Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Bite Marks on Beavers

I saw comments about bite marks in another thread. I have trapped two beavers in the last month that were all torn up. I thought it might have been coyotes but I haven't gotten any on cameras near my sets. What might be getting to my beavers?

Thanks, Dinny

ate or looks like they got in a fight?...…….bob

Puncture marks and one even had a 2" laceration on it's rear paw. The first one had over 30 punctures. Today's had 15-20 punctures. It almost looks like a bird of prey sunk it's talons into them. Most of the marks are in the rear half of the body all are on the back.

Thanks, Dinny

they're fighters......

Fighting prior/during breeding season???

I didn't know they were fighters.

Beavers are very territorial so yep, the’ll Brawl

When one goes into a new pond they splash thier tail hard on the waters surface to warn others and see if there are others on that water already.

It’s a good way to test if there are beavers on you pond.

big time......bob

Please note that I have refrained from comment.

It is a spring thing with them, when I start seeing bite marks it was time to pull the line. In the spring I would start down near Elbow Lake and work my way up to the Canadian border, sometimes it would be almost a months difference between ice out and bite wounds starting.

Thanks for keeping it civil and clean.

Lots of animals will bite themselves when in a trap to get away. And other ones will bite them because they can. The disney stuff is make believe.

I caught a beaver in a snare, when checking traps I found the snare wrapped around 3 trees and the only thing in the snare was literally the backbone.

Wolves stripped that sucker clean

Just checked the pics on my trail camera. I have a bobcat commuting along my trapline. I wonder if it's attacking my beavers.

Thanks, Dinny

it's not. the beavers are biting each other.

Did they have something on the Clintons?

(At least I kept it somewhat clean!)

If the bobcat was ... you wouldn’t have a beaver...beaver is cat crack!!!!!

I have trapped a few old males that the pelt was just one big scar...don’t let one get ahold of you, lol

I snared another beaver last night and it got caught farther back than preferred. It put up quite a fight and had the snare wrapped around a few saplings on the bank. It had a broken rib and a tear on the backside. Now I'm wondering if they're tearing themselves up in the snares. I set a Belile 330 and will see if they still have marks in them.

Thanks, Dinny

huntsman22:
Good evening to you sir, I trust this finds you well and you're keeping warm and dry in this latest round of winter blasts we've been getting - well that is if you've been getting the snows we have.

Anyway sir, not that you're needing an affirmation from north of the medicine line, but if I may I'll agree heartily with you and share a quick tale from my somewhat varied and sometimes checkered past.

Way back in the mid '80's we used to sell winter called in coyotes to a trapper buddy, the price of course dependent upon the exit wound we'd put into it.

This same chap, we'll call him Harry as that was his name - I understand he's gone now - but Harry was always good for a chuckle, a story and we often learned a thing or three from him too.

One day when we were at Harry's delivering a perforated but still acceptable coyote cadaver he said to us, "You boys gotta see this big male beaver I trapped, it's about the biggest I've seen."

It was in the back of his truck frozen solid, but with the body fully extended. I'm a towering 5'5" huntsman and maybe was a tad taller then as it was 25 years ago, but when I picked up this thing under it's "armpits" and held it up so the tail was just touching the ground, so help me it was very nearly to a point where it's eyes and mine were equal. Did I mention it was mighty heavy for a rodent too?

Oh, the bite marks which are the point of this story were absolutely present, so much so that it looked like this ancient beaver had been unsuccessful at a chainsaw juggling career judging from the wounds all over it. When we queried Harry about that he said - as you did huntsman - that the males were feisty fighting fools and the older one's pelts were often so chewed up that it brought the price down considerably.

Anyway sir, thanks for the reading and going along on a trip way down memory lane tonight.

All the best to you for the remainder of the winter huntsman.

Dwayne