Snaring beaver under the ice

[woolbr8stl 0]

No offence meant woob8stl,being a bit of a sexist took it for granted you were a bloke.

 

None taken. I know I'm in the minority on this board, maybe I should have Ian put a picture of a girl in my avatar

 

Bettina

[PBurns 9]

Beaver are another of those great wildlife conservation stories we have here in America. Like most of the others, it starts with a sadness that turns to gladdness.

 

The short story is that we killed out almost every beaver East of the Mississippi (and a lot West of it too) by 1903. This was the fur trade gone wild -- hats, coats, muffs, etc. A fair amount was for export too.

 

In 1903, we began to turn things around in this country thanks to people like Teddy Roosevelt (one of our greatest Presidents, and a die-hard hunter). The U.S. imported some beaver from Canada and moved a few from Maine to other places. Those relocated beaver have thrived and multiplied from Alabama to Virginia, from Pennsylania and New York to Ohio and Michigan. Beaver returned to the eco-system did some good things. For example, as beaver made more ponds, they also helped trout populations as cooler and deeper water is needed in summer in the mid-Atlantic region where I live. Beaver ponds also trapped silt and improved water quality, created habitat for frogs and helped boost habitat diversity which, in turn, boosted creature types and densities.

 

As beaver numbers exploded in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, so too did human populations moving into the countryside, and today there are real human-beaver interaction problems in many areas caused by flooding where it is not wanted (at cisterns and cesspits, in wetlands areas, across roads, etc.) There is a small amount of money to be made doing beaver nuisance abatement (mostly with "briefcase" traps baited with castorem). Let it be said, however, that even if you trap a beaver alive out of a suburban tract (or in the Tidal Basin here in Washington. D.C. a few years back), that beaver is not going to be returned to the wild. Beaver numbers are now so high that almost all states in the East REQUIRE that the beaver be killed and no released. The reason: all the places where beaver would not be a nuisance already have beaver in them. Moving a beaver, at this point, is simply moving a problem. Quite a long way from extinction, which is where we teetered 100 years ago!

 

Beaver pelts are used for state trooper hats -- most states require that their troopers (state police) wear hats made from domstic beaver pelts. It creates a market (even if it is an expensive hat!).

 

On a side note, the American Indians had a small corgi-like dog they used for hunting beaver. This was a native animal, and was sometime called a "canoe dog" and was small enough and aquatic enough that it dived under water and entered beaver lodges from underwater. The dog is extinct now -- though there are some native dogs that still look the part, they probably carry little or no genetic trace to these dogs from the 1700s.

 

Patrick

[thurso jack 3]

very interesting about the beaver dogs, do you have any pics??

[Albert Ladd 0]

Most of the area I live in has room to relocate beaver. But in alot of states or areas your just moving the problem from one place to another. In cooler months the beavers pelt is valuable. The meat is good eating plus dogs love beaver.

[thurso jack 3]

Dont we all?? but then again were all dogs anyway!!

[Albert Ladd 0]

Dont we all?? but then again were all dogs anyway!!

I new i was in trouble with that beaver eating statement :whistle:

[Guest Trapper5589]

Just wondering if you Americans enjoy eating beaver as much as us British do.

 

 

 

HOI! I've eaten beaver stew and im scottish........Its Good!

[pegandgun 52]

Just wondering if you Americans enjoy eating beaver as much as us British do.

 

 

 

HOI! I've eaten beaver stew and im scottish........Its Good!

Your far too fussy to eat Beaver 5589.You wont even eat rabbit or Hare

[Albert Ladd 0]

Just wondering if you Americans enjoy eating beaver as much as us British do.

 

 

 

HOI! I've eaten beaver stew and im scottish........Its Good!

Your far too fussy to eat Beaver 5589.You wont even eat rabbit or Hare

 

I can still remember that first rabbit [snowshoe hare] stew I had as a kid. Still remember the taste. My mother called it a "mullagin"(sp)--Beaver came later in life!