I have a trap shy beaver that has moved his dams into 2, 24" culverts. I'm a big guy and have trouble crawling into the culvert and I need to get those dams pulled out. I have been setting blind sets going into the culvert but I don't think he has been going through there since the dams are working properly. I also have traps set around his lodge but keep missing him. Any suggestions?

How long are they?

75 feet long

Used to clean out sewers.

If you can get a rope through the culvert, you might be able to make a drag or grappling hook to drag through there and grab debris. Make sure to tie a rope to the other end so that if it gets hung up you have a better chance of freeing without crawling in after. That will also prevent you from having to refeed the rope as it will take more than one pass.

Sometimes to get the initial rope fed we would blow a milk carton through the sewer with an air compressor and a fishing line attached, not sure how plugged it is, if this is feasible or not.

That might work. I will try it. Maybe a small milk carton will work its way past all the branches.

Thanks!

Be careful unplugging culverts. Downstream isn't the place to be when you uncork that bottle and upstream can be just as bad if there's any appreciable flow.

BTW, a 4x4 piece of lumber shoved through by a backhoe has worked for me.

Very dangerous.

Aren't the culverts the towns property and their problem to clean out?

This is a marshy area along a local roadway. The county highway department has been battling beavers (and losing) for about 5 years at this site. They installed a culvert guard a few years ago on the bigger tile, and the beavers just built their dam on the grating. It DID make it easier for the workers to clean, at least. They are down there constantly with their backhoe unplugging the culverts so they will drain. I stopped by a couple weeks ago, and now the beavers have dammed up inside the culvert again, as they have discovered a gap (where a weld broke) and can squeeze into the culvert through the grate.

This first pic shows a small culvert which is about 50 feet from the larger one. They plug them both to raise the water level in a large marsh above the roadway.



This is the guard they installed a few years ago. Didn't prevent the beavers from damming it up, but at least made it easier to clean. Easy to see the piles of mud and debris that the highway department pulled out.


They (highway dept) are down there very frequently unplugging the culverts. Also, notice the dam inside.


Here's the gap the beavers are passing through to get inside. Easy to see the mud on the grate and "clean" area where they are climbing through.

I have an idea to maybe try....so someone said that a rope and a drag might work, but getting the rope through might be a problem........you could feed 85' or so of 9 gauge tension wire through the culvert, and then you can twist a strong loop and tie the end of your rope to it and pull it through.

The tension wire should be easy to feed through, because it's small but stiff, and it's strong enough to holdup to the job of pulling be rope through.

I've never had to do such a thing, but I guarantee you that it's what I'd try first if I were dealing with what you're describing.


Thoughts?

Here's a link

http://m.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-170-ft-Galvanized-Tension-Wire-328787DPT/100322570

I use tree trimming poles with a hook on the end. You can make them 8 ft or 80 ft

Take a look at a water jet used to clean sewers. Go in from the down stream side.

Looks like job security to me.....

Ok
This is what I have been doing for a living for the past 12 years. DON'T work from down stream..ever!!! Don't need a backhoe either. We cleared hugh culverts the railroad couldn't and they had over a million dollars of equipment there. A potato fork is all that is needed to open any beaver impoundment.
Culverts dams etc. We also have a 16' pike pole. it can get most large material loose and worked free. Take you time, stay to the side at the upper end. Remove small amounts of material from the top allowing the water flow to help clear the mud as you go. Keep the water below within the stream banks so not to flood anyone down stream out. Do your work in the early morning so it can drain during the daylight hours. If beaver are still there they will re plug it over night. This is two steps forward one back. I suggest removal of the current beavers first. As for the culvert protector that are not a cure all, they are designed to make it hard for the beaver to plug inside the culvert not stop damming. This is a big mistake made by most HWY departments. They need to do maintenance of their culverts just like any other part of the infrastructure, Like patch roads etc. Most don't. We make our living doing this for railroads, towns and other big land owners. Trapping and removal too. Good money if you can sell it.
Don LaFountain
Integrated Wildlife Control

I did beaver control for the railroad.It was my permanent job.
Best thing is to get a good beaver rake with extensions and wait until the water pressure is enough to flush the debris out the culvert.A pike pole can be handy to pick at a culvert that is submerged under several feet of water.
Like said above get some chest waders and stand off to the side a bit and work the top pulling the crap back out of the culvert.Once you have a decent flow start working the sides. The water pressure will help a lot when opening a culvert.If you don't have water to help the work is a lot harder.T-posts in front of the culvert will keep the beaver from plugging inside the culvert and will make it easy to open the next time a beaver moves in.A screen will be too heavy to pull by hand.You need a good truck to pull a plugged screen full of mud sticks and under pressure.The t posts can be removed with a jack if necessary or by hand.
It is safe enough to get in the lower end if the culvert is big enough,to remove sticks first,as long as there is a screen or t-posts in place.
Do not work alone however bring someone with you for safety.
You will need to remove ALL the beaver or you will not have solved the problem.
A chainsaw is a very handy tool to remove stick dams.

when I was a kid I used to pull a gazillion dams for our county and most were in culverts. If the dam is inside the culvert and you can get a rope over top of it, it is easy. My dad owned a sewer business so I had free access to a small backhoe which is key. From the upstream side float a rope down, then get it over the dam and out the other side. Hook a long enough and heavy enough chain to the rope and pull the chain through the other side of the culvert. Now if the culvert is 24" get a 36" long piece of heavy pipe and place it below the dam, and wrap the chain around it several times and back to itself. Now simply hook the chain to your backhoe and slowly pull the chain and pipe upstream and the whole thing will be jarred loose, break up, and float downstream. If the dam is far enough up inside the culvert this may be your only option. Ive done this many times in culverts 6' in diameter on down.

Now if the dam is close enough to one end take off your girl panties and put on some man skivvies and get down there and start pulling!

All of the methods above will work. but like mentioned if the potato fork will reach, its usually the best way to go. I have a heavy duty potato fork with a 6ft. steel pipe handle. ( Mod. after the stock wood handle broke. )

Also, if legal you may have to shoot the trap shy beaver. Lawn chair, 12ga. with #4 buckshot.( make sure to double tap )

I use one of the power Co. old line polls that extends out to 40 feet that works great!!! Slides together and super strong. Has never failed me yet working from the down stream side most of the time with the backed up water pressure helping blow it out. Even pulled a tree log out that was being pushed through a culvert with a excavator to open it up and he lost it part way down inside the culvert. I pulled it out by hand with no problem and saved them from having to dig all the way across the road to clean out the culvert.
Dave

Took a bit of work to open this culvert,under 8 feet of water and previously crushed end by machinery used to open it in the past.Took all 8 beavers from this spot then opened the culvert with a pike pole.