Recently, beavers have been damming up the outflow pipe (spillway) on my pond. I can clear an opening on Saturday and by Monday, they’ve got it plugged again :-(

I found a few ideas on the internet, but I don’t know how much they’d really work: * extend a smaller pipe out into the center of the pond that is the real outflow pipe and let the beavers dam up the large one near the edge *putting up a grate several feet from the end of the pipe that completely encloses the pipe opening I would like to discourage the beavers from damming up my outflow pipe and from gnawing down my trees. The best solution would be to “run them out of town”. My extension agent suggested trapping them out or keep cleaning up the dam. Anyone have suggestions that they’ve used successfully?

Maybe a scarecrow would work. Or perhaps a human (or dog, or some other) scent would discourage and repel them. Others?

Thanks Chris

-- Chris Jacobs (none@none.none), February 08, 2002

Answers

I have the same problem from time to time, and found that as fast as I could shoot them, more would take their place. I finally found that if I drew down the pond for a couple of weeks (let most of the water out) they would go away. It usually takes them four or five months to come back once I put the water back in, so I can keep them gone for most of the summer.

good luck!

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), February 08, 2002.

good time to learn trapping,, beaver pelts are going for around 40 bucks. Scarecrows wont help,, beaver can kill a dog if the dog catches it,, it will drag it under water, and sit on its head. Get ahold of the state trapping association. If you tell me what state your in I can get you the number,, and then you call them,, and they will find someone near you to trap them,, doubt if they will pay you,, but at least it wont cost nothing,, and you can make a new freind

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 08, 2002.

Ditto to everything Stan said .

-- (smhamp@yahoo.com), February 08, 2002.

A four inch pipe through the dam with an elbow on the pond side and a short piece facing downward works most of the time, beaver usually don't figure that one out. If you have trees around the pond, wrapping the bottoms with chicken wire stops them. Dad has about 50 trees wrapped, or all the birches would have disappeared long ago.

Beavers do NOT like having their lodges interfered with. Dig a hole through the lodge and open the cavity, they hate that. Muddy fiddly job, but usually quite effective. If they feel there's a predator around that is able to get into their sanctuary, a lot of times that drives them away, and they'll move over to your neighbour's pond.

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), February 08, 2002.

Had this problem a few years ago at another lake. The beaver habit of burying limbs and such did wonders for the fishing. Damning the spillway was another matter.

Clean out the pipe in the morning. At dusk, stay motionless within shotgun range of the pipe. They come out just before good dark. You can see them coming, as they leave a wake in the water. Boom! No more trouble. All a beaver is, is a rat that likes to swim. Shoot, don't bother to shovel, and shutup.

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), February 08, 2002.

Stan, I would like to have the number of the state trapping assoc in Virginia if you please. The little devils are driving us crazy. Thanks in advance. Mary

-- Mary Zastowny (foxpawz@gamewood.net), February 08, 2002.

Va wildlife Federation Rep ,, 804-779-3236 ,, W. PAge Moran or Preston Driscoll Jr 540 562 4606 ,,,Membership Secretary , Dale Curtis,, 804-7437933,,vatrap@aol.com ,,,,, President, Richard Baxendale ,, 757-4877021,, anyone of these persons should be able to help you,,or get you in touch with someone who can.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 08, 2002.

When I see evidence of one or more beavers in my pond I contact a neighbor. He comes by shortly after dark and spotlights them from his ATV. I pay him $20 for each one removed to make it worth his while.

The source of them is an area up a spring run which they have damned up. As I understand it, each year a beaver couple has two kits. They overwinter last years and this years. Come spring, the oldest are driven off. I happen to be the next place down stream.

Beavers don't need to build a lodge. They will be quite happy to make a den under a bank or in a levee. A neighbor has had to bring in a backhoe twice now to dig out such a den as it was allowing water through the levee.

For a lodge, locals say to take out about 5-gallons of used crankcase oil and some diesel oil. Pour over the lodge to soak in and then light it off using the diesel oil. Basically it burns them out. In addition, have also been told one old trick was to just pour crankcase oil on top of the beaver pond. It sticks to their coat, gets in their eyes, nostrils, etc. as they swim and they find it offensive.

For a pipe going out into your pond, if you use a downward elbow, I would recommend drilling a hole in the bend of the elbow so it will not create an air pocket within the pipe. If you extend the pipe through the spillway, it can drain on a bed of rocks to prevent washout.

I wasn't aware there was a market for beaver pelts. Who buys them and how do they have to be processed before shipment? A place in Florida (Sebring Custom Tanning - 863-655-)charges $14 to process a beaver pelt. They say they can't be shipping frozen, but needs to be salted before shipping.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 08, 2002.

Oops, the full telephone number for Sebring is 863-655-1600.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 08, 2002.

Ken,

I can't imagine ever pouring crankcase oil on any of my ponds just to get rid of beaver. Talk about environmental overkill! I thought we learned something from Exxon Valdez, but apparently not.

b

-- bruce (Niobrara55@hotmail.com), February 08, 2002.

Ken,, you didnt know there was a market for beaver pelts?? thats one of the main reasons for westward expansion,, in americas early years. You may need to check some history books,, Daniel Boone,, Crockett,, and ALOT of other where trappers,, and some made their fortunes from beaver. Any trapper should be able to teach you what needs to be done to the pelt. Its a case skin,,I freeze mine,, and sell them "green" to another trapper, ,in turn he fleshes them and such,,I dont have the patience to do it

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 08, 2002.

Chris, Here's something that worked for me; If you have access to a bee supplies store, get a bottle of "BeeGo" and squirt a little on anything within dragging distance that a beaver might regard as dam material. You only have to do it once - when you smell it, you will know why. I'd had some lying around a few years because I used it once on my beehives and decided that I wouldn't want to eat anything that had been near it. My situation was similar to yours, except that in my case it was a creek running through a 6' culvert. Chicken wire didn't work - they pulled it off. After the willows and a brushpile, they started on some cherry trees, so I tried the "BeeGo". They never came back.

A local superstition has it that if you shoot a beaver, OSU loses, so we don't do it any more. Now U of O is trying to say the same about ducks (at least until after the Stanford game).

-- Griff in OR (griff@hangnail.com), February 08, 2002.

I had the same problem a few years ago. I found that if I cut down all the trees and brush around the pond, they leave. They don't want to have to drag the limbs very far.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), February 09, 2002.

Stan:

Something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. There are about a dozen processed beaver pelts on eBay. Prices range from $11 to about $18 with few takers. One with an opening bid amount of $75 is a full skin with head, feet, etc. ready to be mounted.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 10, 2002.

We've had this problem for twenty years at my mom's farm. My dad would break up the dams and within 2 days, the beaver would fix them back up. The only success we have ever had with beaver removal is trapping or shooting. I know that is mean, but when half your farm goes underwater and is useless, you have to do something. The beaver are on a big creek and are destroying the property by daming the creek to make a pond. We never could get rid of all the beaver, so this summer I am going to have to hire a trapper. We can't even get to the beaver dams in the fall, winter, or spring as the water is too deep in "their" pond which used to be "our" pasture. Shoot, or trap is about the best removal there is.

-- cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), February 10, 2002.

In remote situations, one option may be blasting out the dam and then installing a long drain pipe. For the railroad through this area damage caused by water backed up from beaver dams is an increasing problem. Often they cannot get heavy equipment to the dam site. If they cannot blast a hole temporary hole in the dam, it has to be torn apart manually. Once the water is flowing back to near normal level they install a long drain pipe with the up-water end elevated off of ground level. Beavers will quickly repair the damage at the dam, but don't seem to be able to figure out how to stop up the end of the pipe, which now doesn't allow for water to build up behind the dam.

If this is an option for you, contact Omni Distribution, Inc., Explosives Products Division, P.O. Box 17083, Memphis, TN 38187-0082, 901-942-3233. They sell a two-compound explosive called Kinepak, at least within TN, to properly trained and licensed individuals or companies. They may be able to refer you to a distributor in your state and perhaps that place can then refer you to someone within your state who is trained and licensed to use it properly.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 11, 2002.

Thanks for all the help.

-- Chris (none@none.none), February 15, 2002.