Beavers are known for their eating of trees, shrubs, and in particular fresh shoots of willow, poplar or birch. While making my way back in the dark, I have cussed out the beavers for all the punji spikes they left behind. As a courtesy, they should chew things off at ground level instead of midway between the ground and my shin. Indeed, these admirable, engineering creatures have set all these punji booby traps in an attempt to impale an unwary passerby like me. Beavers have done so much of this trap setting that I have started to take it personally.
You can imagine my surprise when the last week I encountered rows of corn cut off at the ground level and hauled down the slope into the beaver’s pond.
Closeup of corn stalk cut by a beaver.
So, I wondered where did the stalks go?
Hmm, a beaver slide with a corn stalk at the end.
Closer examination, yes, beaver tracks.
Looking back up to the corn field; apparently, some beavers have taken a liking to corn on the cob.
Further along, the pond’s shoreline revealed the beginnings of a classic beaver food cache.
Perhaps this farmer is going to be seeking a trapper’s services soon?
Surprised me, this is the first time I have seen beaver depredation on a corn field, even those areas which border water. If this kind of plunder becomes wide spread, skilled trappers will be in demand. Any volunteer trappers?
WRC says
Interesting, I’ve never heard of Beavers raiding a corn field! I suppose they can eat the stalks and the corn for a winter food source? I suppose they store the corn in their lodge so it will dry out?
FirstBubba says
Can’t imagine that corn being worth much after a few days underwater!
Maybe they’ve developed a “hankering” for some ‘shine for the larder! LOL!
N.C.L.W. says
I always figured Beavers would get after whatever they could… Makes sense they’d chew it up if corn’s available to them. Still, I too have not personally seen such a thing before! Are they seriously taking significant crops out of the fields there?
Charlie says
I thought this might be an isolated incident. However, while discussing turkey hunting access with a farmer this morning he mentioned one of his corn fields along a creek was being attacked by beavers. In exchange for turkey hunting, I agreed to figure out a way to rid him of the beavers. A young lady in the area who loves to trap agreed to remove the beavers in exchange for a turkey dogging experience.
Tioughnioga says
I’ve seen beaver trails going from the river into nearby cornfields and always wondered about them. Most I could ever figure was that maybe there was a pond back beyond the cornfield, or a slough of some sort within it, that they were going to and from. Interesting. Thanks for solving the mystery.
Charlie, Mr. HuntFishTrap mentioned on Outdoor Life that you might do me the favor of passing on my email address to him. I am completely alright with that, if you don’t mind doing it.
Thanks,
Matt
huntfishtrap says
I’m very surprised you hadn’t seen that before. Beavers are a major nuisance for the farmers who grow corn along rivers and larger creeks around here. Asking if you can trap them is usually met with an enthusiastic “Hell yes! Get em all!” Usually the damage is fairly minor when compared to raccoons or deer, but I have on occasion seen pretty large sections of cornfield cleared by beavers. Sometimes their feedbeds contain more corn stalks than tree branches.
Charlie says
That must be due to the very successful Iowa tree removal project. The sheer lack of trees requires the beavers to eat a low-quality diet of corn.
huntfishtrap says
Perhaps in part, but I’ve seen them eat corn even when there are trees available, including willows. It’s just part of their diet here.
BTW charlie, your comment and new post notifications are not working. I’ve signed up for both of them multiple times (and confirmed my subscription when prompted to do so), but I only occasionally get notifications of new comments, and have never been notified of a new post.
WRC says
It’s probably your computer, the code isn’t set right to match up with Charlie’s site. My old Dell was that way? This puter allows it, so I get notifications for everything.
Charlie says
Have you checked your junk/ spam folder? Perhaps try whitelisting.
huntfishtrap says
I have, and they don’t show up there, either. I had checked the box “notify me of follow-up comments by email” when I made my original post, but I received no notification of the two above posts, either in my inbox or spam/junk.
Charlie says
Hmm, not sure how to fix that. Do you check the notification box for each comment?
I’ll continue to try to figure out the problem. In the meantime check N.C.L.W. solution via daily visit. 🙂
Charlie says
Additional research. Each time a commenter posts a comment they need to check the box for email notification. Below the post comment button check “Notify me of follow-up comments by email” and check “Notify me of new posts by email” Click both for notification.
N.C.L.W. says
This is weird, I had a similar event once with the site previously. It was not an entire lack of notifications, yet some were not received.
The solution I chose was to come back to the site here daily and look! Seems like notifications have been working again for me for awhile now.
Also ~ I wish to add that my Turkey Season has returned! : D
Charlie says
Checking in daily is an excellent fix to any notification problem, and when I see substantial traffic on the site, it prods me to write some fresh posts. During hunting season there this tendency inside which pushes me to hunt in any spare minute available.
Good luck turkey hunting.
Kathy Eldred says
2021 and we have never seen that before. We live on a river, the beavers have been our neighbors for several years. The corn field is on the opposite side from us. We had the highest water level in the river since 1972 at the end of October. Maybe the flooding changed something? Curious.