Well folks, today the lord was great to me and gave me a double beaver catch. One was in a 330 conibear, and the other was using a 1.65 bridger offset, on a drowning rig, however this beaver pulled my 4 foot stake completely out. Super pumped to say the least, the beaver that pulled the stake was on shore, and I dispatched him with a 220 conibear, and a nice smack to the head. Thankfully I have the plywood I will use to mount these critters with, however does anybody have good beaver recipes? Also, pumped about the castor and oil sacs, will be saving them as well. Anything else I need to know? Oh yeah these beaver were 41" and 39" and each weighed a little over 40lbs!

For recipes I do two things, smoke it into a brisket type thing and jerky.

My smoked beaver recipe is to debone the front and back legs and the backstraps. Trim off as much fat and silverskin as you can.

Set smoker to 225

Rub the meat with your favorite rub, preferably a spicy rub. Last time i tried a sweet rub it didn't so much flavor wise. Place meat into foil pans and then into the smoker.

Smoke for two-three hours depending on how much smoke you want then cover the pans with foil. Smoke for another 1-2 hours looking for an internal temp on the biggest pieces, the backquarters, of 160-165F.


Let it rest for 30 minutes then slice the meat or cut into chunks.

For jerky, i slice up the backquarters into thin pieces and use a meat hammer to thin out the backstraps then cut them. Simple marinade overnight of 5oz soy, 5 oz Worcestershire, 5 oz vinegar and 2 oz liquid smoke. Drain it the next day and add dry seasonings to taste when you pit it on the racks. Dont go heavy with the salts as the marinade had plenty of it.

Dehydrate or smoke until the pieces start to crack when you bend them

Nice!

Ok, right on, appreciate the recipe, will definitely give it a try. These were my first ever beaver, man I don't know how some of you guys who get beavers for days just keep going on these jokers. I did pretty good on skinning them, we are keeping the meat, I did ok on the castors and the oil sacs.

I was able to get a nice spice bottle worth of urine.......is that good for anything? Also I am just hang drying these castors right? They have a wonderful smell, kind of strange to think that an animal makes this smell naturally.

I'm sure you can catch about anything off beaver urine.

For the castors, hang them, flip em the next day so the sides of the castors that were touching get air. In another day or so toss em in the freezer if you intend to sell em.

Beaver meat cubed with silver skin removed


Browned the meat and added a little water. Seasoned with salt and pepper. I brought it to a boil, covered, then let it simmer for 2 hours.


While it was simmering to get the meat tender, I cut up the vegies that I'll add - carrots, onions, mushrooms, celery and taters


I added the vegies.


Then I added a quart of chicken stock and a quart of beef stock, brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes


I thickened it with flour/cold water.

Man, that looks good!

Congrats on your catches.That does look good Paul

Feel the red membrane off th castors with your fingers before you hang them to dry.

Congrats Matt!!!. Eric

Congratulations!!!

No recipes, but I always secure my drowning rod with wire to a good stout sapling or something else.
The creeks here can flood in an hour of rain and brush / logs can take your whole rig down to the Ohio River...

Great advice, actually that happened to me earlier when I caught an otter. I thought I lost 3 traps, I was able to find my log with 2 of my traps attached, and than the other day like a mile down the river I finally found my other one.

I also forgot to add that one of the beavers was lured using Lenons beaver lure!

A man after my own heart. In crocs!

We actually might be brothers from a different mother. I saw your picture where you had your kid in the old alice ruck, I did the same thing months ago with my son! It works great to take the little buddy on the go where he can't move as fast, or would be underwater.

I bet you guys are laughing, I learned today that one does not "scrape" the beaver flesh off the hide. You must slice carefully because that membrane or whatever the heck it is is one tough deal man. like good night. I did get both of them boarded, I didn't follow any guide, I am going to keep the ones from this first year. I did pretty decent for making a circle with nails, I do have it up on the nails to let airflow get underneath to try and dry that fur out!