Beaver showed up in our pond

[Racerboy832]

Well, I get a call from the neighbor this am and she saids our muskrat must be on steriods. Well I guess the beaver bus dropped a big beaver off cause I don't know where he came from. I'm not sure what to do, I don't want to hurt anything but I don't want to see him attack my dog or ducks. My dog would want to go play with him.

 

[mbopp]

Well, since lead poisoning is out, try calling your State DEC / DER and see what they have to offer.

 

[tree MDS]

Well, I get a call from the neighbor this am and she saids our muskrat must be on steriods. Well I guess the beaver bus dropped a big beaver off cause I don't know where he came from. I'm not sure what to do, I don't want to hurt anything but I don't want to see him attack my dog or ducks. My dog would want to go play with him.

Are beavers known to be aggressive?? I know the two legged kind can get pretty nasty...

Cant you just trap it in one of those hav-a-heart deals and release it somewhere else??

 

[Racerboy832]

The neighbor said what it crawled up on a rock it looked to be about a med size dog. I love all animals I just don't want to see if hurt any of my animals. My Anatolian shepherd will run up to anything it doesn't know.

 

[PineFever]

Capture, train, and put it to work, then you could add EAGER BEAVER
to your Sig.

Ed
Stay Safe Out and Up There

 

[lmalterna]

Beavers generally will not attack a dog unless the dog comes in the water after them. Groundhogs and raccoons are more aggressive to dogs.

Beavers are pretty cool but get too many in a pond and they will destroy every tree in the area. They will also try to clog your overflow, little boogers seem to want to flood the world.

2Door

 

[taylor6400]

I wouldnt worry about it attacking your Ant Shepherd...i would think he could fend for himself against a beaver. Though they do get large. I would worry about damage to your pond/surroundings. If you have any trees or saplings around it they will be chewed down to build their hut, and yes, then dam up your spillway if they can. They are hard on ag drainage ditches around here...and when one dams something up and floods a field it is then a wetland, and you cant break the dam or you are disturbing a wetland...makes sense...

 

[Racerboy832]

I think what i'm gunna do is wire wrap all the nice trees and let him mow down all the saplings, Let him do the work so if the wetlands people give me crude I can blame it on nature.

 

[adamc]

This is a must read if you are dealing with beavers, especially if you are concerned that their activities might draw the attention of any kind of authorities:

http://www.getipm.com/personal/dam.htm

Read the original letter and the land owner's response. It's a hoot!

Adam

 

[Racerboy832]

That is hilarious, I can see that happening in my area.. I wouldn't care if he made the pond bigger but all it's gunna do it flood my yard

 

[squad143]

Last year I had a beaver "couple" move in near my place. Man are they destructive. I had to wrap chicken wire around all my trees (that they didn't chew). That didn't deter them much, they just went further inland.

I called the local MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) to see what they could do. I was wondering if they could be trapped and relocated. They told me the best thing to do with a "nuisance" beaver was to shoot it.

This huge rodent had a body on it the size of a large lab. A dog would be no match, especially in the water.

 

[lmalterna]

Squad,
We had a pair move into one of our ponds. Next Summer there were 5... Our Dept. Game and Inland Fisheries said the same. We kept them thinned down to just 2. Loved them but had to manage the damage. Cost to trap, quarantine and relocate is very high.
It can be very excited to be fishing on the pond in a small boat at dusk and have one slap next to the boat!! LOL!
2door

 

[Racerboy832]

So what was the end result with all these critters. If this is gunna end up as a disaster i'd like to nip it from the beginning.

 

[deeker]

Remember; "Dead Beavers, tell no tails".

A .22LR between the eye and the ear, they flip over and wave bye bye.

 

[lmalterna]

For several more years, we "managed" the group. We liked having them but they are very destructive. The wods aorund our ponds faired pretty good with just the two.
When we sold the farm, the new owner declared he would wipe out the colony for good. It is not easy living with some animals and not the right thing for some folks. Just depends on the situation.
No one can tell someone else what is right for their backyard.

2Door

 

[DJ4wd]

I think there cool ,and had one sneak up on me and slap..dropped my fishing rod and fell backwards. I was also very supprised how big they got.

 

[Racerboy832]

I guess we will just have to see. If there is only one I don't know how it will mate. We live 1/2 mile from the lake and it's all up hill rocky stream. He must me pretty smart to find out little 1 acre pond.

 

[indiansprings]

Where there is one, there will be many. Growing up on a creek and now living on one, I can tell you that they are very destructive animals. They will chew down small trees and girdle larger ones resulting in the tree dying. They will also burrow back in your banks and cause your pond damn to start leaking.
They are easy to manage espicially in a smaller pond, flashlight a .22 or shotgun and buckshot after dark work well. They are very easy to trap as well, using castor glands as lure for bank sets or you can usally find where they are burrowing in the bank by the stained or muddy water in the vincity where they are digging, wade in and find the entrance to the den and either place a snare or conibear type trap over the den entrance, almost always under water, and you'll catch him first night. I have caught them when I was growing up that weighed almost 50 lbs. They pose no threat to you sheperd, he'd kill one quickly, our English sheperd has killed them before and she only weighs approx 45-50 lbs.

 

[squad143]

So what was the end result with all these critters. If this is gunna end up as a disaster i'd like to nip it from the beginning.

The large male ended up dying of high velocity lead poisoning. The female left to another part of the lake (next river down). This spring I noticed another pair is back (could be the female with a new mate).

This new pair is a little more shy as I have not seen them out much. They breed Jan. - March. and can have up to 8 kits (usually 4). The kits should be born around April/June. I'll wait till early summer and then try and tear their lodge apart. Beavers live in family groups or colonies (Breeding male, female and up to two years of young). I want to "evict" them before their numbers grow too much.

This pair's lodge is built partly with an old abandoned floating dock that drifted into a quite bay just down from me. I'll tow the dock to the boat launch and then take it to the dump. I want to discourage them from coming back. They are continually trying to dam up the navigable waterway running between the two lakes.

Yeah, there nice and cute..... until they're in your back yard.

 

[Jed1124]

I had a beaver this time of year in my pond last year. I talked to a biologist who said that in early spring young beaver look to set up in new territory. New ponds where there are no other beaver are perfect. He told me to make things uncomfortable for him and he will move on. I went down every day after work and harassed him a bit by throwing rocks and such and within a weed he moved on.