Went to my wifes uncles land next to the river this morning looking for some wild hogs. I found tracks and some rooting but no hogs. As I was leaving I heard a beaver slapping the water with his tail. The bad part, he was on the other side of the river. I was looking for a place to get closer when he started swimming closer. When he got about 50 yards down stream he hit a strong current and couldn't go any futher. He went under the water to get by and popped up about 20 yards upstream. I put the cross hairs behind the front leg and let a 250 gr. XTP from the 454 Casull go. He flopped and kicked a few times and went under. I started looking down stream to find him and he rolled up by the bank 5 yards from me. I grabbed a hand full of hide and threw him on the bank. I hung him on my scales at home and he weighted in at 50 lbs.

Good show. As thick as those things are around here I never see one when armed.

Excellent shot, and great big old beaver! I know they EASILY get that big, and even bigger.

I did a bit of trapping in the 1980's; and I managed to trap a couple beavers and a 'yote or two. I also have SHOT a few beavers, but it's tough to make the shot where you can kill 'em AND recover 'em.

Congratulations! I hope you get him tanned; they are amazingly beautiful and soft and silky and well, it is a beaver pelt and they make AWESOME fur coats and are held in high regard and were the trapper's best trading commodity way back then...

Gregg

good job! those are destructive little critters. I can't see the pic though, just a blank square.

I try:

you going keep save the hide? I'd say you saved a few trees, does that mean we have to call you a tree hugger?

Thanks s4s4u. Wapitirod, the only time I'm a tree hugger is when my tree stand slips.

LOL

Nice! The last time I deer hunted here in Virginia, I snapped a few photos of the damage they have done. Will post up a photo later. That's a big one!

On my buddies farm we take the back hoe and break up the damns then sit on them in the evening waiting to ambush them. We get 1 or 2 every time. Those critters cause a lot of forest damage every year.

Chunk it up with some peppers, muchrooms and potatos. Put it in the crock pot. They are really tasty

Ya buddy, that is nice!!

Beaver is an oily meat, but it is very good.

Nice shooting! That's a very cool handgun trophy.

They are destructive......

I like that SRH more and more each time I see a photo of it!

That's only the half of it. They back up the water so bad around here that we can't even get to some spots when they are plentiful. We trapped 62 one winter, and within 2 years they were just as bad.

Thank you, Ken!

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Thanks guys!

I was truely amazed at what beaver could do to a local ecosystem. Had a place that we used to hunt near the Flattops in Colorado. Over the course of several years we got to see just how much realestate could be flooded. But there is was just pretty cool, altough the hike up to the top got longer each year. And the flap of a tail while going in the dark was kinda fun and exciting.

We have a property up the river from where I live here in NM that I Surveyed about 10 years ago. At the time, the beaver only made the work difficult with the flooding. Today, the house, a summer cabin that I think has been passed down to kids with no interest has about 2 feet of water all around. I am waiting for "The Call". Can you come by and resurvey the property. Gonna have to have a conversation about the Corps of Engineers, State Wildlife, and dynamite ;^)

Nice critter, great shot and recovery.

Craig

Nice Beaver...It will make a really nice pelt. You said it was 50lbs ? It was almost a "Super Blanket" which will be 60lbs and over and strectch over 70" +

Congrats on a nice Handgunned Trophy!!

Wow, what a great photo!! Best way to display your gun is on game. That's a big boy. There is one mounted in a local gunshop here that is too big to believe. The owner said it was some kind runner up to the record for whatever sex it is. I think he said it weighed just under 100lbs.

Good job.

MN

Yikes! A 100 pound beaver!

With teeth to match?!?!?!?

Yowza!

The best thing I have ever eaten in my life was at a game dinner, and it was corned beaver, I swear.

I'll try to get a pic of the mount. You can't believe how big it is. Looks fake, but its real.

Nice Beaver!

Sorry, couldn't resist. Great shooting okie hunter, congratulations!

Would love to see it!

"Thank you - I just had it stuffed..." Sorry - I couldn't resist either!

Okie - very cool that you were able to recover your trophy. Current has robbed me of mine in the past

But I did see one dead on the road today - looked like a big 'un!

Beaver can be very destructive to property. Here in Massachusetts many years ago the fruit loop crowd succeeded in banning trapping in most forms. Fortunately there was a change to allow beaver trapping under a special permit. Some towns spent more in beaver control than in snowplowing and I know of one state highway that had one part of it wash out after a heavy spring rain.

If you are having trouble with beaver most states allow some form of trapping. Set up a 330 Belisle conibear trap between the lodge and a feed pile with a small white pvc pipe on the trigger smeared with beaver blaster bait. Trapping is the best way to solve that problem.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Been working the night shift.

I'll be the devils advocate here. They are the only animal, that I know of, to create their own ecosystem and this system is very beneficial to many diffent species of game animals. Don't get me wrong here, I will eat them if I kill them.
Steve

those buggars are so destructive they have to be thinned out and they make good barbecue!!!I've shot quite a few with my Contender in .22 Hornet.

We had both beaver and nutria in East Texas when I was younger. One of my buddies killed a real large one(to us 48#). When we skinned it out, it was some of the prettiest game meat I had ever seen. He slow cooked it and it was extremely good.

A friend just called me on tuesday asking to come shoot or trap some of the beaver on his place. They have lost several large stands of trees because they have flooded the area. Looks like I will be headed there in 2 weeks to set some traps and set a climber up over the damns after we break them up.

fascinating stuff. We don't have that many here in PA, which according to what you guys are saying probably isn't all bad.