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Do beavers attack?

4K views 36 replies 25 participants last post by  Gary Thompson 
#1 ·
I was fishing the Cedar this evening and came across a big beaver pulling a small tree through a fast current. As I continued fishing I heard some noise upstream and saw a baby beaver approach the river edge from the woods. At this point I was in knee deep water and between a baby beaver and its parent and didn't want to find out if the adult beaver didn't want me there.

I've heard beavers can be aggresive if they feel threatened. Does anyone know if they would attack?
 
#3 ·
Just read the story on that attack. Seemed the fisherman stopped by the side of the road and attempted to pick the little critter up .. mistake.

With all encounters I have had with beavers, here and back in Canada, they flee from us. Granted I was never between a youngin and its mommie.

Biggest beaver I've ever seen was a couple weeks back on the Cedar. Scared the crap out of me.
 
#6 ·
If a beaver can drag a small tree through a fast current just imagine what it could do to you. Imagine spending your last days in the confines of their dark damp hut, having your legs chewed off a little at a time. Never make eye contact with a beaver as they consider it a challenge.

This is yet another reason to always carry the biggest gun you can when entering the howling wilderness.


Apologies in advance if you really do suffer from Doraphobia. In which case qualified counseling is advised.
TC
 
#9 ·
If a beaver can drag a small tree through a fast current just imagine what it could do to you. Imagine spending your last days in the confines of their dark damp hut, having your legs chewed off a little at a time. Never make eye contact with a beaver as they consider it a challenge.

This is yet another reason to always carry the biggest gun you can when entering the howling wilderness.

Apologies in advance if you really do suffer from Doraphobia. In which case qualified counseling is advised.
TC
ROFL
 
#10 ·
In my experience, beavers (to be clear, the ones with the overbite and flat tails) exist primarily to scare the %&%^&&^ out of you when they slap their tails as a warning in the gloaming. Startled by the sharp, sudden noise, you lose your footing and take a quick dip - signalling the end of the evening fishing. More seriously, I was fishing with a friend on the Roanoke River in NC and had a beaver repeatedly circle the bass boat we were in; we weren't that close to shore or any other reason that it should have been territorial. It was certainly aggressive. Beavers can become rabid. Their normal reaction should be to flee; if one came toward me, I would treat it like a skunk that I saw during the day and keep my distance.

Steve
 
#11 ·
Like Steve above, I've only had them circle me at a distance and slap their tails. But in the handful of such cases, I didn't feel threatened.
 
#13 ·
I was fishing the Cedar this evening and came across a big beaver pulling a small tree through a fast current. As I continued fishing I heard some noise upstream and saw a baby beaver approach the river edge from the woods. At this point I was in knee deep water and between a baby beaver and its parent and didn't want to find out if the adult beaver didn't want me there.

I've heard beavers can be aggresive if they feel threatened. Does anyone know if they would attack?
Any animal is a threat if cornered or confronted without chance of escape. But I do not recall ever hearing of someone being assaulted by an unmolested beaver.
 
#14 ·
This little guy got tangled in the fly line a few weeks back on local river. My buddy had to get him to shore to release him unharmed. After he was released he just walked off eating shoots of grass along the way. Never tried to bite.
Bedrock Wood Adaptation Landscape Soil
 
#15 ·
Yes

1. Once on a float tube in a mountain lake. I must of got to close to ones den. The beaver came out of the den at me and when it got close enough it turned and began slamming its tail up and down on the surface of the water at me. I took it as a threat and left the area. All I could think about was the movie Jaws and my feet hanging below the water line.

2. One got lose in our neighborhood. Along with another person we tried to captured it and return it to a nearby stream. Well, to make a long story short the damn thing turned on me and chase me down the driveway. They look large and slow till you pissed one off. All I saw was teeth as I looked over my shoulder while I was running.
 
#16 ·
'Beaver bites man to death' is a headline we never thought we'd see

4/11/2013
A man on a fishing trip to Lake Shestakov in Belarus spotted a beaver by the side of the road and wanted to take a picture of it. Beavers are so cute, he probably thought. Unfortunately, beaver cuteness is only skin-deep. It pounced on the man when he approached and bit him in the thigh. The bite severed a main artery and the man bled to death. Add this to that video of a guy fleeing a beaver, and the conclusion is clear. Safety first: Avoid beavers
 
#19 ·
I remember a Jeff Foxworthy bit where he discusses the line "If you've ever had your nipple bitten off by a beaver... You might be a *******." He got it from a fan it actually happened to. I don't even want to guess at how that happens. But It is a report of a beaver attack.
 
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#23 ·
I haven't seen a beaver here in the PNW yet. But in Ca. I saw a few. They always seemed to be cautious of me and I just sort of watched for awhile out of mild interest and then ignored them. I do think that being between a mother and it's young is a hazard with any species though.

Sometimes coyotes will pack stalk people. It's happened to me. It was scary while it was happening. When I got home I looked into it on line. I read that, in the US, there are only two reports in all American history of coyote related human fatalities. I also read that being stalked by coyotes isn't unusual. Where their territory is shared with people they remain cautious but stop feeling threatened. So they do it out of instinct like a sort of play game. They are dogs after all.

I once found myself between a mountain lion and it's kill. I was hiking up a small creek when I found a fresh deer carcass half covered in sticks and dirt. Two bloody holes in it's cranium and it's stomach ripped apart. I thought "This looks like a mountain lion kill. I'd better keep an eye out." Then around the next bend I saw the cat. It was about thirty yards away. It turned and squared up on me. As scary as that was I did what I've read you should. I opened my jacket and raised my arms in the air to give as large and threatening an appearance as possible. The cat didn't move. We stared at each other for what seemed like over a minute (though it may have been less. I was preoccupied by new and unpleasant stains in my clothing). Not wanting the cat to make the decision about what happened next I did the only thing I could think of. I took a few steps toward it!!! The cat turned, jumped an easy ten feet up onto an outcropping and then walked quickly away. When it was out of sight I got the hell out of there.

Be careful everyone. The odds of being attacked by any critter are very, very small. But what is often ignored is that those odds go up greatly when you spend a lot of time where those critters live. Someone in the wrong place at the wrong time accounts for those statistics. Gamer geeks don't get their nipples bitten off by beavers.
 
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#24 ·
3-4 years ago a couple of coyotes attacked and killed a 19-year old Canadian singer in Ontario, I think. And I had a crazed marmot make repeated passes at my right hiking boot in Glacier years ago. Even after he got lofted through the uprights, in a manner of speaking, he still came back. Cold-cocking him with a water bottle finally got his attention.
 
#25 ·
3-4 years ago a couple of coyotes attacked and killed a 19-year old Canadian singer in Ontario, I think.
Poor things. They must have been starving.

What?.. Too soon?

I use to live with a roommate that had ferrets. They were a kick to play with and afraid of nothing. I don't think any weasel type critters feel fear. Probably the only mammal in the vicinity that would willingly attack Alex MacDonald!
 
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#26 ·
I trapped for many years in my younger life.
Beavers are pretty tough critters.
I've never had one attach but I have had them swim around and slap their tails on the water, fishing went to shit after that.
My daughter got her Doc. at Oregon State so I'm a "Beaver believer"
"I would like to stuff one" Naked Gun
 
#29 ·
Long time lurker on this site. Can't remember if I've posted before - guess I'll find out in a sec.

About 16 years ago I was steelheading on the Sky along Ben Howard Road. I was trying to wade past a beaver den and started hearing loud snarling and growling. I got pretty freaked out and for a minute thought there was a bear nearby. Then all of a sudden a beaver popped out of the water just downstream of me and started slapping the water with his tail. I got the message and abandoned my quest to wade past his house. I knew they tail-slapped the water, but didn't know that they could make such ominous growling and snarling noises.

Also heard from a buddy that there is a tail-slapper along the NW shore of Cooper Lake (salmon-la-sac area). He was canoing to a campsite after dark and the critter headed him off slapping the water.

EDIT - yes, this was my first post! :)
 
#34 ·
I had one swim straight at me and then dive and go UNDER my float tube. I moved. Had one slap the water right behind my tube in the dark one night . . . I put that tube up "on-plane" inside of 10-feet . . . never knew you could "burn rubber" using fins in water prior to that night.
 
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