#%@$in' Beaver!

Aahahahaha - nice!

On the beaver topic, beaver dams are often a lot stronger than they look. I don't really see a problem with them, however they aren't common where we are, and they don't create much of a mess. I'd personally leave em and enjoy it, but I suppose it's your choice. You might want to note that if you restrict the level of their dam, you'll limit how high up the water goes, and therefore how far they'll get their wood from. Also, around here they've dealt with beaver dams by putting pipes over the top or through them that run far out ahead of the dam, the beavers don't figure it out to block a pipe that is far away from their dam and gravity sucks the water out when the pond level rises past a point.
 
Shooting may work, but the odds of getting them all are low. A good trapper could clean them out for you in no time and maybe take care of a few in the area they are comming from. Where there's one, there is apt to be a bunch.

Where are you located?

Get a hold of a local trapper, he may take care of them for nothing. I'd charge you, but most guys are nicer than I am.:D
 
open dam wiat for beavers, kill beavers, repeat till no more beavers come to repair the dam

this process can take weeks or in some cases years

If you open the dam enough it will wash out, but you have to start digging on the dry side so you get a waterfall effect that erodes a hole at the base, a 2'-3' wide opening about 1' deeb plunging down 4'-5' will take a few hours to wash out enough dirt under the dam to cause it to burst :D

oh don't be afraid to get wet, and dirty :D
 
I have a creek running through some hayland. The beaver can be a real problem. They build their dams flood the hayland then move upstream and start all over. We blow damns every fall then set traps or sit with a rifle waiting for them to come back to rebuild. You can pull dam apart if blowing is not an option, wait they will come out to see what has happened.
Surprising how much damage and how fast 4 or 5 beaver can destroy trees and build dams.
 
If you don't know of any trappers in your area, ask around to locate the nearest trapper supply store. If they can't recommend a local guy, pick yourself up a couple of 330 Conibear traps. They'll run you around $32 ea. You can set one at each entrance to the lodge or do one entrance and tear a hole in the damn and put a trap in the approach to the hole.

Since the beavers just moved in, you probably only have a mated pair to contend with and not a whole family.
 
beavers are stupid as hell. We have a family of them near our huntcamp, they cut down trees like mad. The cut down HUGE wide ass trees and just leave it there, like WTF do they think they are going to drag it into the water? lol


shoot the damn beavers, they make good bear bait
 
X-man said:
If you don't know of any trappers in your area, ask around to locate the nearest trapper supply store. If they can't recommend a local guy, pick yourself up a couple of 330 Conibear traps. They'll run you around $32 ea. You can set one at each entrance to the lodge or do one entrance and tear a hole in the damn and put a trap in the approach to the hole.

Since the beavers just moved in, you probably only have a mated pair to contend with and not a whole family.
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Actually it is illegal for anyone but a licensed trapper to possess and use traps in Ontario for taking furbearers. 330 conibears take skill to set in a proper location and are quite dangerous.

As a licensed trapper I always favour the local trapper route, call your local MNR however it may take sometime as this is our busy season. I do a lot of nuisance beaver removal and am quite proud of the work I do and stress the fact the beaver pelts are going to be used. I do all my fall trapping for free, I just want the pelts. I can usually clear out a pond in 2-3 days with 6-8 trap sets. I had a new pond I cleaned out last week that had 5 adults and 1 kit so you never know how many will be in a new pond.

If you are going to shoot them I would recommend you get in place 1-2 hours before sunset and wait. You can break the dam a few hours earlier to speed things up but I believe it is illegal for anyone but a licensed trapper to break a dam, I use a pickaxe, make sure you don't wash out any roads or property downstream otherwise it can get expensive. If you body shoot them they will probably make it back into the lodge or to the bottom of the pond which is alright if you don't plan on eating them or processing the pelt. Head shoot them if you plan on recovering them. I would only plan on getting 1 maybe 2 per day because once you shoot the others will lay low for a while.

Option 3 is to wait for freeze up, once you have ice your trees will be safe until spring. A trapper could remove them over the winter or once the ice opens you can pick them off rather easily at first break up.
 
Actually it is illegal for anyone but a licensed trapper to possess and use traps in Ontario for taking furbearers. 330 conibears take skill to set in a proper location and are quite dangerous.
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Hey Kenny,

I too am a licensed trapper. I can see where Ontario might have rules requiring a trapper's license if/when you actually make your set, but it blows my mind that Ontario has made it illegal to possess traps without a license!!! Just another reason I'm glad I don't live in Ontario!
 
X-man said:
Hey Kenny,

I too am a licensed trapper. I can see where Ontario might have rules requiring a trapper's license if/when you actually make your set, but it blows my mind that Ontario has made it illegal to possess traps without a license!!! Just another reason I'm glad I don't live in Ontario!
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I noticed you were a trapper from the other discussion regarding squirrels. I use to trap them when I was a kid but don't bother any more. I could never get the snare or rat trap sets to consistently work for me.

I guess my main point was that you can't just go out and buy a 330 trap in Ontario, atleast according to the regulations. I am not sure of the reason for the rule but I think that when the Ontario trapper association took over fur management from the province that it had something to do with this rule. I can remember buying traps at the local hardware store when I was a kid.



http://www.furmanagers.com/viewsection.aspx?section=regulations
24. It is illegal for any person to possess or use an operable body-gripping trap* except a licensed trapper or a person who has been licensed as a trapper in the past five years or a farmer on his property. However, any person may take varying hare using neck snares made of 22 to 24 gauge copper or brass wire loop no bigger than 10 centimetres in diameter, in the area north of the French and Mattawa Rivers, under the authority of a trapping licence or small game hunting licence. * (legholding traps, Conibears, snares or any similar traps, except the common box live-trap.)
 
You won't likely get a trapper in C Ont to come & trap them. There are far too many beaver & too few trappers who find it way too easy to fill their quota.
Break a LARGE hole in the dam & sit there with a weapon of choice, it's legal & good shooting practice. Make sure the dam is pulled wide open as winter sets in then so beaver left cannot access their food source & will likely not survive the winter.
 
This close to winter they might also be setting up a food supply. Beavers will A) fall a large tree into the water and eat all the bark under water first, B) fall a large tree and remove the branches and put them underwater for winter(small ponds that freeze over), or C) leave them on the ground and come to eat the bark during the winter. We knoticed that our local beavers cut a lot of trees, then seemingly didn't eat them. After winter we found that all the ones that fell in the water were chewed to pieces about 6 inches under water (ice was about 6-8 inches deep) and the ones on shore had been chewed on top where the beavers had dug through the snow to get to them. Just a note, since some people are probably wondering why they seemingly aren't using the trees right now; they need em for later.
 
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