A different kind of predator...*warning, graphic pics*

It took us a little over a week of long, late night stake outs and numerous bug bites, but we finally bagged the crafty beaver that was picking off our trees. Together with our eldest son, we ambushed him at the end of the channel the beaver had made for easy access to the back woods. You can see the pond and the channel at the back in the pic below. We’re in the process of draining things, so we can completely clean everything out…and hopefully make it unappealing to any more beavers that happen to be passing through.

Next to our 7 month old pup. He’s not the first beaver we’ve had to ‘evict’ since moving here, but he’s definitely one of the biggest, weighing nearly 50 pounds. One honking huge rodent, yuck...


The reason the beaver had to go…(this damage was done in a few hours in a single night)




The chompers...yikes…


And just for the record and so everyone is aware, Saskatchewan has a Beaver Control program in affect and there is an active bounty on beavers in most RM's, ours included.

Wow! Big beaver there.  The closest we've seen is a muskrat.  Found him in the corrals a long walk from any pond.
Trees are pretty precious around any yard.

Ya, I never had an issue with beavers before...but then I've never had to deal with them before either. Trees are precious indeed. Between beavers and yellow bellied sapsuckers, we seem to have our hands full defending our woods. I hope we've made a dent in the populations and next year will be better...

Yuck. Muskrats are awful things. They like to dig/tunnel out banks around waterways. We have them too. Or used too. They're good target practice and useful for sighting in rifles at least.   Oh man, if my old city friends could see me now.... 

I know there are 2 schools of thought on this issue but here in my area, poplar trees grow like weeds and our waterways need to be enhanced to protect the ground water levels. We try to save our beavers. I can imagine if they start flooding roads, etc., they will become a pest but at present they just help water the cows on pasture. I live at the end of a road. The beavers were trying to dam our little draw just south of my house. The owner of that land at the time kept dynamiting their dam and in the process shook my house enough that seals on all my sunporch windows was broken enough that my vision through them is now pretty foggy. He sold the land and this new owner had a built up road put in across the draw. The beavers have moved down stream enough that their pond is not causing any trouble now but has still raised the ground water level enough that my little dugout has water all summer. Incidently I have a female mallard that has been a resident there for the past 3 years. I know it is the same duck because she is crippled and spends a lot of time in my yard. I never seen her with babies but probably the preditors get her eggs if she does nest. This year she is spending a lot of time quite near the house. She pretty well ignores me if I'm out around the yard. Unless I get too close of course, and then she flies away..

I hear their tails are particularly tasty!

Nice beaver!

When Darrell was first dating me he used to take me on beaver hunts at his dad's lake. The beavers would  plug up the mountain stream that fed it and flood the fields. Every few years you'd have to do a big cull of them. His brother would tan the hides and sell them. Ah the good ol' days! 

There was a great show on beavers, showing how a guy in Quebec used different methods to get the beaver to build dams where he wanted them. It was great... They basically had the beaver doing all the work of controlling the water in a huge provincial park there.

Every now and then the beavers and I have a "who is the most patient" contest.
I check daily/weekly to see when the young decide to squat on my creek... we then see who can persevere the longest.... so far I have won.... they build, I destroy, they build, I destroy. Usually a few days of hard work on my part (dismantling by hand), dogs,noise, etc. discourages them and they move to a more appropriate area. They have built four dams in the last few years and I have encouraged them to move on.
Mind you, if I don't catch them soon enough, it becomes a pain in the .... neck. I have even used my tractor to pull huge stumps and trees from the dam.... amazing what goes into the structure and most fascinating how they intertwine all to make it almost impossible to destroy.(depending on the stage of construction)

My Uncle in Hudson Bay SK had a contract with the DNR to knock beaver dams out of culverts and other inappropriate locations

Yum Beaver tail very good fried up
also bear hunters would be interested in the Body for bear bait

My grandpa's neighbour used to take great joy in dynamiting beaver dams. Nowadays, you have to have a blasting permit. They take the fun out of everything ....

Fascinating animals.

Yes, my Grandfather did some trapping and said that the tails made good soup.

authenticfarm wrote:My grandpa's neighbour used to take great joy in dynamiting beaver dams. Nowadays, you have to have a blasting permit. They take the fun out of everything ....

Yes they do! LOL