I can not remember what one sounded like that was alive in a tangled drounder set . I suppose being in a den or house mostly we would never hear one . I wondered if they might respond to mating or challenge noise ?

I know the kits sure do.

I have watched them preen themselves and they make almost a purring sound.

A big one was kind of barking and hissing at me as I was setting up on his bank den and feed pile. Didn't take me long to figure it was time to get out of the water. Even after I did he kept it up while swimming around in front of me.

Moosetrot

Yes...adult beaver do make audible sounds. Only heard it once. The beaver started by slapping it's tail several times then swam away from the dam making a loud one note "mewing" sound. Beaver made the sound dozens of times and was still doing it as I left the area.


I videoed it and you could hear it plainly, but I have no idea where the video is now.

Yes they do all of the above!

Standing on or next to the huts you can hear the gnawing it sounds like.

They wanna bite you bad enough they do

Had a few lunge at me they got my attention.

NO means NO Scott.

Well sometimes it does

….. (nope)…….

Had a similar experience. It was toward evening, I was making a castor scent set. A beaver swam within 10 feet of me going back and forth. It was hissing and making a chirping sound. It was very upset, not happy. I debated on shooting it, but chose to let the set do its work. Next morning I had a nice beaver.

Every live beaver that I've encountered in a trap in Washington was pretty passive.
Every live beaver that I've encountered in a trap in SE Alaska wanted to tear me apart.
Curious as to why they would act differently in the two separate areas.

Waggler, I've heard that the further south you go, the tamer beaver get. I've only trapped them in Minnesota, so I don't have personal experience. It would be interesting to know why.

I have heard kits inside a lodge in the spring.

I pulled a real dummy move, years ago. I was trapping on the Ks river, and pulled up to a big hole in the bank, that had sign. Usually when I pulled up to a den, many times they would come tumbling out, but not the case here. So I tied up the canoe, and looked it over. The hole was huge, had caved off during the winter, so I went in. Got in about six feet, and stopped to let my eyes adjust, and I started hearing grunts and a mewing sound. I could make out four big beaves, still about six feet back in the shadows, and I thought, this is a bad predicament. I backed out as quickly as I could, and they were still making the same sounds. I had looked up dens before, but had never gone that far in before. Felt lucky I didn’t get attacked, like I did a few years later, by a live snared beaver. The one in the snare, never made a sound. He just shot out of the water, bit my leg, and jumped back in. Luckily, I had enough clothes on that he only left red marks on my leg! Poked two holes in my waders, insulated coveralls, left some cuts on my jeans was allthe damage. I felt pretty lucky getting away with both of those stunts!

Fishing along the river one evening next to some mulberry trees, I heard a sort of mewing sound. Creep over and there was a beaver feasting on the fallen fruit. Watched it for quite a while and the whole time it was making that mewing sound. It finally caught my scent and slid off into the river.

When night fishing on the Mo. river it isn't unusual to see 4 or 5 beaver swimming by.