[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: In Idaho's Sawtooth Range--
We get stretched out.
Look at that middle wire there.
NARRATOR: --brothers Harry and Kidd Youren are just weeks away
from realizing a dream they've had
since they were young boys--
It's broke.
NARRATOR: --running a ranch of their own.
Oh, look at the big hole up here, Har.
NARRATOR: They finally saved up enough money
to get their start by purchasing a small herd of cattle
to raise and breed.
Looks like a herd of elk went through this thing
or a tractor, and they flattened this sucker.
We need to get this place set for cows, which means we've got
to go around and fix all of our fences, do a little bit
better infrastructure on the place.
NARRATOR: The brothers' most pressing concerns
are the broken fencing and their property's water
supply, which has recently been invaded by a new beaver colony.
This dam is not a bad problem right now
because the water is still coming
through underneath the bank.
But if he dams it up anymore, it'll probably cut out across.
Water will start flowing out across this place up here,
won't even make it down to our pasture
where we need the irrigation water later this year.
NARRATOR: The water from this creek
feeds the fields where they're planning to graze their cattle
and is also the only source of drinking water for the herd.
We need to have our irrigation in place so we
can grow grass all summer.
Can't grow grass, can't feed the cows.
Oh yeah, been cutting down willows right here.
It doesn't look all that old, really.
NARRATOR: Beavers are important to an ecosystem,
but if left unchecked, they can devastate
land that relies on free-flowing water
during the dry summer months.
No cattle ranch can succeed without access
to water to sustain the herd--
Oh, right down in here.
NARRATOR: --a fact that aspiring ranch owners Harry and Kidd
know all too well from their years running cows.
I think we just tear the middle out of it
just so the water can go through a little easier.
NARRATOR: Now with their first head
of cattle on the way in just six weeks,
they've got to beat back a beaver
dam to keep the vital water flowing free on their land.
There we go.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Water flowing up.
Got mud going through.
KIDD: This dam isn't a very big dam.
It looks like a fairly new one.
Right now I just want to tear out the middle,
drop the water enough that that beaver has to come
and investigate where its hole is.
We already killed one beaver, but if there's
another one in here, he'll come check it
out and try and plug the hole.
Let's start [INAUDIBLE] right here.
NARRATOR: Beavers typically live in colonies of up to eight,
which is why the brothers now need
to trap the area to prevent them from returning and rebuilding.
Do you want to walk up and see if we can find a place to set
that conibear upstream here?
HARRY: Yeah.
Let's go see if we can find a lodge.
Beavers usually have the dams to hold the water,
and then they'll have a lodge somewhere upstream of that.
Look at that.
Oh my hell.
HARRY: That is a beaver dam.
It's got to be, like, four feet of water holding back.
KIDD: Holy crap.
The beavers made a lot bigger dam up here in these trees.
It's about 3, 4 feet tall and probably 15 feet wide,
and it looks stout.
They got a lot of water stopped behind it.
I'm not removing it with this shovel.
I can tell you that much.
NARRATOR: Beavers build large dams
to create still ponds where they can safely lodge and feed.
A dam of this size could have taken
a full colony of beavers weeks to build,
and it's tricky to remove.
This dam needs to come out and come out now.
We can't tear this one out by hand.
We're going to have to figure out another way
to take this one out.
HARRY: You know what I think we should do?
We should take the explosives we had from that rock job.
Oh.
[INAUDIBLE]
We got a little bit of that left.
Just throw what we got left in there and get rid of it.
If we can set that dynamite underneath of it,
I'll bet you we can blow it up enough that all that water
washes the whole thing out.
HARRY: If we don't have this cleared,
it's going to wash our banks out.
So we need a quick, easy solution,
and that would be explosives.
Got it.
HARRY: Let's do that.
KIDD: Done.
We got one damn kind of tore out by hand.
The second one, though, we're going
to have to use some explosives.
I'll start pulling some of this stuff out
if you want to prep that.
HARRY: If we're under there pulling stuff out by hand,
you know, big chunk of water come down.
It could easily wash us away.
It's a lot safer just to blow it up.
You need to put some sticks to hold that on the bottom.
KIDD: I kind of do.
I need some stuff to prop it up so it doesn't roll down.
I'm gonna use some of these guys too.
NARRATOR: The six-foot-high dam has slowed the flow of water
to a trickle right where Kidd and Harry need
easy access to the creek for irrigating
their cattle-grazing fields.
HARRY: I think right there is good.
That will be enough.
You ready?
KIDD: All right, this is the big stuff.
Harry and I are going to put two sticks of high explosive down
underneath the dam a little ways and then an exploding target
that you shoot right out in front.
That's going to be our catalyst to set the other two off.
As soon as that one goes off when we shoot it,
it'll set the other two off.
Big boom from there.
Make sure we can see that one.
That should do it.
Let's find a good spot downstream
where we can still see this and far
enough away we won't get hurt.
Yeah.
I think we're far enough away here, Har.
I think anywhere here looks good.
KIDD: Let me step down in the crick here.
HARRY: Oh.
KIDD: Oh, I can see it from right down here pretty good.
HARRY: I can just see the edge of it from here.
You good? KIDD: Yeah.
You ready?
HARRY: Yeah.
KIDD: You only get one chance with explosives.
You have to be very, very careful.
Plug your ears.
Here she comes.
All right.
[EXPLOSION]
Holy [BLEEP].
HARRY: Nice shot.
NARRATOR: A single heavy blow--
HARRY: Very--
NARRATOR: --produces the surge the brothers were hoping for.
KIDD: Holy hell.
That's [INAUDIBLE] water.
Whoo!
We set that explosion just right.
Most of the sticks and debris blew out of the ditch,
and not all of it washed down and plugged everything up.
There will be a little bit of cleanup
but pretty minimal considering.
KIDD: That's a pretty good one.
Oh, look at that.
HARRY: That sucker is gone.
KIDD: Oh wow.
HARRY: Gone gone.
Good shooting.
NARRATOR: Clearing the six-foot dam on the creek
opens up a path to their property
where they're betting their life savings on
a new cattle-ranching venture.
KIDD: Look where the water level was up there.
NARRATOR: But their success depends on keeping
the beaver problem in check.
We should be able to find these logs now.
Oh, it should be high and dry.
NARRATOR: And that means eliminating
the colony from the creek.
Let's grab that conibear up by the bridge
where we left it there and see if we
can find a spot to set it.
Now that the water level's down up here,
we can find where they've been living.
We can set the conibear trap.
Should be easy to catch now.
There's got to be a spot to set that trap up here.
Oh, look at this one, Kidd.
Oh, that's a good hole right there, Har.
HARRY: I say we put one right in the middle of that sucker.
Just block it off.
KIDD: And right there, Har, that's going to get him.
Oh yeah.
If that don't work, nothing will.
We'll come check on him, make sure he doesn't rebuild it
anyways when we check our trap.
Harry and I got a lot of work done today.
We got the fence fixed, got the irrigation all situated.
We're getting one step closer to having cows.
HARRY: That's so much better than tearing it out by hand.
KIDD: Got to get back to work now.
We've got other [BLEEP] to do.