Nice Beaver! NICE BEAVER!!!

Sgian Dubh

Sgian Dubh

Joined
Nov 10, 1999
Messages
132
Man survives rare beaver attack unscathed


01/06/01 14:53

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A wildlife lover survived unscathed after a beaver tried to sink its teeth into his neck as he tracked it along a remote river.
"I thought it would be nice to see the beaver jump into a river so I followed it. Suddenly the beaver disappeared and next thing I knew it was hanging on my neck," Finn Pentti Jylha said on Friday.

Experts say it is rare for beavers to attack people. Usually the shy beasts just escape when disturbed, or slap their tails on the ground if they feel threatened.

Thanks to the cold Finnish summer, Jylha was wearing heavy clothes which protected him from the beaver's long teeth.

"When I managed to shake off the beaver it just stayed staring at me from a few metres away", he said.

------------------------------------------

Take care round beavers now.
SD

------------------
"I'm arm'd with more than complete steel - The justice of my quarrel." Christopher Marlowe
 
Once I was fishing alone on a beaver pond, and it was just about dark. I heard his tail slapping the water about 50 yards away, then 25 yards. He was comming straight at me, but I did not think anything about it. Then SLAP went his tail 2 feet away. I thought..what's up with this beaver..what's the problem ? Then it was silent ,so I threw my line forward into the lake. The Rainbow Trout were biting like crazy.

Then boom, the beaver hit my rubber raft just forward of my butt. I thought, oh sh*t, that's it...I'm out of here and left the lake faster than you could spit into a waste basket. I was visiting THEIR home and they did allow for the taking of fish up to the point of dusk. I respect that.

 
smile.gif

Now, that raises the important Blade Forum question:
WHAT KNIFE WOULD YOU USE IN THIS SITU?
smile.gif


And if you think that I am just goofing check out posts from the 1999 days of the General Blade Discussion. 'What knife would you use against ......(put your choice of animal here) ?' I believe that included wild animals were: bear, cougar, snakes, eagles, and certainly FIRE ANTS. It was, however a very manly discussion.

Mmmm, looks like most animals bite when feel threatened.

Respectfully,

HM
 
I guess that wearing woodland camo is a bad idea sometimes if you imitate food..
HM - definitely one of those thick prybar knives to open the jaws if you get bitten.
 
had a kid that was playing in a creek here in pa get bitten several times by a beaver last year, the animal left some nasty wounds.

 
Deer hunting a couple of years ago...
The walk back to the car goes along the shore of a small lake. I saw the beaver about 25 yards out it the water. I stopped to look at him. He swam towards me. I started walking along the shoreline. He parallelled me. I stopped. He came toward me...
This went on for quite a while! Finally when he was close enough to rush the shore (3') I tried walking away from the lake.That was what he wanted! He went on his merry way and me, mine.
Looking back it was kinda comical, a grown man armed with a '06 being shooed away by an angry beaver!
 
A friend and I once visited the natural history museum in Edmonton and we recall a reference to the record beaver weighing 160 pounds! That's several times what we would have guessed. We joked that it must have been a beaver/black bear hybrid! In any event, I'll bet that guy could defend his pond pretty effectively.

DPD.
 
In open water against a beaver, for sure the initial combat advantage belongs to him. If given a choice, I would take any knife except a pocket folder. A double edge spear point blade of 5 or more inches with a grippy handle and quick -draw Kydex sheath attached to combat webbing in a upside down position would agree with me. Lets say something like the Blackjack Blackmoor 2000. If he captured one arm you could at least draw the knife downward from your chess with the other hand and have at it.

Not sure the Blackmoor is available any more. Perhaps someone has another idea and a newer knife to be used against a beaver in open water.

 
Ebbtide- That only happens in our "kinder, gentler" hunting season reality. In a survival situation man with 30/06 vs beaver the score would be man 1 beaver 0. the beaver would be turned into stew, tail steak, and a hat!
wink.gif
smile.gif
smile.gif


------------------
Where no law exists there still must be justice- Dan Mahoney
 
so am I the only one here that thinks the "what knife would you use against X animal" question is silly? You walk into the woods prepared to camp or hunt deer or hike or something and pack your gear accordingly. If you get attacked by a beaver, bear, antelope, mad sheep, etc, you use whatever friggin' knife you happen to be carrying.



[This message has been edited by shadowfax (edited 06-04-2001).]
 
No, you are not the only one.
Although we can discuss it theoretically, it has little practical importance IMHO.

HM
 
Just for the record, I had no intention of shooting the beaver...NY State law sez that you can't shoot anything in the water...and I would have never heard the end of it if I showed up with a beaver instead of a deer!
 
Anyone planning on spending time in the Boreal forests should read the book "Unarmed Defense Against the North American Beaver". It probably wouldn't have helped the guy in Finland much though, I understand Finnish beavers use different tactics.
 
The Dene People of the MacKenzie River Valley in Northern Canada use beaver (our national animal, by the way) for food and clothing. When hunting them, they will shoot them in the head, w/.22 short . Less chance of damaging fur and meat. Once they are shot, beavers start to sink, so they rush over and haul them up against the side of the boat by the back legs, belly out. They are usually still alive, and try to curl up toward the hand, for a nip. In order to kill it, they use the flat side of an axe (no, I'm not kidding!) and beat it on the chest until it has a heart attack. Personally, I was shocked at how cruel and, at the same time comical this looked, but that's the way they have done it for generations, in order to yield the most usable fur.

So, to answer the question "Which knife is best?" As long as you've shot the marauding beast in the head and have it in an ankle lock submission hold, the hardware store axe would be the best.

Jet
 
I remember when I was young, I had my dog, a golden retreiver fetching sticks in a beaver pond on a creak which weaved its way through our city. The dog was swimming with the stick in his mouth, and dropped the stick with a "omph", when it came out, it started to lick his belly and there were two large scrapes on his belly where the hair was completely gone, and it was bleeding, but the skin was still relativly intact. We brought the dog to the vet where he said that we were quite lucky as he has heard of animals die from beavers in this sort of incident.

Ken
 
I've seen footage of a beaver defending itself agains a cougar. The cougar was the looser.

Relating blades to beavers, the teeth of beavers were used by First Nation tribes to carve images in wood (totem poles, boxes, canoes, etc.) I've been tempted to try to get my hands on one (legally) to try it out. It would be a dandy experiment in primitive - and possibly survival - skills.
 
I've photographed some beavers (no pun intended), and I had no idea that they are ever aggressive. I've spent hours at a time within fairly close proximity to them while photographing, and none of them have given the faintest hint of a defensive attitude. I guess I'll have to be more aware and careful.

How did the beaver get on the Finnish fella's neck? Did he trip? Do they leap? That's just plain weird.
 
In the film I saw with the beaver backing down the cougar the beaver was jumping about 2 or 3 feet into the air and snapping. Whichever way the cougar moved the beaver turned to face it and jumped in its face. It about put the fear into me! It does surprise me that beavers would be so aggressive against people who are not posing a threat, but who knows what a beaver considers to be a threat?
 
I have used beaver jaws as chisels- they work fine, but are brittle. Marmot and porcupine teeth also do ok. If you don't know a trapper, Moscow Fur Company in Idaho carries them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top