Removing Beaver Dams

[OneWelder]

Your beaver must be dumber than the ones around here, becuase around here they just follow the flow of water and block it.

Must be a state thing or maybe its all the New England colleges- LOL

 

[jkiser96]

I do contract work for the county here & they gave me several work orders tp tear out dams all over the county. I know the trappers that they hire as well & the other day my buddy pulls a 75 pound beaver from a trap. One luxury I have is that they are all along corn fields so mud is not an issue but a homeowner has been going everyday & tearing parts of the dam out & it takes about a week of this & the beavers get fed up & started on a new one. We are planning on removeing several this weekend so hopefully I can get a few pics

 

[Red Bank]

I am by no means an expert, but after fighting beavers for 7 years on the farm I have learned some important lessons. Number one-caliber size, after trying .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .357 magnum, .45 acp, 12 gauge double 00 buckshot, the best is at least .270 Remington or 30-30. My brother uses the .270 to wound them and I finish them off with 30-30. I know it seems like overkill but one evening the beaver took 2 shots of the .270 then a headshot with the 30-30 finished him off. The cool thing was the women watched my ever so lucky headshot and were impressed. Second, the beaver dam is fifty foot long and three foot high across the valley floor before the creek feeds my three acre pond, I had a problem with the dingy brown water in the pond, after the dam was built and the beaver turned the valley into a wetlands the water quality picked up in the pond. It acts as a buffer on runoff,etc. It took us five years to kill them off and after looking at the construction of the dam and the constant cleaning of the spillway of the pond I am impressed with their engineering skills. I left the dam in the valley because as stated before they do leak and require constant maintenance. The wetlands have dried up some but the good news is they attract ducks into the valley. Third lesson learned, the beavers come out around 5:00pm and will swim around the area first to make sure everything is ok, they work at night, so the best chance is to kill them in the evenings, and also they can see and sense extremely well. I let our beavers get used to seeing me for a couple of weeks before I nailed them. Not sure how that last statement can be taken

 

[Dirtman2007]

I am by no means an expert, but after fighting beavers for 7 years on the farm I have learned some important lessons. Number one-caliber size, after trying .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .357 magnum, .45 acp, 12 gauge double 00 buckshot, the best is at least .270 Remington or 30-30. My brother uses the .270 to wound them and I finish them off with 30-30. I know it seems like overkill but one evening the beaver took 2 shots of the .270 then a headshot with the 30-30 finished him off. The cool thing was the women watched my ever so lucky headshot and were impressed. Second, the beaver dam is fifty foot long and three foot high across the valley floor before the creek feeds my three acre pond, I had a problem with the dingy brown water in the pond, after the dam was built and the beaver turned the valley into a wetlands the water quality picked up in the pond. It acts as a buffer on runoff,etc. It took us five years to kill them off and after looking at the construction of the dam and the constant cleaning of the spillway of the pond I am impressed with their engineering skills. I left the dam in the valley because as stated before they do leak and require constant maintenance. The wetlands have dried up some but the good news is they attract ducks into the valley. Third lesson learned, the beavers come out around 5:00pm and will swim around the area first to make sure everything is ok, they work at night, so the best chance is to kill them in the evenings, and also they can see and sense extremely well. I let our beavers get used to seeing me for a couple of weeks before I nailed them. Not sure how that last statement can be taken

Thanks for the Info. I busted it the otherday with the mini excavator. The homeowner was going to go hunting that night for them.

I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow when I finish letting the water out.


Hey where in NC are you?

 

[Deere9670]

Must be some tough beaver were you are red! Our 12 gauge beretta a303 with 00 buck does just fine up here, but gotta hit em in the head! Let us know how he does on the beavers chris!

 

[Red Bank]

Hey Chris, I am in Germanton,NC, it is a small community about 10 miles north of Winston-Salem.

 

[Red Bank]

One more thing I forgot, I have this huge birch tree(?) that the beaver started chewing on one night, looked like JAWS had taken a bite, don't tell the EPA, but took a bucket of used motor oil(out of a diesel) and a paint brush and painted around the tree with the oil. Was so frustrated I was hoping it would get cancer and die, but finally got a shot on him. And also as stated above the beaver keep young ones for no more than two years and send him up or down the creek to strike out on his own, this will be a continuing problem for awhile. I haven't seen any more signs for about a year, but you have to remain vigilant.

 

[Dirtman2007]

Today I took the mini excavator back up the creek today to RE- bust the dams those damn beavers put back. Thoses are some quick little buggers. two days ago I busted them and the already built two small dams back


So I busted them again, not much else I can do until they get rid of them. I just needed to let the water loose to help fill the pond back up that I had to drain.

here's a few pictures

 

[TriHonu]

I've done my share of trapping beaver and blowing up beaver dams. I would think today it would be difficult to get a blasting permit.

An old trapper told me "The trick to getting rid of them is to wound them. Don't kill them quick. When a beaver gets injured, they will go back to the hut. If they die in the hut the other beavers will move out."

Twenty years ago, I know it was illegal to molest a beaver hut. I have seen a few that we blew off the face of the earth. We were blasting drainage ditches and had one mile stretch that had about 12 dams. We started on the down stream end and blasted a ditch about 10 feet wide and straightened out the water way. The dams were totally removed and we increased the water velocity enough to get the beaver to look for better digs...

 

[gltland]

Beaver Dams

Guaranteed getting rid of beaver and muskrat
-go to health food store-buy black dried halopeno peppers-go to grocery store-buy salad dressing oil -put in blender -blend it up-put it in beaver pond or stream in afternoon Next morning beaver and muskrat will be everyware but in water p.s. do not approch beaver or rats on land,you wont beleave how fast they can run or you can run

 

[stumper120]

One more thing I forgot, I have this huge birch tree(?) that the beaver started chewing on one night, looked like JAWS had taken a bite, don't tell the EPA, but took a bucket of used motor oil(out of a diesel) and a paint brush and painted around the tree with the oil. Was so frustrated I was hoping it would get cancer and die, .[/QUOTE shoulda left him a dozen crispy kremes and tried to give him diabetes.:usa

 

[Dirtman2007]

been busting beaver dams for 2 days now

On this job I have over 1/2 mile of creek channel to cleanup and bust all the bever dams.

Here's a pretty good video of me busting a huge dam/ lake the beavers had created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfVKY8ZGXXM

 

[hackalot]

Beaver dams

I've taken them apart by hand, the engineering is amazing. Had mother nature take some out with storms (before & during storm pics that wiped out dams):





And used a .22lr to get rid of some critters. They dammed up my creek 7 years in a row, disappeared for 2 years and there back this year.

 

[Northart]

Beaver Fever

One thing to avoid is drinking water, washing your hands , or swimming in beaver ponds or their waters.

Contracting Beaver Fever, as the name is commonly called, for , "Giardiasis " from the contaminated water, results in an intestinal infection, that can be painful and last several days, weeks , or even longer.

Here's a link for those interested.

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF14/1410.html

 

[Panhandler Bob]

those beaver dams are a lot stronger then you might think...with a lot larger logs/trees then you might imagine are in there....your mini-ex might take a good while to get it done...i vote for dynamite

Ther are very few problems, personal or otherwise, that can't be cured with the proper application of high exsplosives!!:drinkup Bob

 

[td25c]

My

Well today I was asked if I wanted to remove a beaver dam that is daming up a creek up upstream from where I'm working.

I was told the dam is about 5' tall, 5' wide, and is backing up about 3 acres of water which is killing all the trees and making a flipping mess. We need the water to fill up a lake up we just finished up working on. Seems like a good way to do so.

I was pondering on how to bust the dam though. It's a long way through the woods and I would have to go stump jumping with the mini excavator to get back there and would absolutly hate to get bogged down and stuck in the middle of the swamp.

My next option is letting one of the neighbors blow it up with the little beaver dam bombs he makes.

The fellow I'm working for would reather me go in and break it with the mini, But I sure would like to see it get blown up! The fellow works for the rock quarry and is very good with blowing things up from what I'm told.

any other suggestions besides getting down and dirt by removing it by hand?

My experience is you halve to get rid of the matirial or get rid of the beaver.Explosives dont work well,If you just break the dam and leave the matirial beside the creek ,the dam will be back the next morning,beaver's work 24/7 and are good enginier's.

 

[AtlasRob]

A very intresting and educational thread :notworthy
I had no idea these little furry creatures were such a menace. Bloody good builders but a menace non the less.

Dirtman, great vid as always. Tell me you play those back and think to yourself sometimes mmmmmmmmmmm, was on the edge a bit there :notworthy

 

[Diggedirt]

Rob, I agree with you about Dirtman's videos. I always end up watching a few extra when he adds a link. Another half hour well spent.
I know a few duck hunters who have had fun and frustration dealing with beavers in the food plots they flood. When they were draining the plots a beaver would plug the culvert in nothing flat. They went to placing cattle gates in an arc around the drains so the beaver will have to work double overtime to slow down the water. Doing that would give the plot time to drain before the dam could be built.
On a few occasions the gates were watched overnight. A roll of toilet paper soaked in kerosene and stuck on stick makes a good (cheap) torch. Just line the cattle gates with as many torches needed to provide a little visibility. The beaver will be wary but his instinct to stop the flowing water will overcome his fear.
They would not mind the beavers being there if they did not dig into the dams and ruin them. The plots are close to a river so they know they will never be free of this problem but they seem to have come up with a workable plan for dealing with them.

 

[Northart]

Beaver

Here's a picture of a beaver, and a stretched beaver pelt. Nice rich thick fur. Makes for nice fur hats and fur coats.

The Guards at Buckingham Palace still have Beaver Hats , I'm sure. Can't see how they are fake .

 

[JDMGrading]

I swear if we keep watching all these dirtman videos its gonna make us all better operators.