Repelling / Deterring Beavers

[muttbarker]

Howdy this is definitely off topic but I thought I would see if some of the smart folk on here could give me some advice. I live in Northern Utah and have acreage on the Weber River. We had a beaver family that did enormous damage to our cottonwood trees a few years back (prior to my buying the land). I had them trapped and sent off to beaver heaven.

I recently discovered that they are back in the neighborhood. It is to late to bring in a trapper as the river is already pretty significantly iced over so that will have to be done in the spring. I am wondering if anyone on here has had any luck with a repellent. I have read that hot sauce may do the trick but I have a very large river woodland area (at least an acre right on the river) so I wanted to get some feedback before I start in on this. They have already decimated two trees in a matter of a week or so to the point where I will have to fell them as they ready to go and are quite dangerous.

Any advice is appreciated. And, no, I can't fence the area it is to large.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I am not sure the rule or laws in Your area for trapping and or pest removal…maybe check that? Are the natural predators doing OK? (Coyotes, fox, owls, bobcats, etc). Is there anything you are doing keeping natural predators away or could you help them? As example…do you have owls? some owl boxes might help (I’d assume you need to attract the larger species of owls)…But that is not an overnight solution…might help longer term though. I am not giving any advice, but maybe see if you find their hut (this is a hint not advice…I believe Duck Dynasty had an episode on this)

 

[muttbarker]

Thx RC - we do allow trapping. I had it done the first time. Natural predators are also doing well. I have seen multiple foxes and also caught medium size cats on my game cam. Owls are very rare around here however. Long term might try the owl box. Would love to have them around both for the predatory skills and their beauty. We also have a LOT of hawks.

Kevin

 

[bucktail]

A lot of the beaver trapping here happens on early ice so you may have time but it's running out.
Beavers tend to be attracted to running water or even the sound of it. It's common to damage the dam just enough to get the water flowing and making noise then doing a baited set. Some people also wait for them to come fix the dam and shoot them. Make sure that whatever you do is legal locally.

 

[muttbarker]

A lot of the beaver trapping here happens on early ice so you may have time but it's running out.
Beavers tend to be attracted to running water or even the sound of it. It's common to damage the dam just enough to get the water flowing and making noise then doing a baited set. Some people also wait for them to come fix the dam and shoot them. Make sure that whatever you do is legal locally.

Thanks Buck - we use a local trapper who has been doing it for forever and they said it’s just to risky to trap now.
As for taking a shot them, alas the town that our property resides in just banned all shooting within city limits.
Appreciate the feedback.
Kevin

 

[NCL4701]

We had a large beaver pond downstream on our border and beavers kept encroaching on our place killing trees and flooding the creek bottom for several years. 3 strategies were helpful.

1) Trapping. As others have said make sure whatever you do is legal. We did the trapping ourselves with conibear traps. Set a trap and mess up the dam nearby usually got results in a day or two.

2) My father welded up a thing out of 1/2” rebar bent around a log. I don’t really know how to describe it other than it’s about 10’ long and looks like this pic without the pipe in the middle.

Bust out a chunk toward the middle of the dam all the way down to the creek bed if possible. Throw the pipe/cage thing in the gap with the nose cone facing upstream to keep it from getting plugged. The beavers work their little butts off but can never get the dam to hold back any water with that big cage in the middle. After a while they give up and abandon it.

3) The city annexed the land on our border, including the beaver pond. Someone at the city apparently didn’t like the beavers. One day a large excavator and large dozer rumbled up the creek below us. They rooted around for a couple of days, destroyed the dam completely, destroyed the lodges, recut the silted in channel and set a bunch of conibear traps. No more beavers after that.

 

[The Evil Twin]

CCI Mini Mag hollow points.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Get a Wolf!
No beaver problems here!

 

[skeets]

Seems to me, a beaver will bring out the wolves

 

[hagrid]

And here is my dumba** doing everything I can to attract beaver.

 

[mikester]

A backhoe or excavator and persistence on your part is a great deterrent

 

[fried1765]

CCI Mini Mag hollow points.

A relatively quiet beaver solution!

 

[woodman55]

I cut unwanted saplings for the ones in my pond. I had the pond built 25 years ago, and this is the first time anything other than frogs has been in it. They showed up last week, and there is not much to eat other than alder bushes, so I have been cutting saplings in the woods and hauling them out to the pond. There is nothing they can flood that will be harmed, so now I have something to watch.

 

[The Evil Twin]

A relatively quiet beaver solution!

Suppressed, it is very quiet

 

[fried1765]

Suppressed, it is very quiet

Even my .22 cal. air rifle might work ....1300 FPS.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Even my .22 cal. air rifle might work ....1300 FPS.

Oh, yes! A friend has a Ruger Magnum. Very effective with the Ground Hogs tearing up the Tulip fields.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

And here is my dumba** doing everything I can to attract beaver.

With no success, I take it?

 

[hagrid]

Sporadic is a fair assessment.

 

[Flintknapper]

Even my .22 cal. air rifle might work ....1300 FPS.

Crossbow and pop up blind set nearby. Beavers and City Council should not be allowed to win.

Beavers not through any fault of their own, just doing what Beavers do, but must be controlled.

City Council for not allowing discharge of firearms (with no exceptions) get 'worked around'. Problem solved legally. Everyone gets what they want...(except the beavers).

 

[fried1765]

Oh, yes! A friend has a Ruger Magnum. Very effective with the Ground Hogs tearing up the Tulip fields.

I have the .22 cal Gamo Magnum, with scope.