Eat the Beaver

[caribou]

I’m a Beaver Hunter from way back, I find it much more fun than trapping them, and we did quite well in an overnight boating.

9 total, from 25 to 47 lbs, nice and an excellent red hair, the oldest daughter deems them hers for hats and trim on parkas.

 

[Captcurt]

We used to have an Annual Wild Game Dinner at church. Bar-B-Q'ed Beaver was one of my favorites. Stir-fried Rattlesnake is pretty good too.

 

[MCgunner]

Never ate 4 legged beaver. No reason it wouldn't be good, though, just a giant water squirrel. I've seen beaver in the wild, but we don't have an abundance of 'em. And, in this climate, I doubt the pelt would be worth much.

Nice pintail, too.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My buddy had a contract to trap them at a couple power plants down on the river. He'd bring the meat to work when we'd have a shift cook out.
Not bad eating.

 

[huntsman]

I’ve eaten it and thought it delicious, don’t know about the cooking.

I was a trapper back in the 70’s and Ohio had a law that your dead beaver couldn’t have a bullet hole in them or you’d get pinched.

I never really got into skinning them so I just sold them whole and took the 2 buck hit.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

That is some exciting beaver hunting!

 

[Dunross]

Never had the opportunity to eat beaver though I'd give it a try if I did.

Some years ago a beaver set up house in my grandfather's pond in central Georgia. We all thought it was kind of cool at first until we saw the extent of the tree damage they caused. Maples, black gum, that sort of thing I expected, but they wiped out quite a few southern pines and cypress trees as well. Always wondered how that would have affected their flavor. Turpentine is not my thing.

 

[<*(((><]

@caribou have you ate the tail? I have not eaten beaver, but have heard that the early trappers and natives would cut the tail off, roast it on both sides until the skin flakes off and eat it as it was a big source of fat needed for the lean diet up there. What says you and Agnes?

 

[caribou]

Tail is the first meal, like a Caribou’s inner organs, so the rest of the meats can soften from rigor mortise for the next day or 3 laters eating.

Built a meat rack last night, they’re all skinned, now to wash and stretch them skins, dry up the extras for dog chow.

That’s one thing here, we have “ friends” that will eat them without complaint.......dogs gotta eat! : D

 

[Patocazador]

I killed a 50 lb. beaver while wading in a swamp duck hunting. I skinned it and ate the backstraps. It tasted a lot like deer and was more tender but only one other guy in camp wanted to try it. After he tried it he went back and cut off the legs to cook and eat later.

PS: There isn't much meat on a 50 lb beaver, it's mostly guts.

 

[BigBore44]

Alright. Now I gotta try it. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Have a very murky shallow backwater off the river that we bowfish quite often. It’s nothing to see 40 beavers in one night of bowfishing. It’s also got more big banded water snakes than any place I’ve ever seen. Hundreds. And that’s not an exaggeration. Every over hang, every stump has at least one on it. And one night....

A friend of mine and I were bowfishing this backwater. We’d shot probably 30 commons, a few mirrors, some pretty big buffalo, and one 52lb grass carp. The beaver were everywhere just like always. We came around a bend and there was a huge beaver sitting on a point. Couldn’t care less that we were bringing sunlight (14, 500w Halogens) to the dark in his home. But he wasn’t impressed with the generator so he slipped into the water as we went past. About 20 seconds later I spot what I think is a monster buff just in view of the light. I draw, fire, and...it takes off. Smoked it. It takes off and I start fighting it. I’m losing. And then it comes to the surface. And it wasn’t a buff. It was that damn beaver.

So this beaver is dragging our boat. Literally. It was just a 16 mod-v Sea-Ark but we have a new 84lb thrust Motor-Guide trolling motor on it. And it is dragging the boat backwards against that trolling motor on full power and it’s headed towards the bank. I’ve got too much line out and our lights aren’t facing the right direction to even see it because it’s dragging the boat backwards.

It makes it to the bank and crawls into this underbrush “tunnel”. Probably 4’ in diameter. Still has my arrow and I want it back. I know I should have just cut my losses (literally) and tied on another arrow. But I was down to only two and honestly wanted to end the beavers suffering. The line is still tight but it’s still taking line. And let me tell you something. Beaver can pull in water. But when they make it to land....don’t wrap the line around your hand to keep it from going farther. You’ll lose. I can see where it’s gone. So we’ve pulled the boat to the bank. Actually the beaver did that for us. I hand the bow to Cory and tell him to keep the line tight. I’m going in the brush after it. I’ve got a crappy flashlight and my 45. But I figure if the line stays tight, I can follow it in taught against my body. If the line goes slack I know the beaver has turned around and is coming back at me. Pretty smart I thought.

So I get about maybe 15-20’ into this “brush tunnel” and all is well. I have no idea how much line the beaver has taken but it pulled quite a bit off the reel. Did I mention my flashlight sucks? It’s only good for about 10 feet. Well the bowfishing gods must have been mad at me for shooting a beaver by mistake. Or they wanted to play a very funny (in hindsight) joke on me. Because the line suddenly went completely slack. I panicked and in my panic I guess I hit the power button on the light. So now it’s dark, I’m in a snake infested area, and I’m 100% positive I have a very pissed off beaver coming back at me to seek his revenge. All I have is a light at the end of the tunnel from the boat. And I very badly wanted to get back to it. I’m not sure if I crawled or stood and ran through the brush back to it. But I did. It seemed like a 100 yards but I’m sure was no more than 30-40’. And when I get back, there is Corey, the man tasked with only one job, to hold the line tight. And he’s standing on the side of the boat taking a leak not paying attention.

I was pretty sure I’d already done that when the line went slack and the light went out. I was livid. I cussed him as only a good friend could get away with. And he apologized as only a friend that truly didn’t mean any harm could. I walked over and set on the side of the boat for a minute to collect myself. And the humor of the situation came over both of us.

Once that had subsided I crawled back out of the boat and followed the line a few feet into the brush and cut it. I’d had enough for one night.

 

[JeffG]

I've eaten beaver. The are a little big boned, but delicious in a dutch oven with carrots and potatoes. Make sure you trim out the castor...

 

[caribou]

That’s a crazy story, Bigbore!

The castors are drying on the rack with the leftover meats, skins are now dry and put away .

A castor would be the last thing I would want to bite into.........lol!

 

[tomturkey]

Beaver meet is the highest protein meat there is. I have served up to 10 lbs of loin at Trappers Conventions over the years. The main dish at both of my sons graduation parties was beaver stew. At one of them the principles wife said it could not be beaver. I had to take her to show her the bones in the garbage can to prove it was to her. I had kids showing up long after the party to warm up some left over stew so they could try it. They ate up all of the left overs. GRR
Beaver can not be shot and sold in Michigan either. I have never tried the tail. I have used it like a barber's strop to touch up my skinning knife a lot

 

[SPW1]

I'm with you on the beaver tail Tomturkey, I've eaten beaver meat before and it's ok, but the tail... So tough, leathery and full of gristle it's hard to imagine it's any good. I always figured the talk about beaver tail being a delicacy was a sort of inside mountain man joke.