
michel

[Buber]

You know what? I'm ...... stunned? Surprised? whatever, but feelings are strange. 4 pages about how to kill an animal which has a perfect ritgh to live wher YOU figured out to plant a house.
I mean, I live in teh mountains, where last bear was killed in the middle of XIX century. Beavers (although the river going through the city is called "Beaver") are not seen even longer.
Is this really the way to go? Blast everythign with explosives and guns, because it disrupts a golf course (for chrissakes!) or a yearly fishing-somehting? Truly I'm astonished. And I'm not a "sierra club fighter" or anything like that. I just live in a place which is considered  beautiful natural place, and if I see a deer or a squirrel i consider it a happy day! And this is THE nature place! In cities kids already think that milk is produced by a machine.

One more thing - the only other voice in this thread "kind of" not supporting the killing concept came from a Brit. So is this a US specialty? if it moves - kill it?
Again - I don't want to offend anybody, but don't you think that this kind of thinking is EXACTLY the same one that destroys the rain forest in Brazil, and many other things? Can't you feel the global warming? I can! I was riding my bike on New Year! Which was impossible some time ago!

Honestly - I'm scared when I see how this thread progresses....
Y'know, actually those mountains behind my window disrupt my view... Can you ship over a case of dynamite, or better, a nuke, so I can get rid of that problem?

[BlindJoe]

You know what? I'm ...... stunned? Surprised? whatever, but feelings are strange. 4 pages about how to kill an animal which has a perfect ritgh to live wher YOU figured out to plant a house.
I mean, I live in teh mountains, where last bear was killed in the middle of XIX century. Beavers (although the river going through the city is called "Beaver") are not seen even longer.
Is this really the way to go? Blast everythign with explosives and guns, because it disrupts a golf course (for chrissakes!) or a yearly fishing-somehting? Truly I'm astonished. And I'm not a "sierra club fighter" or anything like that. I just live in a place which is considered  beautiful natural place, and if I see a deer or a squirrel i consider it a happy day! And this is THE nature place! In cities kids already think that milk is produced by a machine.

One more thing - the only other voice in this thread "kind of" not supporting the killing concept came from a Brit. So is this a US specialty? if it moves - kill it?
Again - I don't want to offend anybody, but don't you think that this kind of thinking is EXACTLY the same one that destroys the rain forest in Brazil, and many other things? Can't you feel the global warming? I can! I was riding my bike on New Year! Which was impossible some time ago!

Honestly - I'm scared when I see how this thread progresses....
Y'know, actually those mountains behind my window disrupt my view... Can you ship over a case of dynamite, or better, a nuke, so I can get rid of that problem?

     So are you suggesting that we give beavers more rights than humans? Where would you draw the line then? Should we not build foundations for our houses at the risk of chopping the heads off of some worms? If your house were to get infested by roaches would you welcome them with open arms, tu casa es mi casa? No, why not, is it because they aren't as cute as beavers or deer? Oh no you'd have to, you'd be an outright  bigot if you didn't . No I don't think that killing a beaver to stop if from cutting down trees is killing the rainforest. I really hope you are kidding, because if you aren't I feel sorry for you.

[firecracker]

AAaaannnnd...  we're now off-topic.


So, would pouring oil on the damn encourage them to move on?  If so, what kind of oil?





 

[mark]

Synthetic, of course.


 

[Buber]

     So are you suggesting that we give beavers more rights than humans? Where would you draw the line then? Should we not build foundations for our houses at the risk of chopping the heads off of some worms? If your house were to get infested by roaches would you welcome them with open arms, tu casa es mi casa? No, why not, is it because they aren't as cute as beavers or deer? Oh no you'd have to, you'd be an outright  bigot if you didn't . No I don't think that killing a beaver to stop if from cutting down trees is killing the rainforest. I really hope you are kidding, because if you aren't I feel sorry for you.
[/quote]
On the contrary - I'm pretty serious, but in a serious way. Why KILL the beaver? Why not set up a trap, and then transfer them to their natural habitat somewhere down/up the river? Or even to other state that doesn't have beavers? Or any other solution, which is NOT involving killing. Because there are many. Ask european zoos, and (although I'm not an expert) they will should be happy to have one. BUT. This involves more money/effort, and doesn't have the killing thrill, does it?

And yes, I will exterminate cockroaches, etc. Because they are NOT the same as beavers. I have plenty of (i think even different types) of mice that live around, and half of them (I think, from the sounds  ) are moving into my attic for the winter. They move away in spring, though.
I have moles in my garden, and I don't hunt them - somehow my apple trees are still there. I don't know, maybe I'm lucky, but I simply believe that there are other possibilites.

I just see it through onther lens. Lens, in which the only "rodents" or "vermint", whatever, that is abundant are stray cats or dogs, or mice or rats. And yes, you can still hunt here - BUT you must be a registered hunter and there is a strict limit of how many of what you can kill in the forest. So some will survive.

Just look at so many other species that were considered super-abundant, that were nearly extint. Buffalo? Sea Otter? There even was some kind of pidgeon that used to migrate in bilions over US, and now they are ALL dead....

And i stress it - I'm NOT an eco-freak. I just want to give a break to the nature. I'm going to use a vehicle. But it will never have bigger engine than 1500 cm3, and most probably less. And there are many other ways to ease the disaster we are inflicting on our planet WITHOUT going back to the stone caves. That's all I'm saying.

[burmashave]

Switzerland has recently granted constitutional rights to plants. Plants in Switzerland are not to be deprived of "dignity." I kid you not.

The Silent Scream of Asparagus

[Frankenkit]

I suppose that means all the sad and pathetic looking  office plants are going to be replaced with silk ones?
...and they're gonna forbid I should ever own plants...

It amazes me every day how we protect more and more things from ourselves and stupid people STILL don't need a license to procreate.     

[BlindJoe]

On the contrary - I'm pretty serious, but in a serious way. Why KILL the beaver? Why not set up a trap, and then transfer them to their natural habitat somewhere down/up the river? Or even to other state that doesn't have beavers? Or any other solution, which is NOT involving killing. Because there are many. Ask european zoos, and (although I'm not an expert) they will should be happy to have one. BUT. This involves more money/effort, and doesn't have the killing thrill, does it?

And yes, I will exterminate cockroaches, etc. Because they are NOT the same as beavers. I have plenty of (i think even different types) of mice that live around, and half of them (I think, from the sounds  ) are moving into my attic for the winter. They move away in spring, though.
I have moles in my garden, and I don't hunt them - somehow my apple trees are still there. I don't know, maybe I'm lucky, but I simply believe that there are other possibilites.

I just see it through onther lens. Lens, in which the only "rodents" or "vermint", whatever, that is abundant are stray cats or dogs, or mice or rats. And yes, you can still hunt here - BUT you must be a registered hunter and there is a strict limit of how many of what you can kill in the forest. So some will survive.

Just look at so many other species that were considered super-abundant, that were nearly extint. Buffalo? Sea Otter? There even was some kind of pidgeon that used to migrate in bilions over US, and now they are ALL dead....

And i stress it - I'm NOT an eco-freak. I just want to give a break to the nature. I'm going to use a vehicle. But it will never have bigger engine than 1500 cm3, and most probably less. And there are many other ways to ease the disaster we are inflicting on our planet WITHOUT going back to the stone caves. That's all I'm saying.
[/quote]

Ok, I guess I see what you're saying. We should use discretion and not get into the mindset that led us to wantonly shoot buffalo from passengers trains. I'm not a blood-thirsty beaver killer, but this is an isolated incident, when I start seeing convoys of boats lobbing grenades into beaver dams then I might start to get worried. Do you think the world would be a better place  if those "some kind of pidgeon" were still alive today? Would it end mean education for all and the end of poverty? I could really care less if another species of bird is or isn't on the Earth. I think their are other issues that we could spend our time on. Did you know that more than 99% of the species that were ever on Earth are now extinct? The world was doing fine a million years before you were here and it will be doing fine a million years after you are gone, all we are is dust in the wind do doo do do do do doo.

[Frankenkit]

Playing devil's advocate, here, but the world would probably be a hell of a lot better off without *us*, too.  Well, not "us" because we're "green"... getting 40+mpg on our motorcycles, reducing traffic congestion, reducing wear on the roads, etc...  I mean the 'other people'... the ones we kill to get what we want; the ones whose ideas differ with ours.  You know, the bad guys. 

Seriously, though, it's not necessarily about the significance of carrier pigeons as a species, but in a larger scope, the fact that entire species have been wiped out: e.g. the dodo, the carrier pigeon...

I suppose if you think about it, though, that pond may not be there in a hundred years: sold to some condo developer, neutered, paved over and turned into someone's little subdivision with its own homeowner's association, manicured lawns and cookie-cutter houses.

What I'm saying is: Eventually, the population will be such that many of the beautiful things in this world will be destroyed to make housing or farming possible. What're a couple of beavers in the grand scheme?

I'd fence off those trees, if you're not far enough out in the boonies to kill 'n eat 'em. 

[fuzzybutt]

Fuzzybutt: if I obtain a F.F.L. and silencer, could I then go down to the pond and use my semi-auto Chinese AK-47 at 4 am?

nope, the 7.62mm round has WAY too much muzzle velocity to silence.

[750K2]

KILL!!! KILL!!!! KILL THEM ALL!!!!!
oh wait..what were we talking about again?

[firecracker]

Alright, if nobody else is gonna do it...

[youtube=425,350]rThXRVkXHjc&NR[/youtube]

[burmashave]

^Thank You^

The funny thing about gophers and golfers is this: they're all fuzzy and cute and harmless and soon-to-be-endangered and original-inhabitants-of-your-property and never-hurt-anybody, until...

...they park themselves on your property. As the original owners of our land once said, "You can't know a man until you've waded 10 miles in his beaver pond."

Beavers are, as are rats, by noooooo means headed for extinction. The same can be said of black bear, raccoons, deer, etc. in the Northeast USA. Note that New Jersey now has a hunting season for bear simply because there are too many of them in NJ. And while it might be nice to catch the little buggers and let them go, most of these creatures are over populated to the point that there usually isn't a good place to let them go (this is why they arrive in our yards). Think about it; where are you going to release a beaver? You can't do it on private property, so that leaves you state or federal property. Assuming you read up on your state regulations for beaver release on state land, you might assure the beaver a slow death of starvation if you don't release it properly.

So, for all who may grieve the beaver, we didn't really kill it. It died and had to be buried in the toilet.

For the rest of us, I say, "Whack 'em!"

P.S. Would we feel the same way about killing a possum? Note cuddly possum below. Possums and beavers inhabit many of the same environments.

[firecracker]

I understand some possums are always in search of beaver.





Sorry, it had to be done.

[burmashave]

Oh man, I've seen some funny stuff here but ^that^ ranks up there.

Let it be noted for the record that firecracker prepared that bit o' humor and posted it 7 minutes and 36 seconds after I posted mine with the possum pic. Wow.

[74cb750]

Bubar: chill out dude. The beavers were NOT here 3 years ago. They have caused problems w some of the neighbors. One lady spent thousands of dollars raising her driveway, installing beaver-proof drainage etc etc.

 I do not have that much disposable income, unfortunately. If I did, I would hire a trapper, but the situation is what it is.

I need to keep warm in the winter using wood from my property. When beavers deprive me of warmth via wood, I have to use oil heat.....and I would just rather not use imported oil which pollutes the environment more.

If YOU can find me someone to take care of this problem for free or in exchange for firewood, then I will listen to your argument.

The local Army/Navy store doesn't carry traps. Even if they did, then I'd still have the problem of moving the critters, and I'm sure others would replace them from the lower sections/ponds.


This morning I trapized through the lower area in seach of beavers. Lucky for them I am a bad shot.  No one woke up and called me later so I guess my .22 is fairly quiet at 6am.

Have also posted on craigslist. Hopefully someone will help me w this.

peace,
michel

[Frankenkit]

[Buber]

Look, i understand, I'm not from Mars or something. But I'm from Europe. And honestly, I envy you. Envy either the vastness of your country (once I flew from Denver to Seattle and this empty lonely plain below (in comparison to Europe) stunned me....) or abundance of wildlife.
I can only say that in 70% of Europe (the other 30 being the fairly unpopulated Russian part) wildlife is anything BUT abundant. Of course there are some little birds, and such, but talking mammals bigger than mice? Here things change A LOT.

And that's all I'm saying (again). I'm looking at it from the position of densely populated areas, where people simply MISS the nature. I was driving today to work and I seen a squirrel jumping through the road. It really did put up a big smile on my face.

And don't get me wrong (again) - Earth is to be used by humans. But we just can do it smarter. And I'm not talking solar panels, let's be more realistic, I'm talking a general awareness. E.g. do you leave your SAT TV, video, UPS, and myriad other appliances pluged on standby? I don't. Only thing that stays plugged for night is the fridge. How? Very simple. A reconfiguratuion of the breakers circuit for sockets, and with one or 2 switches all those things are off. And it takes a switch to flip them up in the morning. Or idling your car in a traffic jam (because on a bike I'm not waiting in jams  )

There are SOOO many things we could do WITHOUT any great investment. But we are lazy. And don't tell me that "earth was before us, and will be after us". OK, if you are talking about human race. But what about your grand-grand children? Will they have any oil left? Will they be able to see a glacier?
I liked to think that this is an ecological hubbub, and so on, but last 3 winters are convincing me otherwise. Where is the snow of my childhood? not here, no sir. Those winters are thing of the past.

But - I'm really off topic here. I don't have a clue how to kill a beaver, so i should keep my trap shut.  I just wanted to remark? give aonther view? make you think? about all this.

Whatever happens, I just wish everybody (truly, not kidding!) an easy and happy life. With or without beavers.

[74cb750]

Well, have 3 replies to the craigslist ad so far; one w a suggestion to contact Vermont Dept of Wildlife (again), one "...oh they're soo cute" and the last an offer to trade for motorcycle tires.

Saving the Planet: Bubar, thanks for elucidating your viewpoints. I appreciate your input, seriously, but did not want to get off topic.  I live in the country, and have moose, deer, rabbits, turkeys  etc in my back yard,  whom do not do as much damage as the beavers whom moved in 3 years ago, at least not that I can see.

Saving the Planet part 2: Current winter used 210 gallons of fuel oil, vs 1,200 gallons 5 years ago. This reduction is due to better insulation, AND the use of wood heat.

Part 3: I honestly do my part ecologially (sp?) I feel. Always trying to encourage people to ride old Hondas 

peace,
michel

[scunny]

Well, have 3 replies to the craigslist ad so far; one w a suggestion to contact Vermont Dept of Wildlife (again), one "...oh they're soo cute" and the last an offer to trade for motorcycle tires.

Saving the Planet: Bubar, thanks for elucidating your viewpoints. I appreciate your input, seriously, but did not want to get off topic.  I live in the country, and have moose, deer, rabbits, turkeys  etc in my back yard,  whom do not do as much damage as the beavers whom moved in 3 years ago, at least not that I can see.

Saving the Planet part 2: Current winter used 210 gallons of fuel oil, vs 1,200 gallons 5 years ago. This reduction is due to better insulation, AND the use of wood heat.

Part 3: I honestly do my part ecologially (sp?) I feel. Always trying to encourage people to ride old Hondas 

peace,
michel

[upperlake04]

 Stuff those rodents in a box and send them to Buber. Win-win