Snow Equipment Owning/Operating beavers have cut down 4 trees this year

[riptides]

wrap light gauge sheetmetal around the base of the trees and they can't gnaw through it.

Chain link works well too. Old fence, new job....

 

[jinman]

Chain link works well too. Old fence, new job....

My neighbor and I use chicken wire successfully. It's cheap and easy to handle, but still discourages the beavers. I have a new den/lodge on my property in an island and need to take care of the critters before their numbers get out of hand. With beavers, you have to work on their schedule. I've found dusk is the best time to catch them coming out of their lodge.

 

[studor]

If I get the drift of some folks, it would apparently be better to let the beaver eat itself out of house and home rather than shoot it or trap it to get rid of the second largest RODENT in the world. It is not so much that they ruin my perfect world, its that they are now like most rodents and are over populating without predation and trapping. I would advocate the three S method or the TSS method.

 

[Gary Fowler]

We had one show up in our pond a couple of months ago. We contacted the fish and game guys to come trap it before it started cutting our fruit trees. They said they didnt have the inclination or money to do that so just shoot it. I tried pestering it with a pellet rifle for a couple of days but it just wouldnt leave and began making itself a home in our pond dam. We finally had to shoot it. Huge rascal, I guess it wandered up from the dried up creek looking for water. TOO bad, he should have went downstream.

 

[Denwa]

The beavers on my farm have cut down 4 trees so far. They are about 12 - 15 inches in diameter. Could this be that they know that there will be a cold winter this year and they are preparing for it?

Twelve to 15" around beavers would make good eating! All the sweeter if they are fatttened by grazing on your trees. Seriously.

Tail:
Wild Game Recipes | Beaver Recipes

Stew:
Beaver Stew - Cached

Pot Roast:
Pot Roast of Beaver - Cached

Just in time for Festivus dinner!

Bon Apatite,
Dennis

 

[rd_macgregor]

A number of years ago a beaver family moved into the old mill pond near our house and restored the washed-out dam. They were there for maybe five years before they finally ate themselves out of house and home. They first cut down all the small alders, willows and poplars, then went after the big poplars (18-24" dia) and, finally, in the last year before they gave up and left, they were cutting down spruce trees and even a red oak in my yard(!). Wire fencing around the base of a tree discouraged them pretty effectively. Despite the destruction, I kind of miss them now that they are gone (plus the pond is gone too, since their dam washed out after a couple of years without maintenance).

For the shooters, I'd suggest extra caution about your backdrop if you shoot over the water. At a shallow angle, bullets can ricochet off the surface and go quite a long ways beyond your intended target.

BOB

 

[TripleR]

One of our farms is bisected by a drainage ditch dug by the Little River Drainage District. If the ditches are not kept open, thousands of acres will be flooded and many farmers affected.

We have over 200 acres dedicated to wildlife preservation, warm season grasses and forestry, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

 

[mwb]

The beavers on my farm have cut down 4 trees so far. They are about 12 - 15 inches in diameter. Could this be that they know that there will be a cold winter this year and they are preparing for it?

No, they just do that.

 

[arsenix2001]

One of our farms is bisected by a drainage ditch dug by the Little River Drainage District. If the ditches are not kept open, thousands of acres will be flooded.

We have over 200 acres dedicated to wildlife preservation, warm season grasses and forestry, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Thats good to hear, obviously everything has to co exist. I just get miffed these days at the guys whos mentality is "if it moves, shoot at it". (I used to be that way myself in younger years) I would then tell them, go sit outside the senate building in dc.

 

[TripleR]

Thats good to hear, obviously everything has to co exist. I just get miffed these days at the guys whos mentality is "if it moves, shoot at it". (I used to be that way myself in younger years) I would then tell them, go sit outside the senate building in dc.

We really enjoy all types of wildlife, but since many if not most of the natural predators have been eliminated at least around here, we have to control the population by other means. The older I get, the more I delegate this to my sons, just getting soft in my old age I guess.