Beaver Problems

[Red]

I now have 2 beaver damns on my property and they are causing all kinds of issues. Felling trees, the high water is backing up into fields. It's getting to be a major headache. Do you have any suggestions for an absentee landowner? I'm not on site to control their number via hunting and I don't know how to trap. I've seen plans for the flow devices built with culverts but that seems like a large engineering project that i would like to avoid if possible. Any ideas for removing the critters or convincing them to relocate to another stretch of creek?

 

[4wanderingeyes]

You can try to contact the DNR, they may help you.


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[buckdeer1]

They will probably tell you to contact a predation trapper,this is someone that is permitted by the state to trap furbearers year round and they usually charge a flat rate per animal.If it was during season you could shoot or trap them

 

[swat1018]

Call the local game warden and ask who to trust trapping them...

 

[rocksnstumps]

And afterwards, your friends can throw out lines like this

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Our local dnr suggests PVC pipe. It doesnt sound like that big of a deal to get it pushed through a dam. Apparently they dont like the sound of moving water and will relocate. Where to is ??? I havent tried it.

We have been having problems with beavers ever since we stopped pasturing our valley. we keep shooting them and they keep coming back. Two falls ago the otters moved in and ate almost every trout in the stream on our property. It was fun watching them but I'd rather have trout than otters or beavers.

I feel for you, they make a mess out of things quickly. Good luck

 

[NWWI]

There is no easy way. You will never shoot them all. The only way we have had any luck is with the PVC pipe and it's a bit of work to do correctly. Make sure it's a good long length of pipe and get it dug down in the dam far enough. Keep both ends out from the dam a good distance and drill holes near the end.
You most likely don't want someone walking in there every day checking traps anyway.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Beavers have absolutely been the bane of my existence and what I've learned is you gotta go nuclear if you're serious about getting rid of them for good. I've used every tool: trap, shoot, pipe under/through the dam (Google "Clemson pond leveler), and a trackhoe to tear out dams and finally rid my place of them all. Some folks in my area even use Tannerite or an explosives-licensed consultant to blow up dams. Around here they're considered the most despised form of vermin and people with livelihoods tied to farming and timber are dead serious about complete and total eradication...year-round no limit.

I've learned more about beaver behavior than I care to but the things they need to stay in a given area and cause headaches are water and building material.
1) Had a canal alongside a big bottom crop field they made multiple dams and flooded the field. Trackhoe to tear out the dams and removed all vegetation that could serve as building material for 30ft...it's grassy now vs. woody and managed by mowing and I spray the ditchbanks annually to keep them from converting back to bamboo, water willows, and anything else they can build with. Been beaverless in this spot for years now.

2) Had another area they'd backed up water into 16 acres of timber and were just absolutely wreaking havoc...what they didn't fell they girdled. It was a total mess and they were just eating their way right on up the bottom. Here's what it looks like today. Again, getting rid of the existing dams and the building material is the only thing I know of to permanently rid a waterway of those dang things.

Study the stretch of waterway on your place they've got messed up and develop a plan to get rid of the building material if you can...they'll move on if there's nothing there to work with.

 

[SD51555]

Thought this might be a thread about marriage troubles.

 

[mikmaze]

you can shoot em, they can't stand the sound of rushing water from their dams...... rip down a section and set up with the rifle and sit quiet and still, watch, wait, shoot shovel and keep it under your hat.

 

[Tree Spud]

I now have 2 beaver damns on my property and they are causing all kinds of issues. Felling trees, the high water is backing up into fields. It's getting to be a major headache. Do you have any suggestions for an absentee landowner? I'm not on site to control their number via hunting and I don't know how to trap. I've seen plans for the flow devices built with culverts but that seems like a large engineering project that i would like to avoid if possible. Any ideas for removing the critters or convincing them to relocate to another stretch of creek?

I have been dealing with them for 5 years now. Unbelievable engineers & steady workers. You can tear the damn down and a week later they will have 80% rebuilt.

I had the 65 lbs female trapped 4 years ago and her kids quickly took over here spot.

If you relocate them, they will return or be replaced by others. The aim the point of the branch down stream with the branched end upstream. Every piece of silt & grass hits & stops ... brick and mortar. If you are not around fulll time, you will almost never discourage them.

I am in the process of building a culvert bypass system that will allow water to continue to drain even though they rebuild the damn. Just gathering materials at this point but it will be 50' of metal culvert along the creek bottom. Each end will have fencing around to keep them from plugging. Hope to do 2 rows side by side just to get through the known damn pinch point.

Thought about PVC culvert, but I understand they will chew through that.

The goal is to keep them from raising my marsh 18" like they did last fall. Hopefully they will get frustrated as they will not be able to raise the water level and maybe even move on.

In Wisconsin, a land owner can shoot & trap to remove beavers without a permit I believe. Check your state regs.

Below is a link to some ideas.
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/waterways/factsheets/beaverdamage.pdf

 

[mikmaze]

when them dammed the outlet in my front yar last year they raised the water level till it went over the road, thats when the neighbor did the rip down dam and wait with the .223. that Beaver won't be back.

 

[Neahawg]

Trapping isnt as hard as you think but most states require you check them every 24hrs

 

[Red]

Thanks for all the feedback. Sounds like there isn't an easy fix.
I think we are going to give the pipe leveling system a try.

 

[JFK52]

The WI DNR has a list of trappers in each county and the animals they will trap. I contacted a fellow on the list a couple of winters ago to trap coyote on my land. I had him out on my land and showed him around so he could look for yote sign. Unfortunately, he fell and hurt himself before he could ever set a trap on my land.
Not sure what fur prices are doing. Most of the trappers do it as a hobby, not as a source of income.

 

[Tree Spud]

The WI DNR has a list of trappers in each county and the animals they will trap. I contacted a fellow on the list a couple of winters ago to trap coyote on my land. I had him out on my land and showed him around so he could look for yote sign. Unfortunately, he fell and hurt himself before he could ever set a trap on my land.
Not sure what fur prices are doing. Most of the trappers do it as a hobby, not as a source of income.

Where are you located in Wis? General idea ...

 

[j-bird]

Certainly not something to ignore and hope it will go away..... I didn't even know we had beavers in IN until my neighbors place started to have water backing up. I thought it was from typical flooding debris.....I talked to the neighbor as where I saw the water he isn't down that road real often. The next week he was in there with heavy equipment and then followed up with a trapper. He didn't go "nuclear" like mentioned above, but he keeps a closer eye out now and at the first sign of them - he addresses it early!