Beaver hunting

[mhiltz]

I have recently been shooting a lot of beavers on the farm. They have our drain ditches so clogged with their dams that the drain water was starting to run backwards. It was told to me that these beavers haven't been hunted or trapped on this particular land since the '60's. They have had it very good for years and there are a bunch of them.

I first took an excavator down to their area and ripped out the willows, and cat tails, tamaracks and Russian Olives to make access to their dams. And at first would just rip their dams out. A couple days later they rebuilt them almost entirely! It was then that I decided that these little workers needed to be shot. I really respect these little animals for their hard work, but they have caused me problems for some time now.

Now, I don't rip out their whole dam, just a little bit of an exisitng main dam because they will rebuild a new dam in a hard to get to place. Every other night I sit out all night by the existing dam with my AR 15 with a stream light mounted on the front picatinny rail. Last week I shot 28 beavers that way, and did little damage to the pelts with the 55gr CT ballistic tips. If I sit out there every night it gets hard to even get them to come out by the third night, giving them a break in between hunting restores their confidence.

I have heard that you need a red light lens on your spot light so that you wouldn't scare them because they can't see red. I have found that if you just leave your light on and don't move it much they really don't care at all about it. All they want to do is patch the hole.

Skinnig these things is a time consuming tough task for me too. It is fun to learn new stuff, but there is definitely a skill there for those that can do this in a timely manner, and get all the fat and meat off of the hide, what a chore!

Thought I would post my experience, I don't see much in the way of beaver hunting on the forums. I don't even know how to sell the hides or if they are sellable with a bullet hole in them.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Beaver are considered fur bearers in many states and can be taken only by traps or snares I my state you have to have a damage permit from the DNR to shoot beaver or trap in closed season. I spent 18 years as a wildlife field officer and dealt with beavers many times. Had beaver damming a culvert on a strip mine job. Ended up blowing the hut up with explosives in the middle of the day to get ride of the beaver. Then tore out the dam and opened the culvert. I remember a dam with water blocking a state road that the highway dept. kept a backhoe at a house across the road and tore the dam out every morning. I had to shoot 5 beaver before the problem ceased. There is a lot of work to skin beaver. The first rule is leave the meat and fat on the body, is better than wild skinning and then have to scrape & cut the fat off the hide. If the bullet hole is in front of the ears they usually don't cut pelt value much. To skin they want them split down the belly pull the legs through the hide so they stretch round when dried. They will ruin grass land also by cutting and raking the grass and roots to use as sealer over the sticks so the dam will hold water better. Hope you get your problem taken care of.

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

When my grandpa was around he taught me to handle beaver similar to the way you are.
The river that ran through his property was loaded with them. They destroyed fruit trees and leveled his garden. We used to sit up late fishing with a rifle leaning on a tree, and took pop shots a them. I remember checking limb lines and using my light to look for beavers. We shot several with the good old 22lr. But we never skinned any, they just sank. The local game warden was a member of the local game and fish club for that county. He told my grandpa he was "fed up with complaints about the beaver. Just shoot the darn things and dont tell anybody. " So we did.

 

[Tnwhip]

I have been hunting and trapping Bearvers for more than 40 years. They can cause a lot of dammage to crops and forrest. It is a never ending battle. Kill one and another one will take it's place. I like to go down to the creek on the farm and sit on the bank late in the evening and hope they come out early. It is best to get as high as you can, so you will be shooting down at them. It gives you more of a target. I had a lake I use to go to that belonged to a friend of mine and I put a deer stand 30' up in a tree so I could get shots up to 200 yards across the lake. Tennessee has an open season and no limit.

 

[steeltraps]

In alabama we can hunt/trap them all year long! Pelts dont bring much down here. I usually do bounty work on beavers and coyotes. Get 50 dollars or so per beaver. Sometimes i get more it just depends on travel and gas. YOU havent lived till you have shot a beaver will a 338 lapua and 300gr otm bergers!!!

 

[Packrat 6]

****,
I must have lived an awful protected life. Did all my Beaver huntin in bars and honky tonk's...Never had to shoot a single one of them, but there were a few I eventually would have liked to strangle. Heck, even in High School I must have misunderstood the other guys when they were talking about "Beaver shots".

Course, been that way my whole life. because i never got into the habit of watchin TV, cause there were so many other things to do. A number of years ago, I couldn't believe that people in the company break room were talking about Klingons, something I thought people not real clean about themselves found in their underwear. I think the thing that shocked me the most was that they were giving em names...

Ya'll have a happy, you hear!....,...........

Packrat.

 

[Tnwhip]

I don't guess you have eat a Beaver either? The best way to cook a beaver tail is to get two hickory boards, take the beaver tail and nail it between the two boards. get your coals going and throw the boards on the coals. when it chars black on that side flip it over. Char the other side. Then take it off the coals and let it cool alittle. Then separate the boards and throw the beaver tail away and eat the boards. LOL

 

[Packrat 6]

Tnwhip,
Quote: "I don't guess you have eat a Beaver either? LOL" end quote

Not going to touch that line on a bet!....

packrat!

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Tnwhip,
Quote: "I don't guess you have eat a Beaver either? LOL" end quote

Not going to touch that line on a bet!....

packrat!

View attachment 42346

I'm picking up what you're putting down packrat! Hahaha!!