Hey all. I’ve seen some posts on here mention that if butchering for food beaver meat should have all of the fat removed, “and the glands on the hind legs and front shoulders.” Folks mentioning that it can give an off taste. I know the glands to remove if eating raccoon but can’t say I’ve noticed any on the few beaver that I have eaten. I’ve tried to search the archives but haven’t seen anything specific about where to locate any sort of glands on the front and rear quarters. Naturally, any search on google just refers to removing the scent glands, and the castors. Anybody here with experience on the matter? Thanks in advance

Only thing i worry about on beaver is the castors and oil sacs

I've skinned a lot of beavers for meat. I haven't noticed any glands in the hind quarters such as are in raccoons. I like to lay the beaver belly down on my tailgate, split it up the back and peel the hide down on both sides. I then change gloves and knives. Next I take out the backstraps, then I bone out the hams. That's all the meat I use off of the beavers. By being belly down, I don't get any castor or sac oil on the meat. I don't save the hides.

I use the method to this day for butchering. Now on glands, I haven't found any in the meat. Just thought I would post this video on butchering though in case anyone could benefit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxT9LHmrOY

Paul, I am not saving any hides this year. Sounds fast and easy. I will try it. My wife makes a delicious stew with them.

Now that I think about it, I do think I've found some glands in the fat. Which was why I never really rendered it down (which I wanted to do). I would be curious to know more here as well.

Butchered a lot of Beavers.Never found glands in the meat like you would find in Pork Shoulders and such.

I remember reading somewhere about avoiding glands in different areas of the body for beaver and just assumed it was another newbie post that knows more than the rest of us that have been doing stuff our whole lives.

That said, be careful to avoid castor spillage. If you get meat tainted that way you'll be very sorry and probably be dry spitting for days. I do save pelts but after they are finished being skinned in my trough I rotate the body around to access everything from the back and take backstraps and some of the leg meats. I change gloves and wash knives before doing any of that.

Beaver meat is of superb quality in my opinion. Prefer it over venison.

Lot of the glands people talk about really arent glands. They're actually lymph nodes. They arent exactly tasty but they wont ruin your meat either.

For processing beaver, I like to hang them unless theyre nuisance beaver when I cant keep the hides.

Seen Doug Adams from Temagami do a beaver butchering demo at the FHA convention a few times.
Lay the skinned beaver carcass on its belly after removing both front legs.
Then take some pruning shears and nip the spine behind the skull,nip the rib bones down each side ,then lift the back with the backstraps,and cut a little at the flanks to free the hind quarters(still attached to the ribs).and a little hand work to free the diaphragm and kidneys,then nip both hip bones to free them from the gut hole,cut the glands free from the tail meat and lift all from the gut pile.
Nice clean meat,no mess-guts and glands remain on the table.

A pretty easy way to butcher beaver is to take the legs off at the hip and shoulder joint and don't mess with the carcass, mostly ribs bones after that anyway. The tail muscle is good too but be careful with the castors if you eat that cut.

I trim the excess,but always leave some fat on the meat.

Throw a hind leg in the pressure cooker and a half hour later you have pulled beaver ,just add salt,pepper, spices.and make gravy

i do it like jeff above , I clean about 40 plus beaver a year to eat never seen any glands under arms

I open skin the beaver, remove the Castors and sacs, change gloves and knives, flip it on it's belly, remove the rear legs at the hips and remove the backstraps... never noticed any glands in the hams.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for all of the info/replies. That puts me at ease about searching for glands on the hind quarters. My 4yo boy and I are starting a (hopefully) annual tradition of getting away from home and having a trapping camp the first week of the season. Looking forward to putting some meat in the freezer and want to make sure I maximize meat quality. Long time lurker on the site, appreciate all the great information from so many experienced trappers.

I just bone out the backstraps and hind quarters and thats it usually eat fall beaver and cut out the meat before messing with oil sacs or castors.

I'm going to try this. Being a hatter market would one skinned like that matter I wonder?
Don't forget to check the liver wiskerbent.

Do many of you check the livers? Never looked at one on any of the beavers I have eaten. Always went with the cook it to 165F route

I always check. Tularemia does pop up occasionally around here . It's also goid bait for other critters if you don't eat it yourself.