There is a trend in feeding fresh meats, fish, etc for pets and I have been thinking for some time now that we beaver trappers should take advantage of that potential. I just read an article where on average the people are paying $5-6/lb for fresh or frozen meats.

The associated press article I read says that the sales of fresh pet food as increased 70% in the last three years.

Unfortunately in Pa., we can’t sell any meat, either trapped or hunted. Same with fish, used to be able to sell snapping turtles, don’t know about them today.

My Dogs have eaten Beaver and wild game for 35 years now....heck the pet good industry wasnt even a Thing just a few Generations ago.

A friend knows a fur buyer and when he had hounds he would take all the beaver and muskrat meat he could get for his dogs.

You might want to check that, I think the law says it can't be sold for human consumption, unless things have changed.

If you live in the right area with a lot if beaver, you can make serious cash selling beaver or muskrat meat for dog food.

Way back in the 80's I used to hear that mushers in Alaska were paying $25 a carcass for beaver. My dogs have always put on a nice healthy coat of hair by the time beaver season is over so I know they do well on it. I think my dogs ate some kibble during beaver season, but mostly beaver.

One of the issues that I worry about is the conception that people have that beavers are endangered animals. You would need to label the meat for what it is and there could be some pushback from the general public. That said, I used to advertise in a weekly that I had beaver carcasses for sale at $5 and I had 2-3 guys that were coming regularly to buy them for pet food. I never got any crank calls about it.

I feed my dogs raw meat, learned about it from a dog show judge. https://www.texastripe.com/

In a pet food market, I'm talking lap dogs, what would need to be done to reassure folks on it's safety for pet consumption?

Tried that this winter. Apparently they thought it was a good deal till they had to process them. If a person wanted to take the time to butcher so it looks nice for the tree huggers they'll buy it. I'm thinking debone and grind. Thought I was giving them a pretty good deal at .50 c a pound carcass weight.

In bush Alaska, every carcass I didn't eat or use for wolverine bait, I sold to mushers or fed rto my own dogs. Also, using beaver meat as a main ingredient in commercial pet food isn't anything real new.

Jack

My dog loves beaver meat and I do give him some. Unfortunately for him I also love it. And honestly I don't make a lot of money at all and I have come to depend on beaver meat as a source of food in my freezer. Deer and beaver make up the majority of my red meat diet with upland game birds making up the white meat or sometimes other dark meat. Usually by mid-summer I'm back to store bought meat though.

I sell beavers to dog food company's beaver is in many commercial dog food brands fresh or frozen may command a better price .

I had a hound man who bought beaver carcass from and had me thinking he used them for dog food, eventually I figured out being a cat hunter he had another use for them. If your cat hunter or trapper there's some food for thought.
Had a good thing going till old age stopped him, the last couple years he 12.50 a piece for beaver carcass'es

All my bush mushers have been dirt poor. I always gave them the carcasses. I found out one guy was canning them and eating them. I need to move where those rich bush mushers live.

I used dump them and run before they asked me for something else.

Just tell them its organic.They will pay twice as much.

Or, has triple the omega 3's of beef!

And no msgs and is keto friendly!!

And.....FREE RANGE!!!!!!!

You guys keep going and you’ll be able to get 100 dollars a pound.