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they’re able to get to it,” Blank reported.
Beavers mate for life and stay in an area as long as the food supply holds out. “Sometimes they eat themselves out of house and home,” Blank said. Litters average three and the young stay with their parents for two years before being shoved out on their owh. Blank said the evicted youngsters will go for miles to find a suitable home. “They’ll go for 50 miles if they’re on a river. They’re great swimmers and it’s easy travelling.”
To combat the beaver population, “the only practical solution is a trapping season and a controlled harvest,” maintained Blank. Although there is no limit on the number of beavers one trapper can catch during the season, “no one’s going to get rich off it. There’s some money to be made with know how and equipment but it’s not easy to learn. Accomplished trappers are a thing of the past. They’re few and far between in Virginia.”
Even with the trapping season, there’s not enough control of beaver population growth in some areas, said Blank, and he didn’t feel that extending the season would help. “Fur bearing animals are not good all the time. Your dame fashion only wants the best.” Pelts are prime during winter but then the animal needs another spring, summer and fall to shed and grow a new one. “Sun fades the sheen and jumping in and out of water and mud depreciates the fur,’’ Blank said.
Professional trappers usually use conibar traps, rather than the steel leg hold types, according to Blank. He explained that conibars operate like underwater mouse traps, taking the beaver behind the head with a quick and painless
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