Repelling / Deterring Beavers

[ArlyA]

Seems like most of the time its a whole famiy or whatever you call it and they can rebuild a cut dam overnight. Ya, they are tenacious builders in the fall-winter.

 

[BryceSteiner]

As for letting the beavers do their thing, they will continue to dam up until everything is underwater. There are 8 dams on my property right now. You can break one and they'll have it repaired in a day. They have worked it back to the point that it's starting to flood by the neighbor's house now. You can't just let them continue or it will cause problems elsewhere.
The bad part about it is the water is shallow but the muck has so much methane in it that even if it drys out it's too soft to walk on. Probably could sink a natural gas well.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I came across an interesting article online a few years back. It was titled "Beaver vs DCNR". I'll post the link if I can find it.

It basically was a story about a Pennsylvania landowner who applied for a permit to build a pond but it was denied by the DCNR due to wetland issues. The enterprising fellow trapped a few beaver on a friends property and relocated them to his wetland. The Beaver apparently liked the new location and proceeded to build a dam. The landowner now has a nice pond which the DCNR can't regulate.

The beaver eventually moved on but the landowner improved and continues to maintain the dam. Who knows how long it will remain but the guy is enjoying it while it lasts.

 

[charlessenf]

" a beaver family did enormous damage to our cottonwood trees a few years back "

Well KEVIN, I'm not at all sure you are OFF TOPIC in a forum called RURAL LIVING.

However, I'm amazed you don't see the irony in your posting here. We have critter that like chickens as much as we do and those that like a fresh egg or two before slithering off to digest the meal. Out chickens have to share their feed with non-domesticated creatures, too.

I can't complain and, of course, "our" chickens don't either. I moved here from a City where sirens and traffic and boom boxes resonated in teh congested streets and one seldom saw teh real night sky until the Hurricane took out the power plant.

I've a couple of year round springs that feed a man made pond that had diminished in depth almost every year (crawfish? tree roots? Not sure what caused the leak) and will provide out address if you will ship them beavers to North Carolina where the will find one content with the Rural Living and all the accouterments thereof'

I was especially taken by your line, paraphrased in quotes, above. You are living on lands taken from native peoples by trick, deceit and or force of arms and complain that creatures put there centuries before you might enjoy so much as a possibility of habitation there are naturally cutting down the same cottonwood tree (as your species calls them) they've been using some creatively for centuries as "your cottonwood trees!"

Why not seek to understand your neighbors and see how you can move into their neighborhood without drastically upsetting their lives - or trapping and killing them off. Seek to understand and work with nature. You may discover that those beavers will create special places you and yours can learn to appreciate and marvel at - and even profit from. They are interested in conserving water. There's folks in Arizona who would tell you 'That's a good thing."

Look it up. It couldn't hurt!

Ranchers and farmers benefit as water stored in beaver-created wetlands and behind beaver ponds provides valuable water during droughts. Cities and towns benefits with improved water quality and more dependable flows.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF BEAVER-CREATED AND ...​

People also ask
How do beavers help farmers?
What are 3 benefits of a pond made by beavers?
What benefits do beavers provide?
Why are ponds important to beavers?

 

[charlessenf]

They have worked it back to the point that it's starting to flood by the neighbor's house now. You can't just let them continue or it will cause problems.

Could it be that the beavers were there long before your neighbor built his house on the flood plain?

What sort of BUILDING CODES are there where such a thing would be approved by Building and Zoning?

You wanted RURAL LVING you got it. Accept it, work with it and enjoy.

 

[charlessenf]

"testes et eidem sequetur animum"

Aside from the spelling (sequitur) error?, what do you think that means?

 

[Rockbadchild]

Well KEVIN, I'm not at all sure you are OFF TOPIC in a forum called RURAL LIVING.

However, I'm amazed you don't see the irony in your posting here. We have critter that like chickens as much as we do and those that like a fresh egg or two before slithering off to digest the meal. Out chickens have to share their feed with non-domesticated creatures, too.

I can't complain and, of course, "our" chickens don't either. I moved here from a City where sirens and traffic and boom boxes resonated in teh congested streets and one seldom saw teh real night sky until the Hurricane took out the power plant.

I've a couple of year round springs that feed a man made pond that had diminished in depth almost every year (crawfish? tree roots? Not sure what caused the leak) and will provide out address if you will ship them beavers to North Carolina where the will find one content with the Rural Living and all the accouterments thereof'

I was especially taken by your line, paraphrased in quotes, above. You are living on lands taken from native peoples by trick, deceit and or force of arms and complain that creatures put there centuries before you might enjoy so much as a possibility of habitation there are naturally cutting down the same cottonwood tree (as your species calls them) they've been using some creatively for centuries as "your cottonwood trees!"

Why not seek to understand your neighbors and see how you can move into their neighborhood without drastically upsetting their lives - or trapping and killing them off. Seek to understand and work with nature. You may discover that those beavers will create special places you and yours can learn to appreciate and marvel at - and even profit from. They are interested in conserving water. There's folks in Arizona who would tell you 'That's a good thing."

Look it up. It couldn't hurt!

Ranchers and farmers benefit as water stored in beaver-created wetlands and behind beaver ponds provides valuable water during droughts. Cities and towns benefits with improved water quality and more dependable flows.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF BEAVER-CREATED AND ...​

People also ask
How do beavers help farmers?
What are 3 benefits of a pond made by beavers?
What benefits do beavers provide?
Why are ponds important to beaver

Why are you so provocative? this simply induce argument that will lead nowhere you won't convince anyone here by applying generation guilt and hypocrisy, this is not facebook. The Ops problem could be another person blessing but that not how things work ... it's like saying to someone who's house is flooded he is lucky since some people in Africa or Arizona have to travel miles to get water.

 

[BryceSteiner]

Could it be that the beavers were there long before your neighbor built his house on the flood plain?

What sort of BUILDING CODES are there where such a thing would be approved by Building and Zoning?

You wanted RURAL LVING you got it. Accept it, work with it and enjoy.

Sorry, but no. The beavers were introduced. There was even a house in this valley that is now underwater.
Your first and last statements seem to contradict. You say beavers were there first and should have free reign then your last statement says accept it and work with it.

That is exactly what this thread is about - working with it. We all who have commented have said how we are working with it because they can be a nuisance.

What really is your point?

 

[ovrszd]

Hmmm, talk about 'tough and single minded!'

You've been a member of TBN for 7 years. You have 12 posts. 4 of which are on this thread. What got you so excited?

 

[Eagle1]

Ranchers and farmers benefit as water stored in beaver-created wetlands and behind beaver ponds provides valuable water during droughts. Cities and towns benefits with improved water quality and more dependable flows.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF BEAVER-CREATED AND ...​

I see where this might apply out west but here in MO our problem is mostly too much water in flat places. Storing more is not the problem, but when they dam up the spillways on my large pond or dig in the dam danger to everyone downstream increases due to dam failure. 5" to 12" plus rain fall in a day is common enough any time of year for us to plan accordingly.
We also don't have salmon and trout only where the water flows fast enough from the LARGE springs to keep the water cold.
Big Spring - Average Flow: 286 million gallons per day (443 cubic feet per second)

 

[alexpops]

Dutch Oven Beaver Roast

You never know what sort of game meat might show up when our crew gathers for deer camp. But, regardless of origin, if the guys bring it to camp, we cook it up. When Marty showed up with a cooler full of dressed beaver meat from his trapline, the wheels...

www.realtree.com

Similar to a Yukon cookbook recipe I picked up about 40 years ago.

 

[Eagle1]

Personally I'm not a fan of beaver meat but it does not go to waste, my dogs love frozen beaver tail. The rest of the animal also becomes snacks for the pack, as does most anything else we don't want to eat "yet".

 

[charlessenf]

You've been a member of TBN for 7 years. You have 12 posts. 4 of which are on this thread. What got you so excited?

Well, I suppose it was the thread last week about welding as I was, coincidently, trying out a technique of turning square tube 90 degrees with a round outside corner and was having a bit of difficulty with burn through and repairing same using an old Tombstone Stick Welder.

BTW & before I forget, let me say I like your tag line: "Happiness isn't having everything you want, it's wanting everything you have."


Then, I came upon the scorched earth response(s) to beaver dams on a thread entitled "Rural Living" and found the incongruity ironic and the "my cottonwood trees" and "our land" (in the context of his situation) thoughtless at best.

Before seeing your tag line, I was responding in part that the OP might do better wanting the little beaver he had and figuring out a way he could live with and enjoy their presence on the lands he and they had borrowed for a generation or two - doing what comes naturally.

It's a pity John Denver's not around, he might have put it better.

(God?) Grant me the courage to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can - and the wisdom to know the difference.

 

[Jstpssng]

I haven't seen anybody suggesting a scorched earth policy. Beaver are one of the many animal species which has thrived because of our presence here. There was a time when we did have a negative impact on the population by overtrapping, but that changed long ago. When fur prices were up, beaver was managed extensively, bringing the population to a level where they thrived, yet there was np major conflicts with humans. With the decline of the fur trade there are a lot fewer trappers. Unless you are in an area with wolves, beaver have no major predators, and reproduce quite prolifically. We are accustomed to manipulating nature in ways that suit us. Ny doing so we are able to have homes which can be passed on to generations, among other things.