Double Naught Spy

Video...

My folks have about 23 acres and a little spring fed stream just outside of town, literally across the street from the city limits. The first beavers appeared nearly 20 years ago and the folks didn't mind the few trees they cut down as the creek was overgrown. Then the beavers started moving inland and taking the fruit trees pop had planted. They were grabbing these more than 100 yards from the creek. All of a sudden, they weren't cute anymore.

Over the years, the folks have tried various trappers (kill and relocation) and such and then I got involved with trying to trap the beavers. That worked pretty well, but I had some unfortunate by-catch (snapping turtle, raccoons, squirrel). So I took to shooting them and I find it much more enjoyable and sometimes more efficient.

Well the beavers are back after about 3 years and had built a fairly large dam for the tiny creek. It was mostly a mud dam and there wasn't any immediate sign of the beavers taking trees, though I have no doubt trees are missing. Here is a video of my efforts to get rid of the beavers. My apologies for the lack of focus. The combined factors of being in a hurry to get my first kill, too much zoom, and the beavers being wet, together resulted in the video not looking as good as it shoot. My goal was first on getting the kill, not videography.

Topgun 3006

Was that a pair, since with that big weight difference I would think the big one was a male?

Sheridan

I love the ecosystem that beavers create where ever they exist.

However, when any animal start to destroy someone's livelihood "we" reserve the right to protect "our" property !

Double Naught Spy

Yeah, in nature, beavers do a some really beneficial things for the ecosystem. The changes they create are often very beneficial in the long run. That doesn't always go so well when the trees they are cutting down are the trees for which a property was purchased. So you have the clash of people and nature. It is unfortunate.

mackesr

I thought the video was actually pretty good. At first I thought you had hit both on that first shot, but obviously not. Good job waiting for them to come out of the water to avoid ricochet. I have trapped many beaver for damage control and they sure do a lot to improve the environment as a whole, but in the right situation they can also do a lot of damage.

Double Naught Spy

When I inspected the first beaver, the shot entered at the shoulder but then exited downward. I had hopes of a double, but I was firing at a downward angle and maybe there was some deflection going on such that the shot did not make it to the second beaver and hit underneath it (I believe).

I don't know if they were a male and female or not. I checked and the both looked the same and I assumed both were males. However, I did some reading online and beavers are monomorphs (look the same on the outside) with the exception that the female may have enlarged teets if she has littered. Neither had enlarged teets. So no clue as to the sex(es) of the beavers.

Checked back today. No new activity on the dam. So those were apparently the only two present.

blessed n born to hunt

I enjoyed your video ,stay safe