While waiting on family to arrive from Texas yesterday, I received a call from a cattle farm owner off of H.D.Atha Rd. who told me that Beaver had built a dam at the head of his lake and the backed up water was beginning to flood one of his pastures. I had some time so I met with the landowner to scout the area and provide recommendations and a Solution. This tract of land borders the Alcovy River basin so no doubt the beaver came out of the Alcovy river and up the creek flowing out of his lake and made their home there. Beaver will not tolerate moving water. We rode the property in his side by side and I took lots of pictures of the damage. On my scouting foray, I found at least 6 dams and one beaver house that had been constructed up the creek feeding the lake. Some fine lowland hardwood timber had already been flooded and would be unsalable. This was already a substantial financial loss for the landowner. Had he been vigilant and caught the problem sooner, the damage would have been minimized. Once beaver flood an area and the water gets above the root system of trees, they will die. The last dam was probably 200 yards up the creek where it narrowed to about 2 feet wide. Beaver typically build 3 dams to slow the water flow down until at the third dam, it is not flowing much if at all. They will cut trees and intertwine them to build the dam structure. Then, they will scrape mud off of the bottom of the creek, swim downstream and seal the trees with the mud virtually making the dam leak proof from the upstream side. They will not tolerate the sound of running water. Any dam break is immediately repaired. The result is a main upper dam in which the water is still and the beaver can play, feed and mate. They move up and down the creek at will crossing all of the dams as needed to find new feeding areas. All of the beaver must be trapped out of the area before a dam is blown or they will just build it back that night. I had one landowner in Good Hope who fought them for about two years, breaking their dam every day until he gave up. I admire his persistence, he just went about it the wrong way. Beaver are mostly nocturnal animals. You may shoot one or two but you will never rid your property of them unless they are trapped out by an Experienced trapper who understands their behavior. Some people tolerate them, but when they are flooding a pasture that 20-30 cattle plus calves feed in, the problem will get worse exponentially. If you want to see what beaver are truly capable of, ride down Sandy creek rd. off of Centerhill Church Rd. in Loganville, turn left and ride to the end of the subdivision. Beaver started building dams there about 10 years ago and now, Sandy creek rd. is impassable. The backed up water has flooded probably 40 acres of lowland area and is coming up into the neighbors back yards. The dams are 150 yards across and over 7 ft. deep. I told the homeowners the situation had gotten so out of hand that they would need to call in the Army Corp of Engineers or the USDA. to trap the area and then divers would have to go down and plant dynamite charges at the base of the dams to blow them.....or they could call Dobbins and have one of the F-16’s drop several 1000lb. JDAMs at the base of the dams. It is beyond Critical Mass. All of the bottom land timber has died and is worthless. Beaver are the most economically and environmentally destructive animals we have here in the United States. *****And the standing water created by the Beavers are Breeding Grounds for Mosquitoes that can carry West Nile Virus. Mosquitoes don’t lay eggs in moving water.****
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Ivey is a State Certified Wildlife Trapper and Wildlife Disease Researcher. He is Owner and President of Eastern Wolfers Wildlife Management, LLC. He can help you resolve issues with nuisance wildlife.
www.easternwolferscoyotetrappers.com/