Lake Hartwell Beavers

[We Jeep Inn]

I know the title of this thread could bring up all kinds of input. I'm talking about the tree chewing, dam building, rodent version.

Sat morning, I noticed a tree between the house and the lake with the evidence of a beaver knawing on it (3-4 in dia). I walked the edge of the lake a few hundred yards and there were some smaller trees gone. The hoses on my boat lift have some teeth marks in them, not good.

I thought beavers preferred moving water where they could build a dam. There are no creeks feeding the lake within a mile of here. Where would they be setting up shop or do they travel long distances?
A neighbor in the next cove over said he saw one swimming the bank a couple of weeks ago. Again, no moving water.

My son wants to set some traps but not sure the success rate without knowing where the den is. Of course he could simply die from lead poisoning if he presents the opportunity.

[JABIII]

Chicken wire around the trees if saving them is your goal. Whacking them won't help with much, but it's always fun shooting the little bastards...

[BOGSTER]

muskrats gnaw trees too.

[We Jeep Inn]

Chicken wire around the trees if saving them is your goal. Whacking them won't help with much, but it's always fun shooting the little bastards...

The trees belong to the Corps, not really worried about the trees, there are plenty of 'em. More about wires, hoses, etc on docks.

[abarill]

3A129183-50E3-4D63-8330-2978D5F5C8D5.jpeg

Impressive what those guys can do. This tree was at least 12” in diameter, came across it hunting this year

[We Jeep Inn]

muskrats gnaw trees too.

I put a camera down there this afternoon to try to catch whatever it is in the act...

[justhuntin]

We have them here pretty bad. I don’t really see them in the summer but once the nights cool down they come out. The tail slap will scare the heck out of kids on the dock. Good luck getting rid of them, I’d be interested to know what you come up with. I have killed a couple but not enough to put a dent in them.

[Chap]

The old adage seems to hold up: When you kill one, two show up for the funeral.

[BEAR]

Beavers show up anywhere there is water, creek, pond, lake, river, etc. If there is a pond or lake edge they can burrow into, they will. If they create an established slide where they are coming and going from the lake onto shore, you can trap them on the slides. If no slides, and no neighbors, shoot them. They’re not near as active on the destructive side in warmer months as they are cooler months. I trapped 2 beavers and shot 4 a couple years ago for my parent’s neighbor. They haven’t had beaver issues since. Before that, it was an annual thing to go to their pond and shoot one or two.

[willk]

You should see the giant cottonwoods out west they chew on.

[raybird]

they really like the seal around a big inboard outboard motor too!

[Gregory]

They're a lot of beavers on party island every Saturday afternoon.

[Catdaddy]

I wouldn't be trapping around a populated lake. The shit-zu your trap kills will turn out to be a $40,000 ACC Show Champion before it's settled.

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[We Jeep Inn]

I wouldn't be trapping around a populated lake. The shit-zu your trap kills will turn out to be a $40,000 ACC Show Champion before it's settled.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

Good point.
Not many ( if any) pets running around but it would be my luck to catch Fluffy that one time when he/she breaks loose from the house. My son has been studying up on live trap options.

[DJP]

Ignore this if it is illegal
Seems like a good application for a turkey gun and a bunch of old turkey shells.

[coonsqualler01]

They are really hard to kill with buckshot, need to be very close. A rifle is much more efficient. Only real way to eliminate them is a dedicated trapper, and as previously said that might not be a good scenario for a set.

[centurian]

Plenty of them on Clarkhill too.

[tsigmon]

You should see the giant cottonwoods out west they chew on.

You should have seen the giant Cottenwoods they killed on my place in Union Co. SC

[fro]

They are really hard to kill with buckshot, need to be very close. A rifle is much more efficient. Only real way to eliminate them is a dedicated trapper, and as previously said that might not be a good scenario for a set.

Shit, sounds like you need to rechoke...

[coonsqualler01]

M1, pattern master, OO blue box power shock. 1992. I have not rechoked since.