Beavers on the PAF

[Rubberhead]

@API: Recently several interesting posts about beavers were submitted on the PAF Bonafides thread. To help the subject get it's due attention, a separate focused thread is hereby created.

We've had a few beavers on our deer club for a while now. They're cutting commercial peach trees but peach farmer hasn't done anything. Then, last season, the darn beavers cut some gum saplings that I left as cover for one of my favorite stands...the stand is out in the wide open now...that can not be tolerated so I'm learning how to beaver hunt...

 

[Bear]

We've had a few beavers on our deer club for a while now. They're cutting commercial peach trees but peach farmer hasn't done anything. Then, last season, the darn beavers cut some gum saplings that I left as cover for one of my favorite stands...the stand is out in the wide open now...that can not be tolerated so I'm learning how to beaver hunt...

Paddle butts.

 

[Rubberhead]

Paddle butts.

I'm'ona paddle their butts...haha

 

[Swampfoot]

We've had a few beavers on our deer club for a while now. They're cutting commercial peach trees but peach farmer hasn't done anything. Then, last season, the darn beavers cut some gum saplings that I left as cover for one of my favorite stands...the stand is out in the wide open now...that can not be tolerated so I'm learning how to beaver hunt...

Damn, good sized one. That tree might be toast. Are there any dams or lodges on your club? Beaver trapping is seriously easy. Or you can shoot them off a dam on a full moon. Can do some serious damage in a night.

 

[Rubberhead]

Damn, good sized one. That tree might be toast. Are there any dams or lodges on your club? Beaver trapping is seriously easy. Or you can shoot them off a dam on a full moon. Can do some serious damage in a night.

Good question. I'm in the lowcountry so there's no real moving water. In the 6 or so years they've been active, I've never seen anything that looked like it was an attempt to dam something. Just recently, though, they've cut a notch in a steep bank about 4 foot wide and 7 foot long and covered it with long cut and de-barked poles. I guess that's the start of some sort of lodge. That's right where I killed the beaver in the picture - right at daylight.

It's a head scratcher but they're ringing, felling and carrying off pine trees and leaving most of the willows alone. Must be some special gin-loving beavers. Most of the damage, though, has been to a commercial peach grove - that's how I got the depredation permit. Over the years they've got increasingly fond of the peach trees and have cut and hauled off probably 200 or more. They're very orderly about it. They take the first one in a row, then the next, then the next, like a typewriter if you remember what that is...haha

The beaver was a mature female that looked liked she'd raise more than one set of kits but was dry - she might have been pregnant. If so, I'm looking for her baby-daddy...

 

[Swampfoot]

Sounds like the start of a bank den. Must have been trying to move in and get more comfortable. May have some luck with connibears 9r foothold if your permit allows it.

 

[Rubberhead]

Sounds like the start of a bank den. Must have been trying to move in and get more comfortable. May have some luck with connibears 9r foothold if your permit allows it.

So you think there's more? Just a pair or more than that?

The wording on the permit is..."All legal traps and methods" but I can only make it to the property every couple of weeks for a day or two so I'm probably going to stick with just quietly walking the bank in the late evening or early morning.

 

[Swampfoot]

So you think there's more? Just a pair or more than that?

The wording on the permit is..."All legal traps and methods" but I can only make it to the property every couple of weeks for a day or two so I'm probably going to stick with just quietly walking the bank in the late evening or early morning.

From what I've seen, if you see one beaver there's 6 or more that you don't see. If they are bothering to build a lodge I would guess they are on the upward curve. Sounds like a lot of tree damage for just 2. If you can't check the traps daily that option is out. You may have better luck at night shooting them if you can only go every couple weeks and it's kosher.

 

[beretta buster]

From what I've seen, if you see one beaver there's 6 or more that you don't see. If they are bothering to build a lodge I would guess they are on the upward curve. Sounds like a lot of tree damage for just 2. If you can't check the traps daily that option is out. You may have better luck at night shooting them if you can only go every couple weeks and it's kosher.

Agreed, where you see one there are typically plenty more. We ran into a big problem the past few years in our creek systems here and quickly became inundated with them. The bank dens are a problem on the creek systems, along with killing the trees it speeds up erosion worse than I've ever seen. If there are peach trees that are past the point of saving I would lop a few limbs, peel the bark back, and create a pile of the limbs near the bank dens and set up on it to shoot 'em. Otherwise, as suggested I'd start trapping. Bridger 330's on the holes or in marsh channels.

 

[Rubberhead]

If there are peach trees that are past the point of saving I would lop a few limbs, peel the bark back, and create a pile of the limbs near the bank dens and set up on it to shoot 'em.

The peach farmer just started doing that in the past few months. He's also piling up the trimmed branches right in front of the beaver slides. I checked those piles but it doesn't look like they've started using them yet.