They seem to be more prevalent around here than in years past. It was hard to get a good shot of the tree that’s still upright but it was a good sized tree that looked like it should fall any second.
They can be busy little critters, sometimes helpful, sometimes not.
Yikes! Reminds me when I posted about having beaver activity near my property a few years ago and DK threatened me if they came to any harm.
Took a hike last weekend in a favorite small rock canyon (if you can call 300’ deep rock cut “small”) that I hadn’t visited in a couple years. The creek is little more than a trickle this time of year, but the canyon isn’t much wider in places. A few willows grow along the bottom. Never saw any beaver sign there over the years before, but this time, there are two new beaver dams. With the water backed up, our progress was blocked by a vertical wall on one side - so we walked across the beaver dam. Yep - an engineering marvel!
Sorry - no pics.
I stay away from them after local kayaker was attacked by rabid one a few years back. .
Some poor fella worked and worked only to have his tree get caught up in another tree. Guess he’ll start on the supporting tree tomorrow.
Poor critter !
Now he has to undercut it foot by foot until he finally gets it down
@JackL said:
Poor critter !
Now he has to undercut it foot by foot until he finally gets it down
Especially since it really wants the top of the tree.
I suspect though like rats they have to knaw on trees or their teeth get too long.
@Rookie said:
Yikes! Reminds me when I posted about having beaver activity near my property a few years ago and DK threatened me if they came to any harm.
Who or what is DK?
@pikabike said:
@Rookie said:
Yikes! Reminds me when I posted about having beaver activity near my property a few years ago and DK threatened me if they came to any harm.Who or what is DK?
Datakoll.
Beaver, a very touchy subject for me. I loved watching beaver on this particular small lake near me, with a scattering of seasonal cabins. I used to go out at dusk and canoe around the lake, scouting for beaver and whatever else was about. Well about 7 years ago a friend of mine who lives near but not on the lake reported to an out of state, absentee landowner that beaver had built a dam on the creek in back of their lake front property. Then my friend recommended a trapper, who came out and not only removed the beaver on that particular property, but all the beaver on the lake except for 2 kits that he couldn’t trap, which probably died over the winter because they were gone by spring. When the trapper came out, other landowners found out about him so they have him come out every year to trap beaver now. I used to see about 8-10 beaver on the lake every night. I have only seen 4-5 beaver in all the years since.
@Rookie said:
@pikabike said:
@Rookie said:
Yikes! Reminds me when I posted about having beaver activity near my property a few years ago and DK threatened me if they came to any harm.Who or what is DK?
Datakoll.
Weird dude.
Beaver ………….
Some trees “get away” from the beaver. This tree shows scars from an old beaver attack.
There are two wilderness hiking trails I’ve traveled where beaver dams are specifically used as bridges across streams and ponds. Conditions vary quite widely. Everything from old and well packed to a foot under water. I’ve had to make like a beaver more than once, building up and reinforcing the dam in order to cross.
It is always a somewhat unsettling experience getting to the other side.
Beaver. Got in trouble with the code enforcement officer… Beaver cleared some sizeable patch of smallish diameter trees ( six inches or so). Enough to attract the attention of the CEO who cruises by with a boat looking for violations of shoreland zoning ( which requires a permit to touch vegetation within 100 feet).
Landowner was sent a notice of violation and the CEO was informed that the violator had actually taken the trees from his property ( so it was theft) and was building a lodge around a curve up the creek… And building it without a permit… Actually moved the timber a quarter of a mile in the water.
dang beavers.