Summer Adventures Part 2: Adventures with Beavers

It has been beaver season here in Galena. In the winter time you trap beaver, but at this time of year you can shoot them.  Chris and Keith have had a good time hunting beaver this month.  They even arranged a date night to bring Tabitha and I out in the boat, without the kids.  Tabitha would have loved to shoot, but didn’t have her trapping license.  I didn’t care to shoot, but was planning on enjoying the boat ride and doing a lot of beaver spotting.  Beaver are nocturnal, so we headed out on the river in the early evening expecting to stay out until the middle of the night.  Chris and Keith also wanted to check the bear bait station while they were out in the boat.  No bears, but we were able to do a little hiking, and the guys spotted some ducks and swans we watched for a bit.  Well, this night we saw lots and lots of beaver sign (trees gnawed down, paths down the bank to the river, beaver dens, oh, and lots of beavers).  Some beavers we spotted on the bank and were able to shoot and get without chasing them into the water.  Others were spotted in the water, and proved more difficult to shoot.  They can hide underwater for quite a time and many snuck away without any of us locating them again.  Its fun to watch where they will pop up next. The guys took turns shooting, and before we knew it we had 8 beavers in the boat, a few ducks, and our time was up.  We began boating home around midnight.  It was hard to stop, because we were still seeing beaver, but our sitters were expecting us.  We had a great time enjoying God’s creation, and we had wonderful friends for company.

 A beaver den on the bank

We saw lots of wildlife while we were boating: Moose, Great Horned Owls, Swans, Ducks of all kinds, Porcupine, Kingfisher, Musk Rat, Hawk, and Beavers.  The bugs weren’t out yet, and the weather was wonderful.  It was a fun date night.

 A Northern Shoveler

 Tabitha and Keith, good friends!

Another night while Chris’ parents were here, Chris and I decided to drive out to the dump while everyone else was either asleep or getting ready for bed.  We enjoy the drive out because we can spot animals along the way in and around all the grass lakes.  We often see all kinds of ducks, geese, and swan, sometimes moose and there is always a chance to see bears at the dump.  This night we just barely detected something swimming in one of the first grass lakes we came to.  I told Chris to stop.  I thought it was an otter.  Well, it was a beaver.  He slapped his tail down on the water’s surface as we stopped to watch him from the road.  We got out and walked close to the water’s edge, and he came close to investigate us.   Since Chris had his pistol on him, he couldn’t help but take him.  The most  difficult thing about shooting a beaver in the water is that they sink almost immediately after being shot.  So, if you shoot from a boat you can boat over quickly and get them with a net before they sink.  Since we weren’t in a boat, and our beaver sank immediately, Chris had to wade into the water  to get him.  After searching for about 10 minutes, and getting rather soaked and cold, he came out with his prize.  One big beaver.   It was a fun spontaneous adventure.  We came home with more than expected from a short cruise to the dump.

As of now, I think we have 10 beaver furs in our freezer.  After processing the furs, we hope to make our own beaver hats for next winter.  They are one of the warmest types of hat, so I hear, and usually worn when the cold temperatures of winter hit.

We have decided the beaver meat is pretty good too.  Chris is planning to make beaver meat sticks and some boudin.