"Beaver Hunt" 3

[KrEn]

I can certainly see the point of hunting beaver without bothering too much with retrieval.
Quite often they are pests, building dams and destroying valuable forest or property, digging holes, plugging drain lines etc..

I was beaver hunting here last spring. Since i was after the fur and meat, and the water was 0°C, i ended up just watching swimming beavers at close range through a riflescope, never taking a shot.

However, the landowner quickly determined that my progress was too slow, and brought in the cavalry.
He used a total of 12kg dynamite to blow up 4 beaver huts, complete with beavers and all.
Talk about not retrieving them...

K

[Shakes.602]

I Know First-Hand how Destructive the LongToothed Varmints are. Thats been a couple of Years ago, and the Really tangle up a Nice Woods by the "Cuttings".      

[Stone Knife]

Around these parts you should see the damage to timber these things do. They will take a nice cherry tree cut it down and destroy it, they flood crop land plug up culverts and so on. They are truly nothing but  huge rat in my book. They cost people a lot of money every year. In the right areas they are a benefit and fun to watch but there numbers should be kept in check. We cant hunt them in NY only trapping is allowed, i don't trap but i sure would like to shoot some maybe some day the state will let us.

[Roger Norris]

Bpaul - yep, they are great. We had a couple younger ones, we roasted one in the oven, and grilled one. Both came out excellent.

[JStark]

To answer a question posted higher up, trapping is illegal in California now.

[Dryrot]

Mike - I also concur with the pest issue I understand and see the damage they do around here as well and have no problem with a dmage control hunt. My only thought would be "darn I'd like to have had that pelt, oh well".

[Mr.Chuck]

Mike,  I notice some concern with not collecting them after the kill.  I shoot rats, possums and skunks as pest too, and I don't alway have the opportunity to collect them, under certain conditions. But I don't loose any sleep over it either. Where ever you take one, there are five to take it's place! Beaver are a pest, and the damage they have caused to crops and property the last ten years has been unbelieveable, by causing the levies to collaspes and flood agriculture and resident areas. Man is their only predator, and there very few of us that hunt them. As far as eating,  there are some beavers that are just not meant to be eaten.  These are some of those beavers!

[bwillhunt]

Mike,
Keep up the good stories.  With all the modernization and development in our country many thigs have been let go ie. trapping.
Were I live in south florida many pests have gotten out of control due to this loss.  We dont have beavers but we have problems with otters,coons,and hogs.  An otter can desroy a good fish pond in a matter of days only to eat the gills out of each fish.  Hogs were do i start These criiters yes are tasty and fun to hunt but when you have farmers begging hunters to kill as many as possible know matter size or sex all cannot be consumed.  We donated over 100 hogs to a poor neighbor hood until they asked us to stop.  Pests need to kept in check one way or another.

[Ron LaClair]

All of Gods creatures have a purpose and should not be wantonly destroyed for "sport". They are on this earth for our use and to kill them just for the sake of killing is a waste in my opinion.

In some areas of dense human population some animals need to be kept in check. Thanks to the anti's, trapping has been banned in some areas. Also because of anti's, fur is no longer as popular as it once was.

We all know that bow hunting is the next target of anti hunters so we need to be aware of our image in the eyes of non hunters. Non hunters being in the majorty will in the end decide wheather we will bow hunt or not. Killing animals without utilizing the fur or meat will not ensure our future to hunt.    

The Beaver played an important role as a fur bearer in the settling of this country. It was because of the beaver that trappers pushed west exploring and mapping during their quest for this highly prized furbearer. Beaver were revered by the natives and were a source of wealth and food for them. So to call this animal a rat and a lowly pest is disrespectful in my opinion.

The fur of the beaver is beautiful and their meat is rich, sweet and delicious. Here's a link to tell you more about this industrious little animal.

 http://www.beaversww.org/beaver.html

[Roger Norris]

Great post Ron.

[Ron LaClair]

If man thinks of the beaver as a pest, I wonder what the beaver thinks of man?      :confused:    

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver    

    http://www.nhptv.org/Natureworks/beaver.htm

[Kingstaken]

Ron,
On the money.
I'm sure and hope the recent posts were not meant to be heard as some of us did.
Funny, was in PA a couple of weeks ago at Acahela Boyscout Camp for what was suposed to be a sledding trip. (Found out you get friction burns with out snow on the ground  ).  I was simply amazed and aweed to see the power of the beaver's jaws on the trees a few of them were working. If one could harness their power and precison.
Like it's been said, were all Gods creatures here for a reason that none of us here are earth will ever understand.
"His ways are not our ways...."

[Talondale]

All Mike said was that he wasn't always able to retrieve the beaver due to various reasons while on moving water.  Seems reasonable to me.

[Ron LaClair]

No mention was made of what was done with the beaver that were retrieved.  Wheather the fur was sold or the meat eaten. Or if the whole carcass was just discarded? The latter would be a waste of a valuable resource IMO.

In most parts of the Country the beaver is protected by game laws and kept in control by trapping. In these places they are considered a valuable game animal.

 Thanks to the Liberals in Califorina trapping is no longer a method of population control in that state. As a result now the beaver is considered a nuisance and a pest?    :confused:

[mike g]

One Beaver is still in the freezer at the Taxidermist....
    The other one I processed the Skull and the hide went to Cathy so she could Tan it....
    I love to recover them for the pelts and the Skulls....

[pete p]

funny....i wonder what the beaver think of man! i wonder what bambi and thumper think of the big bad hunter

[Stone Knife]

It seems the whole fur market is down the toilet because of anti's. When i was a kid you could make darn good money selling fur. I would pick up road killed coons and get $15 to $20 for them not bad money for little effort. Now with no one trapping they can become very destructive. The village that i work for had a problem with them flooding a spring box for the village water supply and causing contamination of the water. At first they tried to hook the dams out with a backhoe. But you know how industrious the beaver is, the next day the dam was being repaired and before long it was better than before. They ended getting a permit from the state to destroy them but after the beaver was killed it had to be buried you couldn't even take the pelt or any thing. Now the water system has been updated and that box was raised and steps taken to further seal it off. And guess what the beavers are still there more than ever now. But not a problem now. No need to worry you cant kill them all there survivors like many other creatures are. At times a pain in the butt.