Voles/Moles a heavy burden

Snap traps baited with peanut butter for voles. If it’s moles the harpoon trap over the tunnels. Vile holes will be about 1 1/4 inch round and slick, green vegetation at the entrance for latrine.
 
weasels will kill all the chickens in a coup, it will kill more than it will eat.. They are killers.
 
We have been troubled by a rodent of a different cut. We have a small stream which forms about a half a mile of our eastern property line an it has been inhabited by beavers. The stream extends about a third of a mile beyond our north property line where it crosses a county highway and joins a larger stream. In that stretch, there were seven beaver dams. The beavers had flooded the neighboring land killing off all of the trees. I had thought with the loss of the trees, that they would move on but no joy there. The dams had brought the flow to a virtual standstill and the stream was looking more like an open sewer with algae blooms covering its entire length. The stream had silted in to the extent of raising the stream bottom by about a foot.

On New Years Eve, the three land owners whose land abutted the stream and I agreed that the beavers had to go. About a month ago, an elderly man stopped by , asking if he could trap the beavers and I jumped at the opportunity. The last dam upstream was on our property line and while I advised him to talk with the other land owners, I told him he had my permission to trap the beavers at our dam.

He ended up taking three beavers at our dam, one about 60 lbs. an two younger beavers. He also trapped five more beavers at dams below us. A week ago, I donned my chest waders and punched a good sized hole in the dam on our property. I made a hook with a 6" gape welded into a 6' length of pipe wit a D shaped handle on the far end. A few days later, I did the same at the next two dams downstream. Since then, I welded up a large grappling hook to which I can attach a cable and a Power Pull anchored to the various dead trees along the bank to pull apart the dams, the lodges, and the food caches.

I expect that we haven't cleared all the beaver from the creek but with some vigilance from time to time going forward, we can hopefully discourage them from reestablishing.
 
RJSakowski said:
We have been troubled by a rodent of a different cut. We have a small stream which forms about a half a mile of our eastern property line an it has been inhabited by beavers. The stream extends about a third of a mile beyond our north property line where it crosses a county highway and joins a larger stream. In that stretch, there were seven beaver dams. The beavers had flooded the neighboring land killing off all of the trees. I had thought with the loss of the trees, that they would move on but no joy there. The dams had brought the flow to a virtual standstill and the stream was looking more like an open sewer with algae blooms covering its entire length. The stream had silted in to the extent of raising the stream bottom by about a foot.

On New Years Eve, the three land owners whose land abutted the stream and I agreed that the beavers had to go. About a month ago, an elderly man stopped by , asking if he could trap the beavers and I jumped at the opportunity. The last dam upstream was on our property line and while I advised him to talk with the other land owners, I told him he had my permission to trap the beavers at our dam.

He ended up taking three beavers at our dam, one about 60 lbs. an two younger beavers. He also trapped five more beavers at dams below us. A week ago, I donned my chest waders and punched a good sized hole in the dam on our property. I made a hook with a 6" gape welded into a 6' length of pipe wit a D shaped handle on the far end. A few days later, I did the same at the next two dams downstream. Since then, I welded up a large grappling hook to which I can attach a cable and a Power Pull anchored to the various dead trees along the bank to pull apart the dams, the lodges, and the food caches.

I expect that we haven't cleared all the beaver from the creek but with some vigilance from time to time going forward, we can hopefully discourage them from reestablishing.
Click to expand...
and now a word from a joke circulating all around the inter-misinformation highway. :

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, State of Michigan.
----------------------------------------- -----------------------
SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Montcalm
County

Dear Mr. DeVries

It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity.

A review of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued. Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, annotated.

The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2002. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff.

Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.

We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

David L. Price
District Representative Land and Water Management Division
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is the actual response sent back:
Dear Mr. Price,

Your certified letter dated 12/17/97 has been handed to me to respond to.

I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson, Michigan. A couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of nature's building materials "debris." I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.

As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.

My first dam question to you is: (1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers or (2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, annotated.

I have several concerns. My first concern is -- aren't the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation - so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer. The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event causing flooding is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling their dam names.

If you want the stream "restored" to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers- but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter--they being unable to read English. In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond.

If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers' Dams). So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2002? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them then.

In conclusion, I would like to bring your attention to a real environmental quality (health) problem in the area. It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! (The bears are not careful where they dump!) Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.

Thank You

RYAN DeVries + THE DAM BEAVERS
 
Find one of their holes dig a longer trench alongside the tunnel load it with a mousetrap and piece of apple, the traps with a small bowl in the middle to press the apple into. Then cover with a planting black bucket to limit the light that gets in. I eradicated mine this way. But my raised beds did not cover fractional acreage and was easily manageable.
 
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