After all the snow and ice melted in my woods I found out that beavers dammed up the small, 3’ wide brook behind my house. That brook almost dries up in mid summer but now with the spring runoff it’s turned into quite a large pond, backing up onto my property. Of course trapping season ended in March. Anyone have any ideas on discouraging these critters? I built one “beaver deceived” that works so far, but they just make another dam in another spot. Can’t legally trap here until December.
Odd, normally if they are destroying your property you can remove them. I have a 4 foot Culvert beneath my driveway. And they literally would plug it daily. Because they were always on the uphill side of the culvert. They could be removed with a 12 gauge buckshot.. I do not like killing animals unless necessary BUT if I lost driveway thats.. I suggest contacting a fish and game warden for clarification..
Thanks for the reply. I’m in Connecticut and did contact the wardens a few years ago. All they will do is contact a trapper to see if there is any interest, but there are suprisingly few around here. I am taking the trapping class to get my license for next season. A few did die from lead poison a few years ago, but I like to keep things legal if I can. Just blowing off steam right now...so much else to do in the spring without them dam things making another project for me.
They are very industrious and persistent animals for sure. I have heard of guys destroying their dams over and over only to find them rebuilt within a night or two. I have the same situation on our land up north. We had a nice little clear brook that runs from inland a few miles, through our property and finally down to Lake Superior. Twenty years ago beaver moved in all up and down the watershed creating numerous dams, ponds and lodges. There a few guys that trap and shoot them, but unless you are on it 24/7 they appear very hard to winnow down in any meaningful way in our area. Instead I decided to take more of an observational approach. We now have ponds and large openings with edges where there were mature trees. There are ducks, geese, brushy edges for grouse, woodcock during the fall migration, leeches to trap for walleye fishing, and natural deer funnels. In fact one of my most productive stands for a south wind is just north of our largest pond. It is a great spot to sit and watch all types of animals. Our neighbor further south of us stocked his beaver ponds with brook trout which should grow really fast with all the invertebrates and minnows for forage. Eventually I would assume they browse an area out then move on, eventually the old dams get washed out, and the ponds drain leaving a meadow, until young trees grow to the size they require for food and building materials. Granted this cycles seems to take many decades. I know of abandoned ponds on small creeks not prone to washout that are 30 years old and still holding water. At the headwaters of our creek there is a large pond that holds moose, swans, waterfowl and now wild rice. It was there when we moved in 1989 and it is still there to this day even though all the new activity is to the south. I don't know if that works for you or not rek due to building structure or road threats, but not being there to control things I really had no other choice, and have come to accept it with more interest and opportunity than anything else.
The buggers managed to fill up the spillway at my lake. About ten feet deep- filled to the brim with sticks and mud. We have a shoot on sight policy for otters, muskrats and beavers. Unfortunately it is a weekend place, so we get them when we can. My home farm, they dam up the creek on occasion, and my brother does the trapping and killin'
We had lots of them for a time in the creek that runs through our place but eventually they moved out when most of the popple was gone.
if it is your land just buy a couple 330 bodygrip traps and a setting tool ,watch a few videos on how to set them safely , never reach for one underwater if you cant see it ,the duke brand of traps are a great value ,dont ask dont tell as far as seasons or licences ,i have trapped for years until the misguided idiots in this state all but banned it and i still quietly do control trapping when someone i know needs help ,some laws are just stupid.
Well the state seems more cooperative than they did a few years ago. They said they’d provide a trapper with an out of season permit. I hope it works out,then i can remove the dam this summer in low water. No issues anymore with breaking down beaver dams. I’m getting good at broaching beaver dams! I don’t mind them but the water is getting too close to the septic system.
I am taking the state class to get a trapping permit but the season starts in December. But I will seriously take your advice, unclefess, I know in mass you can’t trap a mouse legally,
yeah, in this state you need a permit to relieve yourself ,i just heard they are talking about a soda tax ,i dont even drink the stuff and i am mad , wont be much longer until i am in n.h. ,cant wait
it almost is ,no legholds ,no dogproofs , no bodygrips , no snares ,you can legally use baily traps ,bodygrips under very controlled conditions ,but yes as of today anyway you can trap mice .
Rek, I’ve owned a nusinance wildlife control company here in CT for 7 years now and have been fur trapping for many more years. I’ve made the wildlife business part time as I work on building the farm business but I’m always available for advice or a consultation. I’m sure the process of hiring a NWCO outside of the regulated fur season for beavers has been explained to you by Chris or someone else over at the Wildlife Division but if you need further explanation or clarification about the process don’t hesitate to message me here. The process has a lot of red tape and can be confusing. Happy to help. Also love to hear that people are still taking the trapping course. Trappers are such an important part of a balanced and scientific approach to conservation. If you ever have questions, I love to talk about anything trapping. Here’s my website - www.PAWServicesCT.com Note that the phone number listed is out of date - I’ve been waiting forever for my website people to update it for me.
