Those Dam Beavers!!

[Ezana4CE]

Back in the region. Tired from the trip back in, but trying to motivate myself to get out there tonight. Went and visited the dam again. They plugged all the holes and it looks like they made some funky conversions in the dam. It’s almost like they’re trying to sucker me into punching holes in specific places. Anyhow, I checked the memeory card earlier and didn’t see a dam thing (pun intended). I’ll check again before going out tonight. Tried getting my Pard NV007a set up tonight but I got tired of messing with it so if there’s action there will be no footage. I checked my DOPE on the scope earlier and I’m good with that. I tip my hat to you videographer types. That stuff takes time that I’m not inclined to devote much of. Anyhow. If anything happens I’ll probably post something tomorrow.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Enough action for me tonight, but I shot and killed nothing. Instead I got schooled. When I entered the area I stalked my way in. The frogs were so boisterous it was hard to hear much, t I could hear larger animals in and around the water. When I was able to ease my way between some saplings I pulled my rifle from the scabbard and began getting my light setup upon it. As I’m standing maybe 3 yards from the shoreline a quadruped walks right in front of me. Body was too small and legs were too long to be a beaver. My guess was a possum. It paid me no attention. So I grabbed my thermal scanner to see if I could see anything else annnnd nothing. Too many trees in my way. Once I got my rifle setup I deployed my Trigger Stick tripod. I figured some Im tired let’s use the tripod, it will allow my arm to rest more. After who knows how much time passed I started hearing activity in the water. Sometime between 11:30pm and midnite a fat beaver with a wide looking head pretty much swam in my lap I’m talking like 5’-6’ (in the circle below the arrow). I figured it would keep swimming a lap around the pond, but no! It came to repair the break I made in the dam right next to the bank earlier in the evening. I guess I was too tired to take a photo after I hole here earlier.

We looked at each other for a moment through my eye that was not trying to spot it through the ocular lens. Now I’m looking dead at the damned thing and I can’t see JACK through the scope!! I mean both eyes square to where I could send a pellet to smash her forehead dead between the eyes. I spent most of this time feeling around for the magnification wheel (no throw lever for this scope yet. Smh) and I realize I’m trying to turn the scope ring. When I find the mag ring and turn down the magnification, the beaver began to casually swim away. No tail slap. No splash or hurry. More like a stroll. I tried tracking it but was only able to go so far before it swam behind some trees.

I heard more activity about 30-40 mins later around the same trees, but no opportunities for a clean shot. I had to laugh at myself tonight. I began thinking that I should have stuck to my bipod. Maybe I would have had a chance at that shot. But the truth is I know that I have to holdover 3 MOA for a 5 yard shot the image will not be in focus with a minimum 10 yard parallax focus. Still, I know where that shot is going. I have no idea where it’s going at 6’ so it’s best I didn’t shoot. When the lightning started, I packed it up and barely got rained on running back to the truck.

Even still, I was happy to get back out in the woods. I couldn’t wait to get out of the city so I could get back to hunting. I have traps now and I have more time, so this ought to shape up some over the next week. Tired, but I enjoyed myself. Wish I had more to share with y’all.

 

[Hal4son]

That is a fun update. Thanks.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Thinking back I was wondering if I should have not turned the light on and waited for it to exit the water. I also wondered if I would have been able to ease the rifle off of the tripod yoke and lowered it to place the muzzle as close as possible to its head to take a shot. Didn’t seem like a good idea when I thought about it. I’m pretty sure it would’ve left before I got in position. I don’t like how my torch comes on and I don’t know which intensity level it will turn on at. I would have much rather it turned on at a lower intensity. A relative suggested that I practice with my setup more at home. So it looks like I’ll be playing with lights soon.

How would y’all have handled this situation with an animal appearing closer than you’re prepared for?

 

[iAMzehTOASTY1]

I either move like a snail and reposition or like a cheetah and close the gap

 

[Ezana4CE]

We have a welcomed visitor. I will probably leave this one alone. We’re on a similar mission. Had to fix the date on this trail cam.

I thought i might catch some of the action from my encounter the other night, but I did not. It occurred off camera to the right of this frame. I made some adjustments to the trail cams as well.

 

[iAMzehTOASTY1]

We have a welcomed visitor. I will probably leave this one alone. We’re on a similar mission. Had to fix the date on this trail cam.
View attachment 358526

I thought i might catch some of the action from my encounter the other night, but I did not. It occurred off camera to the right of this frame. I made some adjustments to the trail cams as well.

A natural symbiotic hunter

 

[Ezana4CE]

Thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with and supportive of this thread. It’s still a work in progress. I’m not a post hunting pics and tell a short story type of hunter. I suck at filming hunts. Cameras are a bonafide distraction to me. I have some gear that I have to learn to use so hopefully things improve in my ability to document what occurs.

I have never in my life hunted beaver before this permission. I have been studying the animals and learning more about their behavior. They are pretty interesting creatures. One of the most effective ways to learn to hunt something is to hunt it so long as you’re not trying to be Yosemite Sam on the animals.

On this permission I have been out some nights and just didn’t post about it, like last night. Nothing too exciting. I spotted beavers on two occasions, but I was not fast enough to setup a shot. One appeared to be sliding up against one of the dam breaks, likely packing in some mud. I caught it in the thermal scanner. I didn’t hear it. Something I’ve learned is that going from thermal scanner to scope is tough because I only have one eye for several minutes. I scan with my off eye, and shoot with the other. I like to shoot with both eyes open on close to medium range shots and I was in trouble when I found myself half blind. As a result I had a tough time locating the beaver through the scope without my off eye to guide me.

These beavers seem to have learned to associate my light with suspicion. Now when I illuminate them, they start moving. They don’t splash or panic, they either swim away or dive. I think I can attribute that to not shooting at them while swimming. It’s tough to watch it all play out because part of their route goes back toward the road and I can’t shoot in that direction. I’m also starting to wonder how much time they spend on the other side of the bridge.

 

[iAMzehTOASTY1]

Thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with and supportive of this thread. It’s still a work in progress. I’m not a pair hunting pics and a short story type of hunter. I suck at filming hunts. Cameras are a bonafide distraction to me. I have some gear that I have to learn to use so hopefully things improve in my ability to document what occurs.

I have never in my life hunted beaver before this permission. I have been studying the animals and learning more about their behavior. They are pretty interesting creatures. One of the most effective ways to learn to hunt something is to hunt it so long as you’re not trying to be Yosemite Sam on the animals.

On this permission I have been out some nights and just didn’t post about it, like last night. Nothing too exciting. I spotted beavers on two occasions, but I was not fast enough to setup a shot. One appeared to be sliding up against one of the dam breaks, likely packing in some mud. I caught it in the thermal scanner. I didn’t hear it. Something I’ve learned is that going from thermal scanner to scope is tough because I only have one eye for several minutes. I scan with my off eye, and shoot with the other. I like to shoot with both eyes open on close to medium range shots and I was in trouble when I found myself half blind. As a result I had a tough time locating the beaver through the scope without my off eye to guide me.

These beavers seem to have learned to associate my light with suspicion. Now when I illuminate them, they start moving. They don’t splash or panic, they either swim away or dive. I think I can attribute that to not shooting at them while swimming. It’s tough to watch it all play out because part of their route goes back toward the road and I can’t shoot in that direction. I’m also starting to wonder how much time they spend on the other side of the bridge.

Ooooh! Can you put up those solar powered flood lights? get them used to a light/already have them illuminated when you get there

 

[Ezana4CE]

Ooooh! Can you put up those solar powered flood lights? get them used to a light/already have them illuminated when you get there

Don’t see that happening. They’re quite used to lights at night. They live adjacent to a relatively busy country road.

 

[Coolhand]

I use the StalkTech in green. Have the two smaller ones, close and mid range. I also use my regular scope as it has a 40mm objective which pulls in a lot of light. My scopes reticle is illuminated red so great contrast. Works for beaver, just move the light slowly so as not to spook them.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Got another one tonight. More details to come. Gotta skin her and see if she’s healthy enough for the freezer. She looks old and has a beat up tail. Long night for me.

Tonight’s setup. Shot from about 45-50 yards with JSB King Heavy MKII 33.95 grain diabolo pellets. Multiple headshots as far as I can tell. Thats where I was aiming.

How’s that for a group?

 

[kayaker]

Well done sir ! I hunt nutria and if they are swimming you only have about 11/2" to 2" of kill zone on them I would think that a beaver is the same. Did you check for a pass thru or recover the lead ?

 

[Ezana4CE]

Well done sir ! I hunt nutria and if they are swimming you only have about 11/2" to 2" of kill zone on them I would think that a beaver is the same. Did you check for a pass thru or recover the lead ?

@kayaker Thank you. I did check for a pass through and I don’t expect them using this gun with its current tune. I may have gotten one pass through. It’s really hard to tell. I doubt it though. I shot at least 7 times. I know for a fact that I hit it at least 4x. Maybe 5x because it didn’t seem to want to die. Every time I thought it was dead it started moving again. I sent follow-up shots when I had an opportunity and once I realized that she appeared to be suffering, not dying. All but one shot were either headshots or misses . After shining and butchering her I saw no evidence of body or neck shots.

The shot below could possibly have been a passthrough. It may line up with the shot under the eye on the opposite side.

Edit: I think I missed a hole or two. Looking at photos this afternoon and I found another that I didn’t see in other photos.

 

[beerthief]

wonderful read , thanks
what kind of recipes for beaver ? ( i was going to phrase that a different way , but rethought b4 posting )

 

[Ezana4CE]

wonderful read , thanks
what kind of recipes for beaver ? ( i was going to phrase that a different way , but rethought b4 posting )

No idea yet. I have a video saved of one guy’s recipe. I’ve just heard that the meat is good. I’ve been waiting to try some. I harvested about 13 lbs of meat. I need a decent set of knives. I thought I’d get 20lbs, but I left some on the tail because they start leaking castoreum after being dead a while. I’ve read that the oils ruin the meat. I also tossed hind leg because it was too dark and blood looking. I didn’t get it butchered quickly. Took a few hours to skin, remove the glands, and butcher.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I use the StalkTech in green. Have the two smaller ones, close and mid range. I also use my regular scope as it has a 40mm objective which pulls in a lot of light. My scopes reticle is illuminated red so great contrast. Works for beaver, just move the light slowly so as not to spook them.

@Coolhand There is a very specific torch that I’ve got my eye. I don’t recall the brand at the moment, but it’s something I’ve been looking for since not long after starting this permission. It has a rheostat that dims to zero detectable light. I like my ScanPro, but it doesn’t even do that. I’ll have to check out your recommendation as well.

 

[karl_h]

Years ago I used to kill them protecting a hardwood bottom they wanted to flood, property was in the middle of nowhere so had other options. Upstream property had over 50 acres flooded and there was only one lodge on that property along the creek, plus one other lodge way above the creek in a large pond on the property near owners house. The owner upstream actually wanted me to do the same on his property and I would have if he would let me hunt his lower 200 acres in exchange, but that was a no go. Besides, the 50 acres they had flooded on his property was full of otters and other wildlife I liked to watch. Strangely to me anyway, the young ones kicked out did not try to set up house on our property, instead going either further downstream of our property or upstream from neighbors property. Our property had a fair amount of elevation change along the creek, whereas above and below the land was much flatter. I'm guessing they didn't like the big elevation change through our property except the first 100 yards downstream from the neighbors property which just happened to be full of ancient white oaks which is what I was really interested in protecting.

I discovered trying to kill them they did not respond quickly to small holes in a damn, they would find and fix it, but sometimes it would be days after. However, if you really let the water free, one of the adults would be there before dark that night. No way was I going to spend a whole day putting a deep enough hole in a beaver damn to let the water out fast, way too much work. I used explosives, much faster and more entertaining. I'd kill one of the adults the first night, then go back the next day and clear out what small repairs the other adult and young ones did and kill the other adult that night before dark. The young ones would not try to repair the damn on our property after the adults were gone. The next year, whatever pair took over the lodge and full grown would start on our property, which was at most 70 yards downstream from their lodge. I took two adults out like that every year and it kept our property clear. The very first one I shot was a big male, can't remember exact weight, but the taxidermist said it was the largest one he had seen in many years and he did nearly 100 hides a year on average. It was either just under or just over 50lbs, I can't remember which. I had him on ice overnight to protect the meat since I was told they were good to eat and the taxidermist cleaned him right away for me the next morning so I could get the meat. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't choose to eat beaver meat. So everyone I killed after just went to the scavengers. Different areas of the country have different size beavers, down south they don't get near as big as more northern climates. The female mate of the one in the picture was a good 10lbs lighter, and all pairs in later years never approached the size of the male in the picture attached. I put a 12 inch ruler in front of him in the picture for scale. The beaver is 42 inches from tip of nose to tip of tail.

 

[Hal4son]

FANTASTIC!!!! Need to move your aimpoint up. The high hit is your kill shot.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Hal4son Thank you. Absolutely correct on placement. If you look close, one shot landed in that circle. I’m just not sure which shot it was. I had just worked out my holds on the Pard again earlier in the evening. After remounting it, shots using the profile I saved was off. I also ended up slightly altering the mount. I had to cram my DOPE that evening. I would go over them in my head to quiz myself and pulled out my phone while sitting on the bank a couple times to verify the correct holds. The main issue was that I didn’t enter my dope for 50 yards. I entered it by memory. I missed my first shot by about 3-4’ (short) maybe. I could see the splash, which caused the beaver to dive but she came back.

When I returned home to check my 50 yard holdover, I saw that I’d written it on the target and it was slightly different than I remembered. My notes suggested that I do exactly what you’re saying. Instead of lining up the hashmark, I needed to line it up with the top of the head. After all that working out holds and forgetting to record the one entry, what do you know? The beaver showed up within that range.