If beavers are damaging your property, trapping is the only solution.
Beaver are industrious rodents. There is a reason non-stop activity is often referred to as "Busy as a beaver"! Beaver are the only mammals that BUILD their preferred habitat. They can convert a small, clear stream into a deep, muddy pond in short order. Eventually, all the valuable trees will be killed by the flood waters. The pond will also make the stream unsuitable as a trout habitat.
While beavers are busy flooding an area to create their pond, they often use road culverts and bridges as shortcuts when building their dams. In the process, the surrounding area is flooded and the road is often damaged.
Roads can be undermined and culverts washed out with the addition of Spring rains. This is both a safety issue and a HUGE expense for rural counties and townships. Repairs to roads and bridges caused by beaver flooding annually cost MILLIONS of dollars! Here in Wisconsin, beavers also flood hiking, biking, and snowmobile trails and destroy low bridges constructed over streams.
Beaver damage is not limited to creeks. Beavers often make their dens in the banks of lakes and ponds. These dens will collapse under the weight of grazing livestock. But the most common issue is the destruction of prized trees along the lakeshore.
Beavers feed on the soft bark of aspen, willow, birch, maple, and other deciduous trees. An adult beaver can chew down a mature tree in one evening. In the morning, your prized shoreline tree is lying in the lake! Beaver cut down trees and then chew off the tender branches, leaving the downed tree trunk behind. Often many trees are felled, creating a tangle of useless trunks and stumps.
The teeth of a beaver grow continually. Cutting soft birch and aspen may not k up with this growth, so the beaver will take on any maple, oak, or other hardwood in the vicinity to sharpen its teeth. Once a tree is ringed by a chewing beaver, the living outer cambium layer is destroyed and the hardwood tree will die.
The most common beaver damage is the flooding of woodlands. Landowners and timber managers suffer the loss of tens of thousands of dollars - sometimes HUNDREDS of thousands - of valuable timber when their lands are flooded by beavers. If the beavers are not removed and the water drained, the trees are killed and the dead wood is inaccessible.
It is important to note that YOU may be held liable if beavers cause flooding and damage to your NEIGHBORS' properties. The Wisconsin Bureaus of Wildlife Management document WM-007-20 specifies the following:
Am I liable for damages a beaver dam on my property causes to the property of another? Yes. The law states “A person who owns, leases or occupies property on which a beaver structure is causing damage and who fails or refuses to give consent to the department to remove the beaver or the structure to public property or the property of others.” [Reference: s.29.885(6)].
Note: DNR staff do not provide beaver control trapping or remove the dam. It is the responsibility of the landowner to provide consent for beaver removal. It is then the responsibility of the neighbor to contract for beaver damage control.
As soon as you see a beaver in the area - or witness chewed trees or floating chewed branches - you need to take action. Beavers live in family groups. A lone beaver is the rare exception. It is normal for a beaver colony to include the adult breeding pair, the two-year old juveniles, and the young of the year. The beaver's home - mound of sticks and mud or less obvious bank den - may house six to eight animals, or more!
Beavers also migrate. Each Spring, the two-year old juveniles leave the colony before the next litter arrives. Sometimes, juveniles leave the colony while migrating beavers move into fringes of the same area. The reality is that once beavers find your location to be attractive and a good source of food, they will be hard to eradicate. It is very hard to eliminate all the beavers in a colony. It is virtually impossible to prevent new beavers from moving in to take their place. Beavers tagged in DNR studies have been found over 100 MILES from the site of release!
Nuisance Beaver Control EQUALS trapping
If beavers have invaded your property, the ONLY solution is trapping. Using firearms around your residence is usually not an option. "Scaring them away" is not a long-term solution. If you are interested in the trapping of the problem beavers, give Randy a call.
Beaver trapping equals DEATH for the offending animal. Do NOT contact Randy to inquire about live trapping beavers! In most cases the beaver will be humanely killed in the trap. In a few cases, wise "trap shy" beaver will be captured in traps or snares, then dispatched on site.
Randy is licensed to remove nuisance beavers by the State of Wisconsin. There is NO CLOSED SEASON for the control of beaver causing damage. While serving as the agent of the landowner, Randy can both TRAP and SHOOT beaver that are causing damage per WI NR 12.10(1)(b)1(d).
Beaver damage control is an expensive, time-consuming process. Expensive traps must be properly set, then checked at least once daily. This means that there will be an initial set-up expense and ongoing operational charges. Some animal offenders may elude traps for many days. It is simply not cost-effective for Randy to travel beyond a short radius of Marshfield to trap nuisance beaver. You will begiven a cost estimate and REQUIRED to set an upper limit to the total expense. The cost estimate will NOT guarantee the full elimination of the animal problem.
Many landowners take advantage of the one-time set-up fee to have additional traps set for problem raccoons, skunks, muskrats, woodchucks, and other animal invaders.
Cost estimates: Beaver Damage Control means beaver trapping. There is a cost for set-up, trapping, daily checks, and animal removal. It is up to the landowner or resident to set the MAXIMUM budget in advance. Beaver damage control requires multiple days. Every day of trap checks and animal removal will add to the total expense. There is a PER ANIMAL charge. Most beaver damage control locations require the removal of at least two beaver. Seldom is one. lone beaver responsible for damage. Some colonies may require the removal of 4 to 6 beaver, or more!
A realistic minimum estimate is $300.00, and most beaver damage control projects will cost $500 or more. Randy offers nuisance beaver trapping only because he is an avid outdoorsman. This is not a profitable business, and furs have little value, especially outside of winter. The landowner or resident will be REQUIRED to sign both a service estimate AND a 100% release of all liability for these services. Please contact Randy for an estimate or to schedule an on-site visit to assess the problem.
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