Beaver control

Ran onto an aquaintence at an auction today who reported having problems with beaver in his pond cutting down the trees he planted, digging into the earth dam, plugging up the spillway. He said they tried traps and shooting but no luck. I suggested spotlighting them at night and quickly got an invitation to try my luck. I've had good results in the past using the light, but you have to find a vantage point and conceal yourself and not go after the killed ones until you're through for the night or the smart little guys will go to their dens and stay. The shooting doesn't seem to spook them unless you miss close by several times. This kind of shooting will sharpen your shooting skills as head and eyes are small targets. My 222 does pretty good and the 40 gr. Hornadys don't richochet much off the water, but disintigrate nicely. most shots taken are under 50 yds.

That's interesting .Both about the Spotlighting aspect of shooting (I do 99% of my work at night with a 3million CP spotlight ) & in the fact I always thought that Beavers had been all but wiped out over the years (a bit like people being of the opinion that ROO's are endangered over here I suppose )


Dave

D-O-K: The beaver has made a tremendous comeback, especially since the decline of the fur market, even in the dry climate of the Texas panhandle and west Texas. Every stream with dependable water and every pond, manmade or not, has or has had beaver. They aren't objectionable except in those ponds built for family enjoyment or where they insist on digging into the dam,weakening it. We had a problem a couple of years ago with a pair who set up housekeeping in the road ditch and caused flooding and erosion of the roadway during rainstorms. A rancher I know planted 50 trees around his pond only to have beavers cut them down after 3 years of hauling water to get them established. Farther south, close to Abilene, Tx., we even had problems with nutria, a South American water rat related to the muskrat, having worked their way up hundreds of miles from the Gulf Coast. The Nutria escaped from captivity in Louisianna during a hurricane years ago, and are now a plague in the Gulf costal areas since the collapsed fur market no longer keeps them in check. Dale C

I am often surprised at people's perception of what's endangered. There's just no convincing most people that there are more whitetail deer now than before the white man came to America, there are. The demise of the passenger pigeon is blamed on market hunting, which helped in the loss of numbers, but disease brought over with poultry from overseas was introduced into gregarious flocks and spread quickly in such concentrated populations with no resistence to the new diseases. There are more trees in America now than when Columbus landed. All of the mid-west from the Mississippi to the Rockies was practically devoid of trees until into the 20th century. The kangaroo rat is "threatened" in our area, When I moved here in 1990 you couldn't drive our rural roads at night without running over lots of them. I believe that there is a natural low in the population cycle compounded by a recent high in coyote numbers and the past policy of the government of permitting or requiring CRP plantings of only weeping lovegrass, creating vast monocultures benefitting wildlife only on the fringes by providing cover, but little in the way of food. The reduced numbers of coyotes due to red mange, and changes in CRP policies should cause an upswing soon. The Swift fox is threatened here primarily due to the coyote(they kill them), and they never were very numerous here. The prarie chicken is declining, again, coyote, CRP monocultures, Trees, and possibly loss of sagebrush are factors. The biggest supporters of wildlife by far, with dollars, habitat restoration, and votes, are hunters and fishermen and women. Who gets the blame for any declines in the eyes of the public at large? Hunters and fishermen, Go figure!

Dale I have to agree with a lot of what you are saying. Animals adapt and they are in better shape and numbers than a lot of people give them credit for.
The only thing that you say that I know in this area that you missed is the forst we have cut down thousands of square miles of forests in western Canada and even NW. USA. On the other hand the reforestation that is being used today is 100 times better than it was 60 years ago and that will have a great impact that will be seen more in another 29 to 30 years as the trees grow bigger.
Ken.

Kodiac 1: My reference was to numbers, not size. We still have a lot to learn about planting a variety, selective harvesting, controled burning, leaving some clearings. This is in reference to public lands. Private lands need to be addressed by financial benefit to the owner, not by mandate. Our farmers and ranchers here are finding the hunting market to be one of our most dependable sources of income. So far we haven't reached the threshhold of over production, far from it, and we're learning that the cost is minute compared to the cost of putting in and harvesting crops, or the cost of buying, tending, and feeding cattle, then worrying if the market will hold. The great hunting here is causing an explosion in land prices for land that used to be cheap. One 310 acre piece just sold for a reported 2250 an acre, 10 years ago it might have brought 300. Great hunting place with only 35 acres cultivated(inCRP). It is severelt limiting my ability to afford hunting game, thankfully there is still some varmit hunting available for free. Part of this is financed by our tremendous oil and gas boom, don't let anyone tell you the big oil companys are the only ones benefiting, we all in this area are getting a part of it. Ticks me off to hear some of my neighbors who are making millions gripe about the price of gas, they are learning to keep their mouths shut on that subject.

WE have had the same problems over here with Clearing of land ! On the up side there are more Roos here in Australia than before the arrival of the Europeions in Australia due to land clearing & cropping & water supplies for livestock On the Down side Erosion has played havic ,as has the water table rising & bringing salt to the surface ! Fortuantley the errors of the Past are being adressed with heavy Tree planting programs & smarter Farming ,Grazing practices ! Feral animals still present a problem ! But many farmers are jumping on the Band wagon of Guided Hunts ! I'm not stricktly in agreeance on this issue when I see that there are 700,000 wild camels in aust & the prices that these opperaters charge for the average Joe to hunt one & the Fact tat right up till the 80's Water buff were shot on sight & then Gov Culled ! Now they charge Thousands to shoot one ?????? I used to get paid to shoot them for their skins & meat !


Dave

Some years ago my father-in-law had a trap line and I would go out in the fall and shoot beaver. Those suckers are heavy! In any event I used my .22LR on them. Just laid down by a stream around dusk. Seldom had a shot over 15 yards or so. All I ever did was place the cross hairs on their heads and they were in the bag. Prices were good back then. I have no idea what they go for now. What I do know is they are hardly extinct! PITA really with plugging culverts and knocking down trees. I have to hand it to them though they are great little engineers when it comes to making dams.

Take Care

Bob

This evening I was at the tire shop picking up my weekly bucket of wheel weights when the owner's neighbor came in to tell him of beaver damage to the trees around his pond. I quickly volunteered to expend some of his lead to correct the problem, and was invited by both he and his neighbor to take care of the beavers, and also some prarie dogs. I'm going to get right on that. He recently had a beaver on his porch at night eating dog food. Dale:mrgreen:

Dale best time to get um is just before dusk. A good .22 with a scope, right in the ear works great and you can get a pretty good pelt off of them. At the Fish & Game dinners Beaver is often served. The back legs are delicious, if you don't cook them up you are missing a real treat.

Take Care

Bob

DOK there are as many Beavers in Canada now as there were when Columbus arrived., probably more. Less and less trap them now for any kind of living. Man it is hard work. I've helped my father in law a few times and if you ever read where somebody has carried three buck beavers out you know they are talking tall. Those suckers are heavy.

Take Care

Bob

Here in Texas we can use a spotlight at night , except for deer, etc. and I find this to be the best way to get Mr. Beaver or varmits, really great for rabbits. It's best to let the game warden know where you are hunting so he doesn't have to cross two counties to check out a report of spotlighting, puts him in a bad humor. Dale

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Canuck44

DOK there are as many Beavers in Canada now as there were when Columbus arrived., probably more. Less and less trap them now for any kind of living. Man it is hard work. I've helped my father in law a few times and if you ever read where somebody has carried three buck beavers out you know they are talking tall. Those suckers are heavy.

Take Care

Bob

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I trapped beaver in N. Alberta in the 60's. It was more provident to skin them where they were caught and carry the hides out.

Judging from the number of ancient beaver dams here beaver numbers had to be astronomical 400 years ago.

Are you IDPA Bob?