Beavers

[RSteiner]

A field a farmer friend owns and also where I have been cutting the trees that have grown in around the edge has recently benn flooded by beaver activity.  The beavers have damed the drainage ditch in several places causing the water to back up in a cornewr of the field. 

We have been removing the blockages almost every day.  Is there any way to discourage these little critters from doing what they do.  There is a 5 acre pond where they are welcome to live that the drainage ditch runs into, but it seems like they want to start a new body of water to live in.

Randy

[Kevin]

You have to control them by trapping or shooting.
There's no other suitable solution to that problem.

[beenthere]

............  Is there any way to discourage these little critters from doing what they do. .........

Randy
Gonna need to get tough with them...no two ways about it, IMO.  They won't listen to reason, ....just the trap (and dispose, not release) or the gun.   I used dynamite once, and it worked very well, but that usually isn't an option anymore. 

I suspect they are building for their future, and need more room and more water to get closer to a food source. Whatever....

[isawlogs]

Oh can I relate to your problem , and trust me on " problem " I have had a war going on with the beaver population here for what seams like forever ..... :-\ 
All of my fields drain into the Missiquoi river and this is a well traveled beaver route . They come into my fields through the ditchs and then try to make it home . Every spring I get on the war path and take half a dozen or so down with my friend the .22 or sometimes my pal the 30-30 Winchester. Only things with a good set of traps that will effectively take care of the problem at hand . I prefer the lead to the traps as there are otters and muskrats in the river that take the ditches as a thorouway also, at least with the gun you know what you are taking out .
  If you let them have a go at it ... they will , in no time , have you over run and under water . 

[woodmills1]

tried to go out my woods road and the tractor oil pan was in water, and that is after all beavers were trapped 2 years ago.  Loosing acres to the critters.  Would put them on the payroll if I could.

[Coon]

"Have lead will travel" come to mind.   :D  I'm sure there's gotta be someone around that will take care of them.

[sawguy21]

They are just making a living the only way they know how. They will rebuild quickly if you blow the dam or lodge so the SSS method is the only practical solution.

[okie]

You can take a rock bar to their dam in the evening and they will be about repairing it within the hour, this provides ample opportunity to dispose of the problem as you are making them show themselves rather than waiting on them. Trapping is the best if you know how, A large conabear works well. Beavers are different to trap than other critters, takes practice.

[roger 4400]

     Hi ! I,ve heard a good way to make them go is to put a 2 inches pipe thru the dam lower than the water level and have it  one or two feet across the dam ( if the dam is 4 ft wide, an 7 to 8 foot pipe is to be used  so two feet into the water in the reservoir made by the beavers and 4 ft wide ( dam width) and two feet in the loose after the dam) so the beaver will hear the water leak, will try to block it and never succeed and discourage it self and leave.....
    And a funny way is to catch one, put him a white hard cap ( boss cap ) so being a boss he will do nothing and the dam will destroy itself.....                lol        lol
      Good luck                      Roger

[brdmkr]

If you can get the required permits, the easiest method would be to tear a holein their dam in the evening.  The set up within 20 yards of the dam with a shotgun and lead bb shot (number 4 buck if you can't get lead bb).  Be watchful of ripples in the water as ripples tend o show up well even with ambient light at nigh.  Once the ripple action is seen, use a spotlight to find the beaver and the shotgun to to kill them.

They are really not too hard to trap, but I have found that the recommendation to place a connibear trap in a hole in the dam is seldom very effective.  They generally approach holes in the dam carrying something to patch the hole.  The "patch" is what will be caught most of the time.  If you have never trapped beaver, it would likely be better to get someone who has caught them to help you out.  If you can find their underwater runs or natural dam crossings, they are pretty easy to catch in connibears, but a little experience here will go  along way toward reducing frustration.

If you have a USDA wildlife services group near you, they may be willing to set traps for you to run them.  If so, there could be little or no charge.  Much depends on what state you are in and what sort of programs WS works on in your area.

[okie]

With the fur market down trappers are harder and harder to come by. When I was a boy my dad made our winter living trapping, he was a road construction foreman and in winter months he usually only got 2-3 days/week of work done, back then he made more selling hides than working construction bay far. These were the days of $12-$20 coon and $80-$150 bobcat. My mom, both sisters and myself had furbearer tags and I cant count the times I was taken out of school early to help my dad skin, Those were good times. Back in December or January if you could find a trapper he would have probably been more than happy to get the buggers off you for nothin, this time of year folks tend to charge, hides are no account. Your game dept can get you into touch with trappers that the state uses for nuisance control, and in some states the ag dept and sometimes game dept will foot the bill for these trappers. My dad also done this for a while.

[KGNC]

I rusted away a couple of traps trying to get a pair out of my pond. The .22 works much better.
They don't give you much of a target when swimming, but can be hit.
Two years age we got a dog that spends a lot of time in the water. Haven't seen a beaver since.

[PineNut]

I have heard that one way to frustrate them is to put a drain through the dam that has many small inlets on the reservoir side. One of the older methods was to put several poles wrapped in metal through the dam. Then a large number of holes were punched in the metal on the reservoir side. Another simpler method would be to use some perforated pipe through the dam. Probably the longer, the better on the reservoir side. With the many small inlet holes, the beaver should have a difficult locating the source of the leak in their dam. I haven't tried this seems like a possible approach.

[pineywoods]

Alligators do a good job, but they like dogs too, especially small yappy ones.

[RSteiner]

Thanks for all the advice.  It seems like a high speed lead injection is the best method to get them to stop.  My farmer friend has recieved permission from the housing authority that owns the land the dams are on next to his field.  There is a trapper in the area who has set traps, now we will see if he can reduce the population.

I will say this if some people I know worked as dilligently and persistantly as those beavers do a lot more would get done.  :D

Randy

[Patty]

Save those pelts! One of my favorite jackets was a beaver fur coat. Your wife will appreciate the coat, and you will get your fields back. Win Win! 

[isawlogs]

Patty , those are truly beautyful jackets , but the fur where taken during the winter, at this time of the year the pelts are worthless.  :-\   He could buy her a nice one though  ;D ;)

[Patty]

Well DanG! Here I was trying to get the wife a new fur coat!  :D

Speaking of furs.....I was wearing a coyote fur this winter when doing chores. My chickens went ballistic when they saw the coat, which kind of surprised me. I know coyotes are a natural enemy to chickens, but two things, I do not resemble a coyote, even with my coat on, and two, my chickens have never seen a coyote in all their short chicken lives.  :D (that is until I walked in with my coat on)  :     Who'd a thought...

[WDH]

That Chick-Fil-A  commercial with the two food groups in the triangle is cute.  The bottom of the triangle is "Dessert" and the top is "Chikin".  Of course the cows are the culprits.  Anyway, Patty, you got me to thinking about chicken.........

[semologger]

There was a topic awhile back on beavers i never laughed so hard on one guys post. It was about beaver dams and the state sending him a letter. Im going to have to find that one again.

[semologger]

I found it. Bureaucracy and Beavers was the name of the post.

[woodmills1]

wasnt that letter actually sent to the beavers :D

[leweee]

 :D Dam Beavers  :D :D :D

[RSteiner]

The trapping is under way.

However, I was at a dinner meeting last week with the owner of the field.  There was a fish and game warden speaking at the meeting.  When he was finished the owner of the field spoke to the warden and commented about the beaver problem he was having.  Then in the next breath he pointed at me sitting next to him and remarked how I had been going in and removing the dams almost every day for a couple of weeks.  Then he told the warden the land the dams are on does not belong to him but is owned by a city housing authority.  I was thinking I was going to be arrested on the spot for tampering with the beaver dams on some one elses property.   

But, the warden's only comment was can you get someone in there to trap them.

Randy

[Toolman]

I live in Southcentral Pennsylvania and lived along this creek my whole life. Last year a beaver showed for the first time ever. Now there are three. They have now built a lodge into side of creek bank. How that lodge holds up during high waters is just amazing. Anybody who is curious, they taste great! Buddy of mine shot one in upstate PA and roasted it. It taste like the finest roast beef you'll ever eat.