Beaver problems.....

[Deerherd]

We have had an inordinate amount of rain and I was getting a lot of flooding. Well the last week it's been pretty dry and where I had 6" of water went to about 20" of water in about 5 days! Yesterday went to investigate and found this:



It's a large drainage ditch and it looked like this after I left:



Went back this morning and I found this! :shocked: it was bigger and better than yesterday!



While I was removing it this morning the big SOB swam right up behind me and scared the living crap out of me! I tore down even more today:



Other than trapping or shooting it/them (I imagine there might be more than one) does anyone have any ideas on making them leave. It's great exercise tearing down a beaver dam every day but I'm afraid it will get old real quick!

Thanks!

 

[wawajake]

they are a well respected animal up here in Canada , they are even on our money and some provincial flags.... sort of like your eagle dam hard workers . They did help make great hats for Europe a couple hundred years ago.

But besides getting a trapper , your only resort is a gun while they work the midnight shift .......

 

[smstonypoint]

Based on my limited experience (one occasion), it took trapping. Continuing to tear down their dams just causes them to relocate on the stream.

Steve

 

[rsallen]

Check your state and local game laws. In my state it's illegal to shoot them, and illegal to trap them without a trappers licence.
A game warden may even come and move them for you, there's a lot of wild life areas where beavers are a valuable addition the ecosystem.

 

[dave1949]

I have beavers, they added a second lodge this spring. Fortunately they are in a location that beavers have used over many years and the lay of the land is such that their pond would get deeper much faster than it would grow in area. So, I leave them be and get a kick out of checking out what they have been up to now and then.

If that drainage ditch needs to drain, you need a trapper. Check your NY DNR site, for damaging situations a trapper may be able to get an out of season permit.

 

[Tor Arne]

Alfred Nobel invented a product that works wonders with beaver ponds:cool2:

 

[Gary Fowler]

They are considered nuisance pests here. We had one come to our pond and refused to leave. I would shoot it with my pellet gun every time it came out of the water but it wouldn't leave and finally started digging a hole in the dike. F&G said shoot it, they didn't have time or resources to come out and trap it.

 

[BeezFun]

The county installed a gizmo on the stream behind our old house. It was pretty simple, a piece of PVC shoved through the dam at the max water height they wanted to allow, with an elbow pointing down on the beaver's side of the dam. Here's a document I found that has a picture similar to what they did, search for the paragraph that reads "Elbow extension and wire mesh culvert in beaver dams." That worked for the entire time I lived in that house, could still be there for all I know. The dam on our stream was pretty large, they brought in a backhoe to dig the "trench" through the dam for the pipe. But if your dam is still small I'd think you could install it by hand.

They also came out and told us which trees the beavers would eat, so we wired them to prevent damage. One real positive of having the beaver dam in our area was that it kept the kids out. We had problems with kids going out by that stream getting into trouble. But once it was underwater they went somewhere else. Given the choice between beavers and teenagers, I'd pick the beavers.

 

[deerseeker001]

I would get hold of Fish and Game,DNR or what ever Government Agency Takes care of your Wildlife and they will relocate them or help you get rid of them.

 

[boggen]

The county installed a gizmo on the stream behind our old house. It was pretty simple, a piece of PVC shoved through the dam at the max water height they wanted to allow, with an elbow pointing down on the beaver's side of the dam. Here's a document I found that has a picture similar to what they did, search for the paragraph that reads "Elbow extension and wire mesh culvert in beaver dams." That worked for the entire time I lived in that house, could still be there for all I know. The dam on our stream was pretty large, they brought in a backhoe to dig the "trench" through the dam for the pipe. But if your dam is still small I'd think you could install it by hand.

They also came out and told us which trees the beavers would eat, so we wired them to prevent damage. One real positive of having the beaver dam in our area was that it kept the kids out. We had problems with kids going out by that stream getting into trouble. But once it was underwater they went somewhere else. Given the choice between beavers and teenagers, I'd pick the beavers.

thats pretty cool!

8" to 12" culvert pipe not that expensive. granted it does still cost. pick up 1/2" to 1" drill bit, and drill a bunch of holes on one end. and then get some rebar mesh. for like putting in concrete floors and like. and wrap it around, the pipe. guessing a couple pieces layed over top of each other to get spacing smaller between the meshes. and then some wire to hold the rebar mesh in a round / cylinders shape.

================
though with others contact your local fish and game, and go from there. your dealing with a stream/creak possibly, and it could be a touch and go thing, of what is and what is not allowed.

if you require a licenses or like, you might try putting an ad on craigslist "not sure if that is allowed" on craigslist? or rather contacting some local sportsman club stores. they may have a bulletin board were you can pin something up, asking for help from a licenses person, if local staff doesn't know.