How many beavers?
Small Game
What kind of numbers am I dealing with here? They keep damming up a water control structure so they got to go. Have been told I can't trap them cause we don't want to harm the otters. Any input you guys might I would greatly appreciate it.
It is most likely a family group. When my neighbor had the problem he broke the dam enough for the water level to come down. He sat overlooking the dam and he shot three beavers in three days. They got wise and started dam repair at night. I think he took a total of seven before the dam repair ceased.
On my swamp last spring, I took 11 beavers out of one lodge!!! I say that trapping them will be the best way to remove them. I would use castor mound sets and food based sets to avoid otters. If you put 330s in you might get an otter.
I would think that with 6 coilsprings on drowning rods, you could clean them out in a week or two.
I also didn't set right next to the lodge. I tried to stay away so I didn't spook them as I was setting/checking traps.
330 with triggers far to the side. Incidental otter catch is still possible but greatly reduced.
You can use the Hancock traps that will not harm anything.
Thanks for all the good info guys. Will be checking into those Hancock traps for sure.
Can you not trap otters there?Is it still furharvester season?If not you may have to get a predation trapper that is permitted by your state to remove animals causing damage.If you have fish there I hear otters will wipe them out also.
I have Hancocks and they work well, but have better luck with the EZ Sets. As far as Hancocks not harming anything, ask the Great Blue Heron that triggered one of mine. He didn't fare well...
I would not worry about the otters. I have not been able to catch one. I used 330 conibears. If you can find where the beaver are entering and existing the water via channels through weeds that is an easy way to trap them. Find the depth were the trap is just under water and lay a dead stick on top so that the beaver dive into the trap. If it is not convenient to check the traps just leave the dead beavers in the traps. I find that the others will relocate in short order. If you shoot some, lay them on the dam so that cruising beavers will see them. Once they are gone you can take out the dam. I would recommend leaving the dam in place until the beaver are gone because changing water levels make trapping hard. Also beaver swimming around with sticks and rocks can cause misses and educated beaver.
Habitat this is for work. I work on a wildlife refuge. Not sure why but it's a big no no to kill the otters here.
Set some explosives and blow it and anything inside to kingdom come.
Live traps and thermal scoped rifles.
This time of year early morning stand sitting,turtles have to eat or get some caster and put out with the thermal
A couple of pounds of Tannerite, and an accurate rifle, should take care of the problem.
Matt
If not disturbed, beavers seem to be very predictable, as far as time of day that they appear in their routines. You might set a trail camera or two out to see when they are active, and snipe them with a .22 rifle, so as to spook them as little as possible. Snares also work great, but evidently a nonstarter for you, due to the otters.
Beaver deceiver. Take about a ten-foot(or more) length of woven wire fencing, tent it (fold it the middle), and then place one end on the upstream end of the pipe and the other end in the mud. Worked for me. Beaver can't block the pipe and the beaver can't get in. If he does, he can't carry any wood with him. Try searching "Beaver Deceiver" online.
12 gauge, full choke with BB steel, posted 20 yds away in a boat at dusk. Heard it’ll take care of the problem.
I’d rather have beavers than otters, and I’ve had both. Beavers just want another 6” of water, otters will eat ALL of your fish.
Otters will dig tunnels in your dam also.
Bandicooter I'm liking that idea.
Snare the beavers well away from the lodge. Use a 10" snare and otters will knock it down or go through it.
.17 hmr at last light and first light. Should have em all in under a week
There are techniques to catch beaver with very low odds of catching otter. Some listed above are good , some listed above are sure to fail in my neighborhood. It is obvious who above are hobby trappers and who was serious and who are just being yahoos. A beaver is just a big rodent, but if you educate them, they can be amazingly hard to kill in a trap. If you really want all of them dead, the worst thing you can do is do a half ass job trapping and educate some of them. You will have to hire an expert trapper and they will have to work ten times as hard. First things first, dont teach a beaver what a trap is having dead beaver laying around in sets all over the place.
You guys have got me formality a plan of action. Shoot what I can for short term solution and build a trapezoid beaver deceiver in that location. That spot isn't far from the river bottoms so I'm sure I'll have other beavers move in no matter how many I remove. Again thanks for all the good info.
Scrappy, they tend to cycle, and harassing them through trapping, shooting, whatever, will cause the colony to move. Try everything and don't spook them to the trap, as blue spot notes. Make careful sets.
I manage about 7 miles of stream/pond habitat, also with beavers and otters. We deal with the same challenges you do. Sometimes ours flood up to people's decks while they're gone for a week. Where there weren't any for years, suddenly the culverts are plugged and bridges blocked.
Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.
The adults will travel further from the lodge than the kits. Start a distance away and work your way towards the house.
Trap/snare first. Then shoot. With the new high powered air rifles these days, that’s what I’d use. Quiet and get multiple shots in the evening.
Waaay back in the day, we went to a beaver pond with 17 sticks of dynamite. Came out with 3. There was no dam and house when we left. And the water level dropped significantly
Good luck
The last year I trapped I caught 64 beavers and 9 otters. I was trying to catch the otters and getting a good price for them. The state gives me a permit to remove problem beavers even out of season. I am allowed to trap or shoot them and am supposed to bury them. A couple of places where I didn't want to catch otters, I bust a hole in the dam and sit nearby with an AR 15. Have killed three in ten minutes. Have also used a 22 revolver and rifle. Normally they hear the water from the broken dam and will come to fix the leak. Just before dark is a good time. Some times right at day break they swim up and down the stream or around the pond. They are good eating too, just like a huge muskrat and more meat on a big beaver than some of the fawns the early season deer hunters kill.
Yes, beaver is great eating. Far better than the one rat I tried. At college I took an english class called the "nature writers" to fufill a philosophy credit. First book we covered was the monkey wrench gang. Later on we read the poem "rolling in the grass naked". So you get the idea of what the class reading was like.
Most of the class was pretty damn crunchy and I recall one student petitions to "save the caribou" and stop drilling in ANWAR. There were a handful of us that were more realistic in our outlooks and hunted, etc.
So long story short, our final exam was a potluck dinner. It was supposed to be vegetarian or at least kind to the earth. A student hosted at her apartment. I was trapping on the UNH land and had caught a beaver on purpose and made a stew out of it. It tasted fantastic. When I got there a student from Aroostook county Maine, which is pretty rural with lots of hunting and trapping, immediately recognized the smell and I immediately shushed him. Allen was quick to have some as he enjoyed it. Many of my classmates seemed pretty happy to partake in "beef stew" despite the recommended meal theme. I am no poker player and couldn't keep a secret and divulged what kind of stew it was. The numerous compliments stopped immediately. Those that hadn't tried it yet scraped their plates off, and those that had pigged it down looked they were about wretch!!!!!! It was priceless. Allen and I had seconds. I thought I had followed the recommendation, free range naturally produced meat. Well except the layers of bacon within the stew. The hides aren't worth the time it takes to skin them, never mind flesh and stretch. But the castors are pretty valuable. Maybe $80/lb dry ?
If the hides are still good I would highly recommend getting a plucked and sheared bed spread/blanket made. The dense underfur is amazingly soft
I found a bloodthirsty eighteen year old who likes to kill stuff. Problem solved.
Is that pond creek or spring fed? That situation is tough, long term.
Bandicooter's suggestion is a good one. Drop the water level so they have trouble floating stuff. Multiple dam breaks will work the best. Once the beavers can float things, they'll stop it back up. IMO, they'll just drop below the break and back dam it again.
You'll have to kill as many as you can and destroy their living quarters. Continuously. It's an on-going process. Any way to re-route the feeder water once you get the water level down far enough? I don't see lots of trees, so that's a good thing.
Joey the water come from the discharge from the fish hatchery. We use a series of canals to flood the pools. If I can just keep them away from the water control structures with the beaver deceiver fences I'll be a happy camper. An occasional tunnel in the canal roads are an easy fix. I've got two in the last two mornings and i hope to have the first fence up this weekend.
Sounds good........Once you can make it out to the hut, some diesel and a lighter will change their focus for a little while. Keep a firearm handy when you light it up. May get a chance to bust a couple more.
Good luck.
Joey it literally takes an act of congress in order for me to light a fire on the Refuge. Hopefully the lowered water levels will convince them to relocate back towards the river.
Scrappy, IMO, you'll still need to at least destroy the hut. When the water gets low enough to get out to it, ease out and get up on it. There very well could be beavers still using it. I've destroyed several after i dropped water enough to get to them. I've killed a few beavers as they exited the hut while I poked holes in the roof. If you can't burn it, take the top off. Make them not want to rebuild there. You may able to catch a couple during daylight trying to rebuild. Pop them with a rifle.
Does the ice get thick enough in the winter to get a mini ex or small tractor with grapple out there to take care of the lodge?
On second thought it’s a bad idea due to beaver dams absorbing heat and weak ice from movement underneath
I had that idea this past winter Norseman but the beavers kept a couple runs open in the ice all winter.
Got the fence up this morning. We shall see how effective it is if at all.
Wow. Good fast work. Eager Beaver! Ha!
We have owned our land since 1985 it includes a mile and half creek meandering through it. When we purchased the property there we 15 beaver ponds. We are down to none and a manageable situation when it arises. I have been to all over the US and Canada, and seen most attempts and most fail. The beaver deceiver, beaver baffler, beaver ghoster, etc. I have seen what beaver do to all of these. Trapping is number one method of control, (not as easy as just setting some traps) shooting works until they are educated. Exception to everything, but an educated beaver can be incredibly difficult to get rid of. Here is our best solution if you can do it. We dig out the middle of the damn, lay a 30 foot dependent on width of damn, anchor on each end, water will drop to the level of the 6 inch drain tile pipe. Beaver cannot find the leak as it is under water away from the damn, etc. Until the pipe collapse years later we find then we replace. Keeps our creeks and ponds open. Word of advice, diesel in water is frowned on by dnr, as is blasting, check with your state. If you don't like of any of this don't use it. Best of luck.
