Busy as a Beaver

I was officially introduced to the North American beaver while canoeing Marsh Stream. A relaxing evening casting for smallmouth bass was interrupted by a tremendous splash. My first thought was that a monster fish had jumped. But then I saw a brown head circling the canoe and “KABA-BOOM! KABA-BOOM!” A very angry beaver was slapping its huge flat tail on the water. “KABA-BOOM!” I quickly paddled away with the echo of that tail pounding the water.

Besides being territorial the presence of beavers is not hard to spot. Along with aquatic vegetation they eat mostly bark and cambium, (soft tissue that grows under the bark) their favorite being poplar (popple) trees. If they cant reach what they want they just chop the tree down. The edges of a beaver flowage are littered with distinctive pointy stumps. They have teeth that never stop growing so have to chew on wood constantly to keep them worn down, and most of that lumber goes into their determined dam construction.

Beavers are an instrumental part of the ecosystem. By building dams they create wetlands that support all sorts of animals, waterfowl, and fish. But that industriousness is why they can become a problem. They are master engineers and don’t care where they build their dams. It can be in the middle of nowhere or in an urban backyard. Wherever there is a beaver and a trickle of water, there is likely to be a beaver dam with a reservoir that can flood properties, roads, culverts, and bridges.

In Maine we have an Animal Damage Control Cooperator (ADC) program. People experiencing problems with beavers can contact the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MEIF&W), which will supply the phone number of a certified ADC agent. After I completed classroom and written test requirements for trapping, I helped an ADC agent friend perform nuisance beaver removal around the outskirts of Bangor during winter trapping season.

A typical scenario was a property owner, who at first felt privileged to have resident beavers, now wanted them thinned or removed completely. Any fondness curdled as the floodwater approached their back decks. We would snowshoe into the property and look for the beaver lodge or house. This is a large mound made up of sticks and mud with an open chamber inside where the colony sleeps and does whatever beavers do. A colony usually consists of an adult breeding pair, three to four kits from that year, plus the juveniles born the previous year. A good indication of an occupied house is a layer of frost on top where the warmth from the dwellers meets the cold outer air.

We would then return to the flowage shouldering pack baskets filled with gear and chop a hole in the ice a requisite distance away from the house and dam. We used what’s termed a drowning set and would attach a foothold trap onto a long pole we had scavenged from the shore, and wire on a bundle of popple above the trap as bait. The trap itself, by law, was labeled with our name and address, as well as the section of pole above the ice so a warden wouldn’t pull our set to check if we were legal. Once the pole was dropped into the hole in the ice and driven into the muddy bottom at an angle, we were done. Being completely submerged, this setup poses no danger to other animals or domestic pets.

Why not use a live trap? Clamshell-type live traps are virtually impossible to use during the winter trapping season. Efforts are made to minimize removal of nuisance beavers out of season, but in emergency situations an ADC agent can remove beavers using a variety of methods.

Upon return, if we were successful, we rolled the beaver in the snow to dry it off, tagged it, and registered it at a fur tagging station. An adult beaver weighs around 40 pounds but they can get as big as 65 pounds. The price for pelts is volatile, depending on the market and size, and can range from $15 to three times that. Some people eat beaver meat and find it tastes much like roast pork, and it is often used as food for sled dogs. Beaver tail is considered a delicacy to some wild game aficionados.

I have tried to show finesse with an incendiary topic, but the bottom line is conflicts do arise between wild animals and humans, and measures must be taken. If you are having issues with beavers on your property, contact the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at www
.state.me.us/ifw or the Maine Trappers Association at http://mta.homestead.com for an ADC agent near you.

Brad Eden is an artist, writer, Registered Maine Master Guide, and owner/editor of the online magazine www.uplandjournal.com.