Rally
NC Minnesota
Bill,
Pay off in beaver for me varies according to contract. I bid the forestry and wildlife contracts lump sum. Seems always too cheap, but works out in the end with enough of them. County is per head taken, mileage, and hourly for any dams removed or culverts cleaned. All of them are to protect roads or timber. I get a lot of work where they can't get machines and they don't complain when I turn in a bill. During the state season I can use any part of the beaver taken, and do salvage everything. Beaver is the best dog food out there. During the off season I have to leave the beaver where I take them, which about kills me, and makes wolf and bear bait stations everywhere I'm working. Wolves are not a problem, but young bears think they are tougher than they really are, and sleep fairly close to a beaver cache. I have one now on a remote contract that is eating everything I leave and tearing up stump piles. Looks to be about a three year old male. I'm taking the three dams out tomorrow to finish the job. He'll have to find a new meal ticket! Oh, and my office has the greatest view ever, but the bugs can get bad sometimes! LOL
Brett,
Yep, take them all out by hand, right down to the original bed. Not the full width of the flowage, just enough to drain it to original bed. The taller the dam the wider the cut needs to be. I clean the tail piece first, then let the water take most of the mud out as I dig the wood out. Most dams have a clay base that needs to be dug out to get full depth. Water will not take out clay, it tends to just drop to that depth then run over. Most of the remote dams have been there for years and the wood in them is mostly rotten. Dams with a lot of Ash in them can be a real pain. Some are square cut from loggers dumping poor quality lumber into waterways or old chord roads used in the winter and left. By far the worse case scenario are the fresh dams in willow meadows. Image 6- 10' green willows in a pile with layers of clay and swamp grass weaved/washed throughout. They all have to be pulled or cut out. The fresh willow will bend into loops and still not break! There are enough rocks mixed in that guarantees at least one chainsaw chain will be ruined per dam if used. Otherwise it is dig, pull, dig, pull, dig, pull. On county jobs I can call in a hoe, but most often they have tried to get a hoe there but it's too wet. Sometimes I lower the water enough they can get a hoe in later. Did that just this morning on a county ditch. The base of the dam is roughly 20' wide with a lot of solid ash trees in it. One at the base laying parallel to the dam about 15" in diameter. I dug it out to release three feet or so and we'll see what the beaver and the water do. I'm trapping the beaver upstream and will depend on if we can dry it out enough to get the hoe in after the beaver and water are gone. If not I'll take it out by hand in about three intervals, then the hoe will get to it. Real shame because the dam has about 60 acres of Ash flooded now. Would be a great place to get a bunch of dead standing Ash firewood, in the winter only though.
Creosote,
Yep pretty much day to day routine. Thought I was going to get out of tearing any dams out yesterday and ended up taking out six. One substantial the other five remnants. County foreman said he was pretty impressed though with the results this morning. He could see more of the bridge than he's ever seen. Job security!
Keith,
Looks like a turkey fryer is in order once you get the shop set up. Call it a "Grand Opening".
Pay off in beaver for me varies according to contract. I bid the forestry and wildlife contracts lump sum. Seems always too cheap, but works out in the end with enough of them. County is per head taken, mileage, and hourly for any dams removed or culverts cleaned. All of them are to protect roads or timber. I get a lot of work where they can't get machines and they don't complain when I turn in a bill. During the state season I can use any part of the beaver taken, and do salvage everything. Beaver is the best dog food out there. During the off season I have to leave the beaver where I take them, which about kills me, and makes wolf and bear bait stations everywhere I'm working. Wolves are not a problem, but young bears think they are tougher than they really are, and sleep fairly close to a beaver cache. I have one now on a remote contract that is eating everything I leave and tearing up stump piles. Looks to be about a three year old male. I'm taking the three dams out tomorrow to finish the job. He'll have to find a new meal ticket! Oh, and my office has the greatest view ever, but the bugs can get bad sometimes! LOL
Brett,
Yep, take them all out by hand, right down to the original bed. Not the full width of the flowage, just enough to drain it to original bed. The taller the dam the wider the cut needs to be. I clean the tail piece first, then let the water take most of the mud out as I dig the wood out. Most dams have a clay base that needs to be dug out to get full depth. Water will not take out clay, it tends to just drop to that depth then run over. Most of the remote dams have been there for years and the wood in them is mostly rotten. Dams with a lot of Ash in them can be a real pain. Some are square cut from loggers dumping poor quality lumber into waterways or old chord roads used in the winter and left. By far the worse case scenario are the fresh dams in willow meadows. Image 6- 10' green willows in a pile with layers of clay and swamp grass weaved/washed throughout. They all have to be pulled or cut out. The fresh willow will bend into loops and still not break! There are enough rocks mixed in that guarantees at least one chainsaw chain will be ruined per dam if used. Otherwise it is dig, pull, dig, pull, dig, pull. On county jobs I can call in a hoe, but most often they have tried to get a hoe there but it's too wet. Sometimes I lower the water enough they can get a hoe in later. Did that just this morning on a county ditch. The base of the dam is roughly 20' wide with a lot of solid ash trees in it. One at the base laying parallel to the dam about 15" in diameter. I dug it out to release three feet or so and we'll see what the beaver and the water do. I'm trapping the beaver upstream and will depend on if we can dry it out enough to get the hoe in after the beaver and water are gone. If not I'll take it out by hand in about three intervals, then the hoe will get to it. Real shame because the dam has about 60 acres of Ash flooded now. Would be a great place to get a bunch of dead standing Ash firewood, in the winter only though.
Creosote,
Yep pretty much day to day routine. Thought I was going to get out of tearing any dams out yesterday and ended up taking out six. One substantial the other five remnants. County foreman said he was pretty impressed though with the results this morning. He could see more of the bridge than he's ever seen. Job security!
Keith,
Looks like a turkey fryer is in order once you get the shop set up. Call it a "Grand Opening".
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What are ya talking about? Why just 7-8 weeks ago I had to move a thread to the correct forum. 
