Beaver Wars

[Jogeephus]

Have been battling these pesky rodents for some time and have grown to dislike them with a passion. In spite of my growing hatered of this pesky rodent I still find myself having to admire their persistance ..... and their apparant ability to fly.

[youtube]zTMoUxqSOz4[/youtube]

 

[skyhightree1]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Caustic Burno]

Have been battling these pesky rodents for some time and have grown to dislike them with a passion. In spite of my growing hatered of this pesky rodent I still find myself having to admire their persistance ..... and their apparant ability to fly.

[youtube]zTMoUxqSOz4[/youtube]

You do know when you die the beaver's are still going to be there.

 

[1982vett]

You do know when you die the beaver's are still going to be there.

but not the ones that just took a flying lesson.....

 

[Jogeephus]

You are so right. They are the most persistant pest I"ve ever dealt with. They are costing us a bundle in damage to roads, pond dams and timber. Our topography is so flat they have no trouble backing water over hundreds of acres killing trees and just making a mess of things. I've lost count of the number I've killed but they keep coming like fireants. Best I can do is keep the creeks open and keep the water flowing but they want just the opposite.

 

[TN Cattle Man]

Jo, I can surely feel your pain! I have a creek behind the house that I am constantly battling the beavers in!! Those things will eat everything in thier path... including the fruit trees in my back yard.

It is a great feeling though to take the tractor in the creek and bust up a dam!!

 

[Jogeephus]

I wish I could get a tractor to this mess. Have you tried trapping them? I've got traps set but have only caught about seven so either they are very smart or I'm a piSS poor trapper. Know a guy who was told to put a radio over the pipes and the beavers wouldn't come near the noise. Next day he went out and there was no music playing cause he found the beaver had cut the string holdging the radio and stuffed it in the dam. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Eli is getting a darker cost as he ages.

 

[LRTX1]

Eli is getting a darker cost as he ages.

Mine seemed to change color with the weather. At least with the seasons he would change.

 

[Jogeephus]

He had been swimming too. He's like an otter. :lol2:

 

[jedstivers]

How many sticks does it take to attain liftoff?

 

[Jogeephus]

It depends on what you are using and how you set it up but in general, each stick will give you 3' foot clearance so its about like what you can do with one scoop with a track hoe. Ideally the charge should be set at the very base of the dam at the ground line. When done right, you will get a depressingly low thud like explosion but the force will go up and away from the ground line and the beavers will have to hunt long and hard to find the debris they used in construction of the dam. Setting the charge high makes for a lot of noise but very little real damage to the dam. Once blown, I set traps around the area of the breach.

 

[highgrit]

Jo, never tried blowing one up yet. But I have tore out plenty with my backhoe. After I tear the dam up I go out and sit in a chair by where the dam was around midnight. And the beavers will be working most of the time. If they spook just sit quietly for 15 to 20 minutes they will be back. I have killed 5 in one night before.

 

[Jogeephus]

I've tried sniping them but the area they are in is so thick you cannot see anything. There is also a lot of cattails and its nearly impossible to see them. If I had some open water to shoot across it might be different or if I had some good night vision gear. This is probably the worst place in the world to have beavers because there is no way to get equipment to their dams. If I could put some lead in one of their heads I think it would make me feel better too. As it is, the best I can do is to continue to trap them and continue tearing the dams down to keep the water off the timber but this is getting old fast.

 

[dieselbeef]

come and get some gators for the ponds

 

[iowafarmer]

Jo, you need to find their lodges or if they are living in the banks. If they have a lodge they are easy to trap as they have to go in and out of it and will only have a few enterances. Set traps at all enterances.. Very hard to trap them at a dam. If they are living in burrows in the banks of the river and stream then you set traps on their slides and at the enterances. If they are living in the bank it can be hard to find the enterances cause they are usually below the water level. The best then is if the water level drops so that you can find the enterances or if it floods it drowns them out and they will be on the bank and then you can shoot them. Once you find the enterances to where they live I'd go with a conibear 330 trap. place it so that they have to go through it to get in or out of their lodge. It is the largest conibear which is you want for beaver. Dont get your hand stuck in one cause you cant get out of on your own and will need someone else to get you out, otherwise carry a hacksaw with you so you can cut the trap and get out. I'd also suggest getting a saftey clamp when setting conibears. You can also use snares but the key to snares is making sure they drown when they get into the snare so best used up north when there is ice which doesn't apply to you but it could be worth a shot of trying some snares. Do a google search and there is a lot of information out there about trapping beavers.

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks Iowa. I've been unable to find a lodge at this location. I've even used a plane to search and still can't find it. I'd make short work of them if I could just find the lodge cause I'd leave a fishing pond where it sits. They must be in burrows and the ground is so thick and the area so large I just can't find where they are coming from. I'm using the 330's with good results with a dive stick setup but the leg traps have been iffy. I'm also setting snare just cause they are cheap to make and I can put out a lot of these but thus far none have been landed with a snare.