Crazy beaver hunting

hillmanr2

hillmanr2

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Hillbilly heaven
I have been blasting away at beavers this year. In my R.M. in Sask their is a bounty on the little sobs. With all the rain they have been going crazy and trying to dam up everything including multiple points along a creek that runs through my back yard. I think they are multiplying like rabbits as well.

So the usual routine is to go smash their dams during the morning on the way to work or smash them on the way home. Then after dinner I head out to the dam and wait for one maybe two to come just before dark. I take my head shots as they swim towards the dam with sticks and twigs in their mouths. They make a challenging target.

Anyways I returned to the new "super-dam" the other night and loaded 8 rounds into my 22lr. 2 or 3 shots is all I usually get. One of the elder beavers spotted me setting up and splashed his tail. I waited for 10 minutes and got him in the head from about 30 yards. I know for previous experience a younger one will sometimes show up about 6- 12 minutes after an older is nailed. So I waited for one more to show. All of a sudden they were EVERYWHERE!!! I took 7 shots at 7 young beavers in less than 2 minutes and ran out of ammo for #8 and #9. I ran back to the truck and reloaded shoving a bunch of cartridges in my pocket. I sat for 15 more minutes and saw nothing. I got 3 beavers for sure. I still haven't been back to do an official body count.

I am looking forward to my next cloud free evening to try and get a bunch more :ar15:
 
My city boy neighbor gave me #### for shooting beavers...until they leveled every tree in his picnic area over the space of a week :D Kinda hard to tie a hammock between two stumps :D:D
 
Rule #1... ALWAYS bring a gun...
Rule #2... ALWAYS bring enough ammo!!!

Cheers
Jay
P.S. Beaver ponds are great spots to hunt ducks... I understand removing them from areas that they are a problem, but they do "make" excellent habitat for waterfowl... Try a beaver pond sometime the weather is bad, when the wind is howling, ducks like going to the ponds to get out of the wind that blows them around on the bigger water.
 
After you get one, cut out his castors, take them to a different slough, tie them to a stick and let the scent carry over the water. You'll get every one in that slough.
 
Hillman, you're not in Foam lake are you, we have a bounty on them too, they're trying to flood out my uncles farm. Do you feel the .22 is enough on them? I've been using the .44 mag. and the 45/70. With the .22 and the .17HMR they would would swim away wounded, and you would find them dead the next day, floating. I'm sure some of them are 50-60 lbs.
 
like anything moderation.

beavers need to be conservatively controlled. Sounds like you had a good shoot. Can you trap them as part of this bounty?
 
ben hunchak said:
Hillman, you're not in Foam lake are you, we have a bounty on them too, they're trying to flood out my uncles farm. Do you feel the .22 is enough on them? I've been using the .44 mag. and the 45/70. With the .22 and the .17HMR they would would swim away wounded, and you would find them dead the next day, floating. I'm sure some of them are 50-60 lbs.
Click to expand...

In the head, a .22LR or mag will put them down DRT. The HMR might not have enough penetration.

Do you get any pelt left over with the .44 mag or 45-70? :)
 
ben hunchak said:
Hillman, you're not in Foam lake are you, we have a bounty on them too, they're trying to flood out my uncles farm. Do you feel the .22 is enough on them? I've been using the .44 mag. and the 45/70. With the .22 and the .17HMR they would would swim away wounded, and you would find them dead the next day, floating. I'm sure some of them are 50-60 lbs.
Click to expand...

17HMR, 17 Rem, 22 Hornet, etc.. . My favorite is a 222 Rem. Instant kills with head/neck shots. 22LR wont even secure a gopher half the time.
 
ben hunchak said:
The pelts aren't worth anything from what i understand, you can blame the likes of Pam Anderson for that.
Click to expand...

I'de have to check but I think that the in-season pents were going for $35-$55 at the last fur auction.

I may be wrong ;)

edit

Just checked the May 2009 numbers for beaver

eastern 70% sold avg $13.11 top $50.00
western 40% sold avg 11.03 top $30.00

so my recollection of prices was a little high
 
a buddy and I shot 6 one night for bear bait. we used a 300wsm with 150 nosler BT. it was fun shooting them even funer to get them out. we took a heavy bait caster rod and reel and a hook and finshed them out of the water.

the bears were happy with them. i also think beavers are the hardest animal i have ever skinned out, i can do a moose quicker than a beaver.
 
ben hunchak said:
Hillman, you're not in Foam lake are you, we have a bounty on them too, they're trying to flood out my uncles farm. Do you feel the .22 is enough on them? I've been using the .44 mag. and the 45/70. With the .22 and the .17HMR they would would swim away wounded, and you would find them dead the next day, floating. I'm sure some of them are 50-60 lbs.
Click to expand...

I am out in the RM of ############. I would rather shoot them with a 243 but I don't have one. I have had to shoot some of them twice.
In my fervor of shooting the little bastards I may or may not have been out on the darker side of the evening and a 22 is less "noticeable".
I will get a 243 if the yote bounty comes back this year, I can justify it to the wife then as I have already acquired 4 guns this year.

I can hardly understand the kind of supreme effort that must have been undertaken to kill these rodents to the point of almost extinction.
 
Last edited:
we used to shoot them when I lived in AL. 22mag semi was the best beaver gun I owned. One pop to the head and the beaver was flappin his tail for the last time. 17hmr works well too, I liked the little marlin 22mag semi with 4x scope. I shot many 50lbers with that gun.

we would rip a 2x2 section out of the dam with a rake, getting lots of mud out so the water was really flowing. Go back 30min before dark with a full magazine. Shoot a couple til it was too dark then go back in the morning and scoop the dead beavers out at the dam (the rushing water would float them right to the dam) The dam was always plugged back up worse then it was the day before, Even after shooting 3-4 beavers a day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom