This article got my hackels up before I even read it. And then I understood why.

Reflections in Nature: The beaver helped settle North America through pelts

Doesn’t that sound SO generous and noble? Like that little beaver was just pointing to its own hide and saying “Hey take this! Make some money and a country! I’m just saving water and fighting fires here. Don’t worry about killing me and my family and all the salmon and the wood ducks. I’m sure it will work out FINE!

Beaver trapping season opened on Dec. 20 and will close on March 31, 2026. A trapper will be allowed to take up to 125 beavers if trapping in several wildlife units. They may use up to 20 traps and snares statewide. The regulations on trapping beaver have greatly increased in the past few years.

When I was working as a wildlife officer, a trapper was only allowed to tend ten traps and catch three beavers. The beaver or the pelt had to be tagged by an officer after the season closed. Beaver trappers were restricted because the population was low. The reason for the low population was because the price a trapper received for a beaver pelt was well worth the trapping. Then the price of beaver pelts fell drastically low; trappers stopped putting out traps and the beaver population exploded.

Today, a trapper can take 125 beaver, and the pelts do not have to be tagged by an officer.

The paper is based in PENNSYLVANIA where apparently you can kill up to 25 entire families of beaver without so much as a permit. Gee I hope they don’t have a drought or anything.