Blasted Beavers:

[Oxankle]

A beaver or beavers have been digging holes in the creek bank down below my house near the road. They've caved in the bank so that I can no longer mow next to the creek, and of course the caved-in part washes away.

On top of that, I suspected one of them of chewing up my dog until the neighbor's dog got it too, and she does not go near the water.

Anyway, I had the trapper out and this morning we took two big beaver out of his traps. A male and a big female, so probably the entire tribe in this little place. I'd see more evidence if there were a family of them.

Tied one of them to a tree in the back pasture (wire thrugh the eye and out the jaw) and set snares where coyotes are likely to cross the fence.
It would suit me just fine if we snared a big bobcat, the local cougar or a couple of coyotes.

Trapper told me that before he got the USDA trapper's job he hunted crows and varmints for pecan growers. Said the best set-up was where a farmer had trapped four crows, then tied them by the leg to stakes set in the ground with a crow caller in the middle. Said you could shoot crows until you got tired of shooting.

Kipling wrote a story along similar lines; crow staked upside down to the ground with forked sticks holding him down by his wings. A crow comes to his call, the staked crow grasps the others legs with his claws and will not turn loose.

I learned how to spot beaver holes, how to tell which were being used, how to set the traps in place and how to set snares today. I think I already know where we will set the next snare. Need to catch me a crow, too.

[Ed Norman]

When I was a kid a friend of my dad loaned me a Johnny Stewart game caller. It was a record player and I think it took 12 D cell batteries. I had to save for weeks to fill that thing up. He had a crow record and a rabbit squall record. We tried the crow at sunup and saw a line of crows approaching from miles away. We started shooting and the wounded were flopping on the ground, which made the healthy even more mad. By the end, we were standing in the open instead of hidden in cedars, blasting away while they circled within range.

And after I got the plastic owl decoy, things got even better. Save a crow and freeze it, set the owl on the ground with the crow at his feet, and get ready.

[Old Vet]

Are you sure they are beavers. When I purchased my place I took a look aroud and saw trees cut down and I thought about beavers. It turn out that it was Neutra rats. I even killed one today in an old house that is on the property.

[TedH71]

Nutria eat only cattails and roots. I don't think they eat trees. Beavers do that.

[Old Vet]

Originally Posted by TedH71

Nutria eat only cattails and roots. I don't think they eat trees. Beavers do that.

I live in the Ozarks and there are no cattails around here. I have seen them nibbling on trees around here. They will eat anything they can find or die. The best ones like Bamboo or soft trees. They don't eat it all down but they girdle it and it dies and falls over. I am sure they eat the bark all the way around the tree at a much lower in height than beavers do. Beavers leave about 2 foot of a stump but the ones around here are at 1 foot or less.

[Oxankle]

We took out two big beaver, a boar and a sow. No nutria around here, and I am glad of that as I am trying to establish a little bamboo grove.

The beaver do not always cut a tree down; sometimes they girdle it or partially girdle it and come back a year or two later and work on it again. They do a lot of damage; I have a small oak tree in my yard that has been cut off and is coming back from a watersprout. A plum cut down four years ago is still struggling because the deer nip off the sprouts that came from the stump.

I am getting a real mean attitude toward beavers, and I am going to trap every varmint that walks next winter. I will have to learn how to get traveling cougar. A midnight stake-out over a bleating goat comes to mind.