Eastern red cedar is what I have seen them eat here goldy. White cedar (American AV) may be a different story.

Ever seen them eating lily pads?Was hunting geese during the early season,several beaver spent an hour or so--eating lily pads --one right after the others.They looked like a bunch of couch potatoes--stuffing their faces with potatoe chips.
That is the only time I have ever seen them eat the pads--roots yes,but not the pads.
Tom

Red cedar is what i was talking about goldy.

Not actually watched them eat the pads bog but have seen the stub's sticking up where something ate them and wasn't anything else around but beaver so figured they had done it.

I know they love to pack their dams with the things!

Tom,
I watched a two year old eat a pad once too. It would roll them up in like a ball and really go to it.Rolled them with it's front feet. I like watching them eat small sticks, like eating an ear of corn. They can really get those sticks rolling with their front feet.
Dave,
That is interesting. I'm betting they eat alot of things we don't know about or why.
A buddy of mine had a pet Porky and it just went crazy for potatoe chips. LOL He said it didn't like BBQ though.

It is amazing how fast a beaver can eat the bark off a stick. Noisy things too when they are doing it.

When I used to have time to take the boat fishing we would see alot of beaver swimming the shores basically grazing either on green leaves or grasses. Much of it was overhanging the waters edge and they never had to go on dry ground unless they wanted to.

Have any of you ever seen where a beaver has cut deadwood? or has it all been live?

They don't seem to cut much dry wood, but I've seen them chew dry poles under ice as an attempt to escape a snare, but not much up on the ice, like a minor amount on a safety stick cabled above the ice. I believe the moisture in the wood, or lack there of,makes chewing dry wood tough on there teeth. The moisture works as a lubricant in green wood, or under ice in the water.

Like Rally, I don't remember seeing where beaver chewed clear through dry wood, but I have noticed where they chewed on dead wood for some reason or other.

ive seen where theyve chewed on fence posts and i was surprised but am definitely sure it was a beaver.

I trapped a colony up by vergas minnesota a few years. They built a lodge on the bank back in a nook There hut was made of solid mud not a stick on it It was along a creek that was open. I could see all their runs and every bit of water up and down the river not a stick in site but there were hundreds of lily pad roots floating everywhere. I caught 6 beaver 5 black ones and 1 dark brown one.Walked up and down the creek no slides going out of the water any where for cutting any trees. Where these beaver surviving on roots alone? I know they have to chew wood to keep their teeth ground down.

I too have seen ponds, usually surrounded by bog, where they eat all pond vegetation, mostly lily pads. Maybe those roots are hard enough to put some wear on the teeth. I guess I've never really paid that much attention to how hard they really are.

This has been a great thread and verifys a lot of my thoughts on beaver and castor.
I will say in my area I use castor mounds throughout the fall and winter and till our season goes out in mid March. Upon occasion I will have a beaver that will not react to a cstor mound set, but it is usually after a catch or two has been made in the area.
I also have seen beaver feed on nothing but roots. I was trapping a strip mine that had a lot of what we call fragmites growing in the water. At first I thought rats were eating these roots but after a close look found out that beaver were feeding the dang things. There was loads of floating vegetation on the water and it looked like rats had been feeding the area. The only problem was, it would have taken a hundred rats to make the cuttings these beaver made.
Rally that was a very good explanation you gave on beaver interacting with lure.

has it been your alls experience that southern beaver dont build feed beds?

i dont fool with castor mound sets and leg traps anymore. too much work and trouble for me and much greater chance of escape. i find it much easier, effective, and quicker to whack the beaver in conibear traps by setting heavy and staying away from the lodge if possible. once i get the numbers down to a beaver or two, i will use lure but i still use a conibear trap and i pull him into a tight spot. if only a couple beaver, still do it the same way and many times never use any lure. i like to keep the lure set for last case scenario if in a real small closed environment. if i get a wise guy once in awhile, a snare or leg trap set blind usually takes care of that.

I haven't noticed any difference in response to lure in ponds or streams/rivers. I think it depends on individual beaver/colonies and their experience with previous trapping pressure. If I run into educated beaver, a VERY small drop of sac oil is what I use to lure the set, otherwise it's usally a castor lure.

I will add that when I run into beaver that are educated, the snare is my go to tool of choice.

great topic --learned alot.

Straight beaver oil is a good attrator about any time of year. You can get a very controlled response from beaver oil on a stick, and have them set their feet down in a predictable manner.

Tell me why, when I'm trapping below the Mason- Dixon line why I see more sirn of beaver taking a couple of bites out of a tree trunk and then moving on, they will not cut the tree down, many times i will watch this tree, some times at a latter date i will notice fresh bites and some times there never is a new bite.This mostly is done on Cypress tree's and the knee's. Are these some type of territorial markers or are they just trying to wear there teeth down some.?Ihave seen this in the northern areas that i have trapped also but not like i've seen it in the south.When the tree is situated in the right location i have used this to my advantage to take some smart beaver, one of those happened to be a big female this summer in a pond...Carl