Topic: Beaver eradication possibilities?

[74cb750]

This is definitely NOT SOHC related.

There are 5 ponds within 2 miles of my house. All are fed from a stream that borders the bottom of my property. 3 years ago beavers moved into the last pond. Last year they traveled to the pond at the bottom of my driveway. Now they are starting to eat trees on my land and have damned the culvert which crosses my road. The town will not do anything about this. The state says, "....not really our problem unless....blah blah blah."

So my question is this: how do I rid myself of these voracious tree eaters?
1)I was thinking of shooting them, but have discovered to my dismay that they are nocturnal and roam only within a 'no shoot zone' (ie, within 150 feet of traveled road),
   a) It probably would not be a good idea to be firing off my Mossburg at
       4am.
2) my nearest neighbor just "loves the cute little things...' Yes, she is a rich transplant from a  nearby state.
3) She thinks only police should have guns!
   a)whatever!

4) my dog is too weird to ever track one
5) I use trees to heat my home.
6) I called a rodent hunter. He wants big $ to remove the foul beasts.
Any REAL info would be appreciated.
peace,
michel
4)

[upperlake04]

  No "nuisance" type permit available from the local Dept. of Natural Resources?  There is here- used for beavers, deer, bears etc.   If not, looks like you might have to go sneaky. There are humane and silent traps..  roast beaver tails are a delicacy in some places.
   

[Bob Wessner]

You might take a look at this. It pertains to Wis., but on page 4 are some ideas. Not sure they would work in your situation, but might be worth a look.

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/TRAP/beaverwebversion1.pdf

[76 cb550]

can you get close enough for a bow kill?  SILENT

[seaweb11]

can you get close enough for a bow kill?  SILENT

That's how I removed  family of Raccoons

[andy750]

Seaweb - how did you get rid of the bodies?

Its a tempting idea as we have racoons here in Boston...and with summer coming wont be long before they are raking through the trash...

[seaweb11]

I put them in garbage bags and took them to the dump.

[dusterdude]

blow up the dams

[fuzzybutt]

blow up the dams

+1, explosives work great

[upperlake04]

blow up the dams

+1, explosives work great

There you go Michel - good old American ingenuity. 

[olds-cool]

Beaver problem eh?  Save a tree, eat a beaver!







Come on, someone had to say it.

[BobbyR]

Seaweb - how did you get rid of the bodies?

Its a tempting idea as we have racoons here in Boston...and with summer coming wont be long before they are raking through the trash...

I was shooting woodchucks that were undermining my pool. You get a shovel, dig a hole put them in there, apologize to their spirit. Done

[Sam Green Racing]

You're a cruel lot killing the poor little critters, they were there before you pale face's.

If aliens came down from outer space and started blowing you up,  I'll bet you won't think it very funny.














































 

Sam

[750K2]

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."

[upperlake04]

 I'm surprised RM has joined in yet.     Did you know Robert has earned a level of well deserved fame as one of Virginias' most successful squirrel hunters?   

[mrblasty]

I work at a golf course in Alaska that had a beaver problem, the little buggers kept flooding the #1 Fairway, no amount of harassment made them move along.
Fish and game would come out at night in a canoe and cap one a night, using .22 shorts. The shorts are quiet enough that silly city folks are not likely to here the crack over the hum of the dishwasher.  Now go get the canoe and rub some blackout for your face and get all commando on their asses. Be sure to bury the carcasses on your neighbors property in case the authorities get involved for some reason or another.  Happy shooting

Mr.Blasty

[Bodi]

I had a war with beavers one summer many years ago. They lost, but it was close.
Don't waste your time breaking, blowing up, or burning their dam: that just encourages them to build a bigger one. Don't bother trying to move the dam to the upstream side of the road: they really want the road flooded and you just can't argue with a rodent.
The only compliant beaver is a dead beaver, a live one will NEVER do what you want.
They aren't too smart about traps if you have the moral strength to use them. I don't mean the "humane" kind.
They don't seem to care about lights, but they are pretty crafty at spotting and avoiding hunters. Thus a night vision system is not needed but you have to stay very still and quiet for them to show themselves. They are smarter than squirrels though and others won't come back out for a long time after you take one.
A heavy barrel "varmint" rifle is ideal as you can stay a hundred yards away from the dam and pick them off accurately. A .22 is really fairly quiet, but is too loud unless you are in a really rural setting and don't have rodent loving neighbours aware of your planned killing spree. Most country folk are familiar with vermin pests and will not interfere with their elimination, but city folk who move to the country to "get close to nature" often have strong objections to killing nature's little darlings.
A crossbow works very well at killing them, is accurate and close to silent, and doesn't cripple your arm or take practice and skill like a longbow. The problem is that beaver dams are always near a large pool of relatively stagnant water (well, that IS the point of the dam) and, consequently, always feature an unbelievable number of small bitey insects - especially after dusk when the beavers start to do their evil work. This problem generally eliminates any qualms about inhumane traps in a night or two - no repellent is perfect and it's truly unpleasant to have to stay absolutely still and quiet while mosquitos buzz about and bite you. You have to be quite close to reliably hit a beaver with a crossbow.
The cadavers aren't that huge a problem. Drop them on a road and run over them with your car... voila: road kill.

[Rocking-M]

blow up the dams

yes a pipe bomb does wonders on the dams. now I'm not saying you  should do that and now we're all
under surveillance since we've mentioned blowing something up and bombs, but I had a friend
who 30 years ago decided to blow a dam. Drove a pipe down in the dam, filled it with fertilizer, and a stick
of dynamite and touched it off. You could have dropped a chevy 2 ton truck in the hole.
The beavers moved on. 

You can catch the beavers out right at dusk, usually you can sneak pretty close cause when
their munching on their twigs they can't hear to good.
22 works but you got to hit that hard head just right or it will bounce off.
You might try low velocity 22's but you'll have to be right on top of the critter.
They don't sound any louder than a good clap of the hands.

[Rocking-M]

I'm surprised RM has joined in yet.     Did you know Robert has earned a level of well deserved fame as one of Virginias' most successful squirrel hunters?   

Don't mess with squirrels!!! I'm a squirrel protector!!!!!

[upperlake04]

beavers....are smarter than squirrels

   

[burmashave]

I once silently killed a beaver with a stone. The varmit had taken residence in my sweetie's pond. I had borrowed a rifle and was giving it one last chance to leave peacefully (encouraged by rocks), when the beggar began to surface near me. I laid one on square in the center of his forehead. He did about five bloody spins and was dead.

By the way, this was in Vermont, where removing beavers is all but illegal. My advice is to do something as soon as possible because there is a reason why they say "busy as a beaver." Were I you, I'd do it quickly and quietly (as in not mentioning the beaver problem to anyone who might care).

Traps are your friend if a shotgun is inconvenient. Live traps don't really work. As it was explained to me, live traps are baited with the scent of a female beaver [insert joke here], so they are better at catching males, and then only in season. Catching one leaves you with the question of where to release it. As my trapper friend says, "Just whack 'em."

Failing that, you might craft a Mr. Beaver out of plastic explosives and insert him into the den. "Don't mind the wires...doctors orders" and such.

[Sam Green Racing]

Why not round em all up and ship em to China, you could then nuke em all and get rid of them pesky giant pandas at the same time. and fcuk up the Olimpics  

Sam.

[Shenanigans]

...Is all I'm sayin'

[seaweb11]

I love this bit. "The cadavers aren't that huge a problem. Drop them on a road and run over them with your car... voila: road kill."

I didn't think of that with the coons

Here's the main issue with the arrow kills. Make sure they drop where you hit them -----
The environmentally friendly neighbour will not be stoked to see a dead beaver (or Coon) in their front lawn at breakfast

I actually had to crawl under some ones window at 6:00 am (while she made coffee) when it was light enough to find it and........ drag a dead one with an arrow through its head laying on her door mat!!!!!!!!

In this case the worst case scenario is someone finding a beaver with an arrow stuck in it. Home Land security will be all over you

[seaweb11]

 BEAVER

The beaver is found today mostly in Canada and northern Europe but may be found in isolated pockets in other areas. They eat mostly leaves, bark and saplings of aspens, willows and alders, but an occasional evergreen adds variety to their diet and gums up their dentures.

ROASTED BEAVER

Needed are:

One 25 to 30 lb beaver (save the tail for beaver-tail soup)
Two cups flour
One cup bacon drippings
Salt and pepper to taste
3 or 4 bay leaves
3 or 4 medium onions, chopped.
First, scoop up a beaver. Skin it and take it the skin your local trading post. It's as good as cash. After skinning the beaver, remove all fat. Cut into serving size pieces. Soak in salted water overnight. Rinse meat well in cold water and drain. Roll meat in flour. Brown in skillet with bacon drippings and season with salt and pepper. Place in roaster alternately with bay leaves and onions. Add a small amount of water to remaining drippings in skillet and pour over meat. Roast at 350 degrees for 2 and one half hours or until tender. Uncover and brown 15 minutes before serving. Goes great with a California Merlot.