WV North American Beaver Hunting Guide

Also known as: American beaver, Beaver

The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber). It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland and Karelia). The North American beaver is one of the national symbols of Canada and the official state mammal of Oregon and New York. North American beavers are widespread across the continental United States, Canada, southern Alaska, and some parts of northern Mexico. In Canada and the United States, the North American beaver is often referred to simply as "beaver", although this can cause some confusion because another distantly related rodent, Aplodontia rufa, is often called the "mountain beaver". Other vernacular names, including American beaver and Canadian beaver, distinguish this species from the other extant beaver species, Castor fiber, which is native to Eurasia. Taxonomy Evolution The first fossil records of beavers are 10 to 12 million years old in Germany, and they are thought to have migrated to North America across the Bering land bridge. During the mid to late Pleistocene epoch, giant beavers weighing up to 200 pounds thrived in central North America. These large early beavers were not yet known to fell trees and build dams. The oldest fossil record (Castor californicus) of beavers in North America are of two beaver teeth near Dayville, Oregon, and are 7 million years old. Early beavers had diverse ways of life, taking on terrestrial and semi aquatic forms. Dam building originated over 10 million years ago by a semi-aquatic variation of beavers. Subspecies At one time, 25 subspecies of beavers were identified in North America, with distinctions based primarily on slight morphological differences and geographical isolation at the time of discovery. However, modern techniques generally use genetics rather than morphology to distinguish between subspecies, and currently the Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Habitat & Range

Beavers were practically ubiquitous and lived from south of the arctic tundra to the deserts of northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, but were trapped across the continent for economic gain and political competition, leading to regional extirpation in many regions like the Great Plains. Certain areas saw near-extirpations and declining numbers, but not extirpation, partially due to various conservation measures were taken, with mixed results, by the Hudson's Bay Company. By the 1900s and 1910s, beavers existed largely in isolated pockets, but where those pockets existed is not well documented. However, despite these difficulties reintroduction and natural spread has restored the species back into most of it natural range, with innovations in management allowing sustainable harvest yields now exceeding previous record harvests. They are widely distributed in boreal and temperate ecoregions, where populations are rebounding from historic over-exploitation. Recently, beaver have been observed colonizing arctic tundra, likely as a result of climate-induced increases in riparian shrubs. Physician naturalist Edgar Alexander Mearns' 1907 report of beaver on the Sonora River may be the earliest report on the southernmost range of this North American aquatic mammal. However, beavers have also been reported both historically and contemporarily in Mexico on the Colorado River, Bavispe River, and San Bernardino River in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua.

Life History

Beavers are active mainly at night. They are excellent swimmers and may remain submerged up to 15 minutes. More vulnerable on land, they tend to remain in the water as much as possible. They use their flat, scaly tail both to signal danger by slapping the surface of the water and as a location for fat storage. They construct their homes, or "lodges", out of sticks, twigs, rocks, and mud in lakes, streams, and tidal river deltas. These lodges may be surrounded by water, or touching land, including burrows dug into river banks. Beavers are well known for building dams across streams and constructing their lodges in the artificial ponds which form. When building in a pond, the beavers first make a pile of sticks and then eat out one or more underwater entrances and two platforms above the water surface inside the pile. The first is used for drying off. Towards winter, the lodge is often plastered with mud which, when it freezes, has the consistency of concrete. A small air hole is left in the top of the lodge. Beavers are herbivorous generalists with sophisticated foraging preferences based on taste, coarse physical shape, and odor. Beavers consume a mix of herbaceous and woody plants, which varies considerably in both composition and species diversity by region and season. Beavers feed on bark, cambium, branches, twigs, roots, buds, leaves, stems, sprouts, and in some cases, sap and storax. They prefer aspen and other poplars, but do also eat birch, maple, willow, alder, black cherry, red oak, beech, ash, hornbeam, and occasionally pine, sweetgum, and spruce. Beavers do not prefer red maple, which can be the only tree left standing at the edges of some beaver ponds. They also eat cattails, water lilies, and other aquatic vegetation, especially in the early spring. Contrary to widespread belief, they do not eat fish. When herbaceous plants are actively growing, they make up much of the beaver's diet. In the winter, beavers switch to woody plants and the food they have stored over the winter. The protein to calorie ratio of a beaver's diet is 40 mg/calorie in summer and 8 mg/calorie for the rest of the year. In northern latitudes, the water lilies Nymphaea and Nuphar are the most important herbaceous component. The rhizomes are stored in the food cache and remain actively growing. The beaver's gut microbiome is complex and specialized for a wood-heavy diet, and shows similarity to that of other mammalian herbivores. Beavers' gut microbiome allows them to digest up to thirty percent of the cellulose they eat. North American beavers have one litter per year, coming into estrus for only 12 to 24 hours, between late December and May but peaking in January. Beaver reproduction occurs earlier in warmer southern climates, however in their northern range beavers may wait until late spring to reproduce. Depending on when beavers reproduce, their litters are typically born between April and June each year. Unlike most other rodents, beaver pairs are monogamou

Status, Trends & Threats

Common natural predators include coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions. American black bears may also prey on beavers if the opportunity arises. Less significant predators include wolverines, which may attack a rare beaver of up to adult size, and Canada lynx, bobcats, and foxes (due to their smaller size, these are typically predators only of kits or very sick or injured animals, rather than full-grown beavers). American alligators, which do not frequently coexist in the wild with beavers, also seldom threaten them. Both golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) may on occasion prey on a beaver, likely only small kits. Despite repeated claims, no evidence shows that North American river otters are typically predators of beavers but anecdotally may take a rare beaver kit.

Hunting Season

Trapping: Nov 1 - Mar 31.

License & Regulations

A valid West Virginia hunting license is required for resident and non-resident hunters age 15 and older. Licenses can be purchased online through the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources website or at authorized license retailers. Additional stamps may be required: RB (Resource Ballot) or RRB (Resource Recovery Ballot) for antlerless deer, TRD (Turkey Stamp) for spring turkey, and the federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Duck Stamp) for waterfowl. Hunters born on or after January 1, 1975 must successfully complete a hunter education course.

References

• West Virginia — North American Beaver