Removing Beaver Dams

[LowBoy]

Simple math. Assasinate the beavers and blow the dam apart. Nature will restore itself directly afterwards. Might tick a few environmentalists off in the process, but that's half the fun of the whole project in itself!!!

Word to the wise: Don't get close enough to a beaver to get bit. They have a tendency to really chomp down. I was in a canoe with a buddy fishing one time when a rambunctious beaver came and started ramming us, swimming underneath us and slapping his tail for some reason. I guess we was in his turf. Once I caught a good glimpse of his teeth, I grabbed that paddle and was leaving a wake like a PT boat to get the heck away.

 

[Dirtman2007]

i am taking a hydrology class i have here we are studying this exact thing of irrigation...nobody thinks about this...but 35% of the fresh water on earth (which only makes up 2.5% of the total water) is in ground water...then other 63% is in glaciers(the last 2% is rivers, lakes, etc...)...the constant pumping of ground water is affecting the rain that you get, so it is an evil cycle...you pump more because you have no rain but at the same time you are pumping the ground water which is inhibiting you from getting more rain.....so eventually you will have no more to pump, no more rain, and no more rivers....its actually kind of scary


sorry Chris for taking this thread in a different direction....

back on track...

Not a problem, I actually saw a show in the discovery channel about that. Somewhere out in the mid west they have these enourmus underground lakes that the tap into for irrigation of crops. Think the were called aqifers (sp?) but anyways they were pumping them down way faster than the ground water could fill them up. It could take 100+ years for them to refill once dry without any pumping. Very interesting show.

 

[Dirtman2007]

Simple math. Assasinate the beavers and blow the dam apart. Nature will restore itself directly afterwards. Might tick a few environmentalists off in the process, but that's half the fun of the whole project in itself!!!

Word to the wise: Don't get close enough to a beaver to get bit. They have a tendency to really chomp down. I was in a canoe with a buddy fishing one time when a rambunctious beaver came and started ramming us, swimming underneath us and slapping his tail for some reason. I guess we was in his turf. Once I caught a good glimpse of his teeth, I grabbed that paddle and was leaving a wake like a PT boat to get the heck away.

Must have fun or it's not worth doing right. No kidding about staying away from them, If they can chop down a 12" in diameter tree, I don't want that trying to bit my leg off! I was not planning on going in the water anyways, I work in ponds for a living, I know what's swimming around in them. So much that you will never catch me swimming in another pond again

But I'll brave it to watch it get blown up if we decide to do so!:drinkup

 

[Deere9670]

Hey chris - dont forget to cheak down stream of the damn for a secondary! They will have one 50% of the time. I wouldent blow em up, just quietly loosten a few longs and sticks by hand, then sit close to the lodge with a loaded 12 gauge with buck shot! Works best just before sunset! It wont take a whole lot, just need to get some water moving! Let me know how it goes! And yes dirt digger, beaver is a good thing most of the time!

 

[surfer-joe]

I like the "oil" idea, hadn't thought of that. EPA and the neighbors might frown on the practice though.

Tried a .44 Magnum and explosives, but the beaver came back. They always eventually come back if there is a damable site available with Aspen or Poplar trees and Tag Alders or other smaller brush to use to build a dam or a house. But 2x4's and plywood work just as well. Beaver are adaptable……..

Trapping works well -- for a while, then a new Beaver shows up and before you know it, he has a family. Good thing they are not polygamous.

Yep, if you tear out the dam, you do have to remove all building materials and debris from the site. If you do not, the Beaver go into unpaid overtime and will have a new dam in place overnight.

They get mighty spooky after being shot at a few times and become very hard to see. They like working at night mostly anyway so staying out of the daylight is not a big problem to them.

Don't tangle with a mad Beaver in hand to hand combat. They are faster than they look and have exceptionally sharp (and long) teeth. You and your dog can not out-swim them and it's damned hard to outrun them in a swamp. Speaking strictly from experience of course.

Good Luck!

 

[dirt digger]

Not a problem, I actually saw a show in the discovery channel about that. Somewhere out in the mid west they have these enourmus underground lakes that the tap into for irrigation of crops. Think the were called aqifers (sp?) but anyways they were pumping them down way faster than the ground water could fill them up. It could take 100+ years for them to refill once dry without any pumping. Very interesting show.

in Las Vegas it takes the ground water 20,000 years to replenish itself so it is technically considered a non-renewable resource...we are lucky here on the east coast and especially in the northeast that as for now we are safe...but if you ever get some downtime take a look at the rainfall charts for the nation and the globe...its really interesting to see that trends for rainfall in general...its funny...there will always be the same amount of water on earth but where it lays is a huge issue

 

[EddieWalker]

Interesting thread and an almost overwhelming situation to deal with. I can't imagine what it will be like to do this with equipment, or how bad it will be to get it out of the mud when it gets stuck. Explosives seem like the only option that won't ruin or cause long term damage to your equipment.

I have a beaver problem too, they are debarking the trees around my pond. They have taken out some of the smaller trees that I was hoping would grow into nice big shade trees, but the worse part is how they will remove the bark all the way around an 18 to 24 inch hardwood. They do this from the ground on up to as high as they can get!!!

I've killed one that was in the 60 pound range, which seems to have stoped it for now, but I'm on the lookout for more. We've also see several beaver road kill on the highway driving to town. Never before in my life have I ever seen beaver road kill before, but here, it's happened several times.

Good luck and keep us updated. I'm very curious to see what you use and how effective it is at getting rid of them.

Eddie

 

[OneWelder]

Bucky aint stupid ! but he is tough and persistent. Just cause you blow the dam does not mean you killed him. There was a beaver dam in town here that was about 1500 ft long. Fish & game okayed to be blown , and blown - every other week by the following year the dam was 2000 ft.. You need some way of discouraging them . trapping works good on new small groups, but a larger older colony you will never get them all.
I have heard where they extend V shape fence or grating in ft of culverts to beaver proof them

 

[Dozerboy]

We just used a ax to bust up the dam as little and my buddy and I would start drinking until they came out. A case of beer and a box of .308s is all we charged, and no a .308 is not overkill. X2 with blasting it doesn't really remove the problem

 

[roddyo]

Blowing up Beaver Dams

If you are going to blow up a Beaver Dam you need to get A LONG WAY from it. I know this sounds stupid but I'm serious. If you use Dynamite with a fuse this isn't a problem. If you use electric it's hard to get enough cable to get far enough away from it. I usually roll under my truck with a spare battery and set it off. I don't drive a very nice truck either.:drinkup I haven't totaled out a truck yet but I've blown enough sticks and chunks on it that I would hate to have been standing there.

 

[Dirtman2007]

I've been told to clear a path back in the woods with the mini excavator and remove one end of the dam to allow water to flow downstrean and fill our pond back up.

They are just concerned about getting more water into the pond and don't care if the build the dam back later as it will happen anyways. While the water is down they fellow does plan on spending many hours down in the woods with his rifle and or shotgun.

I'll be sure to post pictures when we do it next week or so.

 

[biggixxerjim]

kill em anyway

 

[jlm335]

He said over the last few years he's shot 20 of them. Dern things just keep comming back. Mr pipe bomb needs to be dropped down in their little hut. Man they are killing acres and acres of good timbers. The mostqitos are horrible too!

They've looked into trapping them too, $100 for the fellow to come out and $80.00 fot every one removed.

$80.00? holy crap!!! he will make almost that much once he sells the pelt depending on the size... Those prices are ridiculous! I still think you should blow it up!!

 

[Deere9670]

Im with dozerboy! Ill join ya for that one, a few brews and some hunting sounds good! And no blowing em up aint gonna work, and no you wont blow up beavers in a damn! mabey if you blew the lodg up, mabey!

 

[John White]

I'll have to be careful here or I will be telling my age, but about 60 years out west, in the timber country, they were building a new road and had to cross a 20' stream several times, and had to bkuild small bridges to get the logging trucks across. There was a couple of places they had to blow up a dam, and they built a bridge just below where the dam was. We came back to work on Mon. morning and the littld devils had just built a dam below the bridge and floated it out like a giant raft. Several times they would build a dam overnight and put the road close to the creek under 3' of water. They are hard to eradcate.

 

[sheepfoot]

Beavers

Here in the coastal area there are alot of beavers, their are rules to follow, first look for the food sticks, trap and or hunt untill there are no more signs of eating (fresh sticks). then only start to remove the dams, if you remove the dam first they will build it back or move and this makes alot of extra work. Must like snakes an other critters because you will find all sorts of things that live in the water with them, be carefull setting traps under water, aswell as walking around with your hip boots on, lots of sharp sticks if you fall, carry a pea rake to help you stand, gets creepy at nite also sitting on the bank with a nitescope 22 mag !!!! this words well too. We pull most dams by hand, machines work only if you can get to it before you get stuck, last is the blast depending on roads, water,sewer,homes,down stream issues and so on. Alway's let your 911 center no when you blast, some PD/SD/FD get realy ill.

 

[OCR]

some PD/SD/FD get realy ill.

Well, that's one way to put it... :laugh

And when they get ill... you don't feel good... :lmao


OCR...

 

[Dwan Hall]

We have found this works.
First we did like every one else here has suggested except kill them. It was for a forest service project.
dig a hole in the dam then lay a culvert in the hole that extends about 10 feet above and below the dam. The little critters will rebuild but don't know about the culvert you put in so water will not back up and they leave on there own.

 

[OCR]

We have found this works.
First we did like every one else here has suggested except kill them. It was for a forest service project.
dig a hole in the dam then lay a culvert in the hole that extends about 10 feet above and below the dam. The little critters will rebuild but don't know about the culvert you put in so water will not back up and they leave on there own.

Yup, works every time... :thumbsup


OCR

 

[PSDF350]

We have found this works.
First we did like every one else here has suggested except kill them. It was for a forest service project.
dig a hole in the dam then lay a culvert in the hole that extends about 10 feet above and below the dam. The little critters will rebuild but don't know about the culvert you put in so water will not back up and they leave on there own.

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