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Beaver Invasion
I hate to bring up such a touchy subject as I know the subject of beavers brings fightin' words around here ;O) , but I have a major SERIOUS problem with what seems like an Army of beavers that have moved in and built 3 dams on a stream running through one of my farms.
I have tried waiting for them to come out but they seem to be very shy and cautious. The wife and I sent nearly 4 hours trying to tear down the dams and they still did not come out.
From talking with local folks and the game wardens; it appears that the beavers come out at night to rebuild their dams.
I would be very interested as well as grateful for ANY infomation and suggestions as to how would be the best way to rid myself of these extremely DESTRUCTIVE animals. They are cutting down every stick of timber and any plants standing in sight.
Murf, no dock or boat beavers here! ;o) I sold the Sea Ray and I am sure that species of beavers in not interested in my 13 ft. Boston Whaler.  !!!
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Beaver Invasion
Hmmm, well I may be able to help anyways Randy. ;->
I did some research on it after that last round of 'ideas' on getting rid of them, it seems they go in cycles, the population booms every now & then.
Our Natural Resources people are of the opinion that the best way to get rid of them is to make WANT to leave. Yes, beavers are nocturnal and will seldom venture out in the daylight unless it's an emergency. They are very happy to spend the night rebuilding what you spent all day dismantling.
The best suggestion they could give me was to use a long piece of pipe, and no, not to whack them over the head with either. It seems that they are instinctively programmed to plug up any leaks in the dam, they follow the sound of the water running and start the repairs. If you can put a hole or trench through or next to the dam and bury a piece of pipe such that the upper end works like a drain, well down under water, and the outfall is a short distance from the dam, they have no idea how to stop the leak. They cannot associate anything more than a few feet from the dam as being anything to do with the problem.
All they know is that their protective area of water is disappearing and they need to find a new place to call hoome, and fast, water is their only real defence against predators.
We tried it with a great deal of success.
Best of luck.
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Beaver Invasion
Murf, that is a slick idea. Here I'm thinking explosives and other weapons and a simple pipe may be enough to mess them up. Pretty cool!
I know a guy that used a radio set to a rap station to get rid of a racoon problem. Not sure if that would work on beavers. It would work on me...
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Beaver Invasion
The pipe thing really works but they just move over to the neighbors and keep multiplying. You need a BH with long reach to cause an emergency. An Osprey night vision scope on your favorite rifle or shotgun works for me. A NV scoped 12 gauge semi-auto works best but the recoil is hard on the scope. I wouldn't use a pump shotgun unless it is a 20 gauge or bolt-action rifle unless it is small caliber. Usually mine is mounted on one of my AR-15's. I also have an old Russian pair of night vision binoculars to scan for activity.
It is unbelievable the amount of energy those critters have and how much destruction they can do.
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Beaver Invasion
Chief, I can really feel your pain. I was considering the music thing too. 100 watts of aerosmith piped underwater next to their dens should make them want to leave.
A proximity detector at the ripped out dam hooked to a spotlight and a siren might stop them from rebuilding. I was going to try this but I haven't yet found a 12 volt proximity detector. 110 volt outdoor spots are cheap though.
I've come up with one scheme that is probably illegal in some states but should work well. If the beaver house or bank den can be found, sinking a pipe into it and piping some exhaust down into the den during the day should kill them all off. If you're even close to a tunnel with the pipe you've sunk (maybe a well sandpoint?) the CO should efficiently spread through the entire den.
I suppose I've angered some animal lovers with the last idea but it's no different than leaving poison out for mice and rats. Good luck.
Dave
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Beaver Invasion
Years ago we used a similar method as Dave is describing, but with a little twist.
We would use a spud bar, VERY heavy steel pry bar about 6' long to open a hole in the top of the beaver lodge during the dead of winter. Then stuff a piece of plastic pipe filled with ANFO down as far as possible and pack it full of pea stone.
A 3 minute length of fuse later there was no lodge, beaver or problem, just a very widely scattered bunch of dirty wood.
The dam itself was handled the same way after we were sure they were gone.
Best of luck.
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Beaver Invasion
Murf, there's much more satisfaction with your method.
Dave
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Beaver Invasion
Blowing things up is a whole seperate category under the heading of "Fun things to do".........
It's right up there with operating heavy equipment, big trucks and fast boats, if it was socially acceptable it would probably make it less fun.
Kind of like telling 'war stories' and passing gas at the hunt camp, it wouldn't be as much fun if you were allowed to do it at home.
Best of luck.
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Beaver Invasion
No wonder why my wife keeps looking at me strangely! Are you sure you can't or just shouldn't do that stuff at home?
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Beaver Invasion
I just may have found a great solution. It turns out that the local game warden leases the tract of land next to the 314 acre tract of mine to hunt on and he knows someone who traps them and will take care of the beaver problem.
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Gas Generator Weather Protecti
11-17-2004, 11:53 
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