Beaver Control in a Seasonal Wetland
By Fannin Co. Landowners, Chris & Karen Ebling

When Karen and I broke ground on our 12-acre wetland near Windom in 2003, our goal was to provide habitat for migrating ducks and geese.  However, we knew the wetland would provide great habitat for a variety of other wildlife as well.  Even so, we were surprised at how swiftly a pair of beavers took up residence and went to work.  At first, Karen and I enjoyed watching the beavers at dusk – that is, until they started to cut down our flooded timber for food and shelter and burrow holes in our expensive new dam! 

Figure 1.Beaver Damage in Flooded Timber

Our first call for advice was to Randy Moore, our local NRCS agent.  He recommended that we remove the pair before the colony multiplied and caused serious damage, up to and including damaging the structural integrity of the dam itself.  In Texas, nuisance beavers legally can be live-trapped and released.  However, beavers that have been live-trapped cannot be released onto public lands, only private lands; therefore, live-trapping and releasing beavers only transfers the problem to another landowner.  Beaver populations also can be managed for their fur but this requires special licensing.  The State of Texas also allows landowners to remove nuisance beavers with a current Texas hunting license, using either traps or firearms, as long as the landowner does not keep the animals’ fur.  Since beavers are primarily nocturnal and tend to stay under water when spooked, a few early evening hunting attempts proved futile.  We decided to try trapping. 

A quick search of the Internet yielded a variety of sites with information on beaver ecology, beaver management, trapping services, and trapping equipment.  Our first thought was to contract with a local trapper to remove our pair, but we ultimately decided to try beaver trapping on our own.  As noted above, there are a number of sources dedicated to beaver trapping techniques and equipment.  One book that we found most useful was “Beaver 2000”, by Hal Sullivan (Sullivan Promotions, 1996, www.sullivansline.com).  This book provides an excellent overview of beaver ecology and trapping techniques.  Beavers are surprisingly large animals.  In order to trap them as effectively and as humanely as possible, we selected the Bridger model #330 body trap.

Figure 2.  The Bridger Model #330 Body Grip Trap

 We set four traps in areas frequented by the beavers.  These areas were easy to locate since beavers make obvious paths.  Two traps were placed in entry/exit points from the wetland, the third at the end of a beaver slide below the dam, and the fourth above a small check dam made by the beavers across an intermittent creek below the dam.  We set the traps under the water and constructed debris obstacles to force the beavers to dive underwater and swim through the traps.

                                                                  Figure 3.  Trap Set Above Small Beaver Dam

Beavers are very territorial so we baited each set with castor scent bait to lure the beavers to the traps.  We successfully trapped the beaver within just a few days.  They measured 36 inches and 42 inches in length with the larger animal weighing between 50 and 60 lbs. 

Spring is coming again and with the spring comes the annual migration of young beaver out of their parent’s ponds and up the creeks in search of new habitat. Now that we know the basics of beaver management techniques, we will be ready for them.

Figure 4: Pair of Beaver

For additional information on beaver management contact:

1.      Randy Moore. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service.  Bonham, Texas. 903.583.9513 ext. 3.  randy.moore@tx.usda.gov

2.      Sullivan’s Line.  www.sullivansline.com

3.      Beaver Trapping 101.  www.geocities.com/bonecollectorsdotcom/page80.html.