They ate my trees all of them. I'm sick. We drove over to our new pond on Saturday to get a bail of hay for our cows. I decided to feed the fish for the first time this season. I got out of the truck and notice one of my trees on the point was knock over I thought. Then I got to looking and they were all gone. The beaver or beavers have eaten all of them. 14 out of 18 are chopped off at the ground. As you may recall I had these planted just last year. If I find that little varment he is going to get his. There is also signs of their work in the creek above so I'm not sure were the den is yet.

I know the feeling !

May I suggest a little steel revenge.

E what to you use for beaver bait?

Rocky,

Sorry to hear that bud. Nice looking pond!!! A 22 with a nice scope on it might help too!!

Yea I got one but I might even break out the 30-06 if I spot that little BASS TURD.

Has anyone seen them eat on ABS plastic pipe? I was looking at the intake of my pond in the silt catch above and the 18 inch ABS pipe is split at the mouth. It appeared to have been chewed on but I am not certain. I built a hood and trap over it but it still forms a huge vortec of water when flowing and has eaten away the soil at the base of the dam. This is a easy fix but I need to determine if the abs pipe is failing due to pressure or just being chewed up by the varment.

You don't bait beaver traps you set in their path, and close off the ways around the trap.

Thanks it looks like I will be using the second iron method then.

You can actually 'bait' beavers with fresh poplar and/or a beaver castor pile although not exactly in the traditional sense. But you still end up setting the traps in known paths.

I hate beavers rockytopper so I feel your pain. I thought I was fresh out of them but in the past two days they have done a stunning amount of damage to the hard and semi-hard groves around my creek/pond. They have literally moved hundreds of saplings and tons of soil in the past few days. It is really humbling to spend half an hour with a backhoe opening a 15'x5' hole in one of their dams only to see that it has been fixed by the next morning.

I believe I would have to invest in a night vision scope.

Dave you and George want to come down and do a little fly fishing and varment hunting. I got the million candle power flash light.

p.s. I found the new El Asadero in Cleburne. It is equally good to the original in the stock yards.

RT - Ande and Pottsy provided an answer before I got back. They are right. Never seen one eat pvc. They stay away from metal. You can put wire around the trees and protect them. I also use foil and paint which helps but not as good as wire.

Thanks again E. I should have put the metal around them to begin with. That was the first thing my friend the landscaper who planted them told me after I told him they had been eaten. If I am lucky they may sprigg back out from the roots in a few weeks. If so I will rap them in wire mesh.

My friend down in Texas has to put wire around the trees in his yard on the biggest pond because of the beavers. He'll use regular stock fence, and keep it away from the trunk of the tree by pounding "T" posts in the ground about a foot away from the tree. He has to use the longest "T" posts he can find because of the water that they've had down there last Spring and this Spring.

There's a bounty on beaver around here. If I get even one, I'm calling a trapper.

Rocky, all I would do is scare them.

The El Asadero in Cleburne is run by one of the sons. The Father and Mother(cook) spent the first year there assuring that everything was the same. The owner tells me it is doing well.

Best dang beef fajitas anywhere.

Dave, all you have to do is hold the light, I'll do the dirty work.

Use a snare - they are really easy. Just stake one next to a run and set up a 6" loop in the run. I use 3/32" cable and 4' of rebar hammered into the ground as a stake. Use a long stake because beavers are STRONG.

I'll just add to make sure to use an anti-reverser so the tension won't back off and use aircraft cable as with solid wire of too small a gauge they can spin and snap the cable.

Bodock is 100% right, they are really strong the buggers.

I am headed out in 10mins to say goodbye to as many as possible.

I wonder if using Castoreum or one of the perfumes made using Castoreum as an ingredient might be a way to elicit a territorial response and lure a beaver into a trap. Just a thought.

Man Fights Off Beaver

I wonder if this guy was wearing cologne with Castoreum as one of its ingredients?