Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee.

We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field, first light FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more.

You'll find us at the corners of Brookfield. Whether you're gearing up for the season,

dialing in a setup, or just want to talk shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place.

That's the meat eater store, Milwaukee, at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get dialed,

and get after it.

Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife, wild places, and the people who dedicate their lives to conserving both. Big shout out to Onex Hunt for their support of

this podcast. I'm your host, Lake Pickle. And man, am I ever so excited for today's episode?

Today's topic of discussion is about an animal that I'm most sure all of you are familiar with.

Heck, all of us know what beavers are known for doing.

They're the original subjects for the saying, you had one job.

They see flowing water and they go, absolutely not.

And when they wake up in the morning, I'm pretty sure they say to themselves, it seems like a good day to build a dam. Okay, I'm mostly joking here if you can't tell, but y'all get what I'm saying. Beavers are primarily known for doing one thing, building dams. It's a blessing and a curse. It's what has made them get the label as a nuisance species in many circles

and one of the factors that has made them popular amongst trappers. However, in today's

episode, we're going to be looking at beavers in a different light, possibly in a way you've

never thought of them before. It's time to add some much-needed complexity to the way this critter

is perceived. Let's dive in.

Before we dive in with our two guests, I'm going to do my best impression of my friend Brent Reeves, and I'm going to tell you a story. It's one that happened long ago, and it will set the stage perfectly for where we're going with this. Y'all ready? Here we go. This is the story of the parachuting beavers, and yeah, I did say parachuting beavers. And it takes place in Idaho in 1948. Now, as we alluded to earlier, beavers build dams.

They are what is referred to as a keystone species, which is a term that applies to one

particular organism that makes a disproportionately large influence on its environment

relative to its often low abundance, which, layman's terms means a small amount of

beavers can make a big amount of difference. Another important thing to know about a keystone

...