Repelling / Deterring Beavers

[MossRoad]

Our local parks department loosely wraps chain link fence around the trunks of any trees they want to save in the local parks near the river and small lakes, ponds. Works great.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

A large portion of my property is bottomland along a creek with a pond and plenty of swampy areas. I had problems with them damming up the inlet to my pond and flooding a 3 or 4 acre area. Installed a beaver deceiver at their little dam and it worked for years. I now have a culvert in that spot, so time will tell if they start acting up again. For some reason I have NEVER seen beaver damage to any of my trees. That being said I have always wanted to trap a couple for their pelts and I am sure I will some day. I've seen wallets made out of their tail leather, looks really nice. If I was having serious issues with them like you are I would not hesitate to trap them as well. Good luck.

 

[deserteagle71]

We fought them for years on the farm in Pennsylvania where I grew up. They kept damming up a small stream that ran across one of the fields. Each time we destroyed the dam they would just build it back bigger. Finally we gave up. There is now a good-sized lake that even appears on the maps.

On a hot summer afternoon our cows would cool off in the water:

60-some years later, the beavers are still there!

 

[dmccarty]

You will have to protect the trees you value the most until the beavers leave. I used chicken wire wrapped around the larger trees I wanted to keep from being killed off by the beavers.

Trapping the beavers will only buy you some time.

We had to install a beaver pond leveler in the dam to force the beavers to leave, there are more than one conversations about beaver issues on TBN, but this is what we did, https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/backyard/privatelandhabitat/clemson_beaver_pond_leveler.pdf

As others have suggested, check with the local and state laws and regulations. The state extension office is a good resource here in NC so hopefully your state has such a resource.

Later,
Dan

 

[Eagle1]

We have beavers come to live in our pond every year, usually they run into my Savage Mark II unless I need to clear some section and they cooperate earning them a short stay of execution.

 

[oosik]

Loooong ago the WA state game dept would dynamite beaver dams if they were doing property damage. Then it became obvious that dynamite was not the answer. They then employed trappers. The beavers would be trapped and relocated. This proved to be a far better solution.

Apparently that is no longer the case in WA. There are now private trappers who are licensed by the state and will provide that service.

Check with your state game dept - that should provide all the necessary answers.

 

[Jstpssng]

Loooong ago the WA state game dept would dynamite beaver dams if they were doing property damage. Then it became obvious that dynamite was not the answer. They then employed trappers. The beavers would be trapped and relocated. This proved to be a far better solution.

Apparently that is no longer the case in WA. There are now private trappers who are licensed by the state and will provide that service.

Check with your state game dept - that should provide all the necessary answers.

We have so many beaver here that relocating them just moves the problem. Better to just kill them and be done with it.

A bit off topic but this Three Against the Wilderness is an interesting book from a century ago, about a couple who moved to the wilderness in BC and brought back the beaver population, which had been decimated by over trapping.

 

[deserteagle71]

We have so many beaver here that relocating them just moves the problem. Better to just kill them and be done with it.

I've often wondered if relocating is how the beavers we have in Nevada got to where they are today. I mean, it can be many, many miles of dry hot desert between mountains streams and yet I see their sign everywhere. Surely they didn't trek all those miles to the next stream?

And for sure Nevada doesn't have a surfeit of trees! So why are the beavers allowed to cut down the ones we do have? This is a shot of a pond beavers created at about 8000 feet elevation in northeast Nevada. You can see the beaver lodge at the far side:

Some of the trees they manage to cut down are amazing in size. Here I'm standing on one of the stumps...notice the teeth marks in the wood:

What was most amazing to me was when I found a whole area of aspen stumps that had been gnawed off about 5' above the ground. Surely beavers don't climb trees! But then I realized the trees were cut when there were several feet of snow on the ground so the beavers were working at "ground" level:

They flat devastated the trees in this area:

 

[MossRoad]

Devastated is an interesting word choice. Wonder how many critters benefit from that beaver pond, as well as how many types of plants grow in the opened area?

 

[TheMan419]

Build a beaver deceiver

Flow device - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Does not help the immediate tree damage but will cause the beavers to move on if you are not wanting the stream or culvert dammed up.