The beaver is the largest rodent in North America, weighing between 35 and 50 pounds as adults. However, beavers weighing up to 90 lbs. have been reported. Beavers are 2-3 feet in length, with an additional 10-18 inches for the tail. Males and females are similar in size. Beavers have short front legs and webbed hind feet with a double claw on the second toe that the beaver uses to comb its fur. The beaver’s fur is chestnut brown to blackish, depending on the individual. Two noticeable features are its four large yellow incisor teeth used for cutting bark and chiseling trees, and its large flat hairless tail. Muskrats, also an aquatic rodent, are mistaken for beaver, but have rat-like tails and weigh less. The beaver uses its tail for swimming, for communicating warnings, for storing fat and also for support. Beavers are slow and clumsy on land, but agile and quick in the water. Newborn beavers are called kits in their first year and yearlings in their second.
Beavers are herbivores, feeding mostly on the inner bark of many kinds of trees.
During the summer, they also consume large amounts of aquatic vegetation. In some areas, they’ve been known to eat corn. Beavers construct dams on flowing water to back up the water so that it becomes deep enough to swim in. They also live on deeper lakes or rivers where they don’t need to build dams. For a home, beavers either build a lodge of sticks and mud in their ponds or they burrow into the high banks of streams or lakes. Both burrows and lodges have underwater entrances. With few natural predators left, beavers can thrive and multiply anywhere there is water and ample food.
Beavers stockpile branches and small trees in autumn to use as food during the winter. They don’t eat the wood, but feast on leaves, twigs and bark. Beavers also cut trails to feeding areas and sometimes dig canals to make it easier to transport food back to their lodge or food pile. Autumn is the busy season when they repair dams and stockpile food. Beavers are most active from dusk to dawn. Beavers mate for life and live in colonies of one adult pair, their kits, and the yearlings from the previous breeding season. This colony has a territory, usually surrounding their pond and marked by mounds of mud and plant material. They deposit a type of oil that marks their territory.
History
The beaver, Castor canadensis, was an important part of the economy in North Carolina well into the 1800s. Its valuable fur was the main item of trade in the colonies. As a result the beaver was nearly trapped to extinction in many sections of the United States, including North Carolina. The last report of native beaver taken in this state was in 1897. In the 1930s and 40s several states began restocking programs. In 1939, 29 beavers were obtained from Pennsylvania and released in North Carolina, on what is now the Sandhills Game Land. By 1953, they had populated seven counties and were estimated at nearly 1,000 animals.
Public demand for beaver stocking was high due to pelt values and aesthetic reasons. Because of this demand, the stocking program was continued between 1951 and 1956, and fifty-four beavers were trapped and released in nine counties including Cherokee, Henderson, Nash, Northampton, Person, Rockingham, Surry, Vance, and Wilkes. Currently, beavers occupy most of North Carolina's watershed systems.
Learn more by reading the Beaver Species Profile.
Resolving Types of Damage:
Options for Removing Beavers and Dams:
Beaver Management Assistance Program (BMAP) – Click here to see if your county is enrolled in BMAP. Property owners in enrolled counties can obtain assistance through this program. Learn more about BMAP here.
Trapping – Trapping is the most effective and practical method for beaver population control and management.
- You must follow all applicable state laws and regulations. Beaver cannot be live-trapped and relocated in North Carolina. Trapped beavers must be released on site or euthanized.
- During the beaver trapping season (Nov. 1 through March 31):
- In many cases, landowners need to do no more than contact a local trapper to trap beavers. Many trappers will be happy to trap beavers during the regular trapping season, especially if they receive permission to harvest other furbearer species on the property as well. A licensed trapper can be given permission to trap beaver on private property during the trapping season (November 1 – March 31) and utilize the resource by selling the pelts.
- A landowner can trap on his/her own land without a trapping license. However, you must follow all trapping laws.
- Outside the beaver trapping season (Apr. 1-Oct. 31):
- A depredation permit is not required for beaver population control for landowners whose property has been damaged by beaver. Landowners may obtain assistance from other persons in taking the depredating beaver by giving those persons permission to take beaver on the landowner's property. (G.S. 113-291.9). Those providing assistance do not need a hunting or trapping license, provided they are not selling any parts from beaver removed. Those providing assistance must have permission from the landowner to hunt or trap.
- For assistance:
Shooting – There is an open season for taking beaver with firearms or archery equipment throughout the year. Permission must be obtained from the owner or lessee of the land on which the beaver is being taken. A hunting license is not required when shooting beaver that have caused property damage. However, shooting of beaver not causing damage does require a valid license AND permission from the landowner or lessee if on another's property.
Dam Removal - Beaver dams may be removed or breached to restore normal water level and stream flow. Dams must be removed with permission from the landowner on whose land the dam is located.
Beaver Lodges - It is illegal to disturb an active beaver lodge. The lodge is a separate structure from the dam. If the lodge must be disturbed to assist in resolving a conflict, contact NCWRC for a permit to do so.
A Note about Bounties - Bounty programs are often seen as an ideal way to manage beaver problems, but create their own issues wherever they are adopted.
- Bounty programs are costly and easily abused. Beaver parts from other counties or even other states can cheaply be purchased online and submitted for payout.
- Bounty trapping removes the beavers that are most easily trapped, not necessarily the beavers that are causing problems; bounty trapping seldom, if ever, solves beaver damage problems. Even when beavers are trapped in an area where they are causing damage, one or more are usually left behind if they aren't trapped immediately. Even one remaining beaver will rebuild and maintain a dam that is causing damage issues. Bounty trapping provides no incentive for trappers to remove all the beavers in a damaged area; they can receive more payout if they only trap in one area for a few days before moving on, when it often takes up to four weeks or more of trapping to halt beaver damage issues.
- Bounty programs potentially target 100% of beavers in a county when typically less than 10% are actually causing damage. Many North Carolina residents appreciate and value the benefits beavers provide, and in some cases, removing beavers will not create any benefits to the landholder. Bounties promote indiscriminately removal of beavers, but beaver problems are only solved when removal efforts target the beaver(s) that are actually causing the problem. Whenever beavers are present, an informed decision should be made as to whether beaver removal is the best option.