Anyone here hunt beaver?

[NonServiam]

Revisiting an old theme. I went beaver hunting this spring, a very rewarding hunt. The area where we hunted had a much to large population, and we were asked by the local game warden to thin it out some.

To skin the beaver was hell though. Took several hours with a scalpel. The hide sticks like glue.

Anyone here tried it? Your experiences?

Peace and love to all.

 

[retrieverman]

I have never "hunted" beaver, but I have killed a couple that showed up in a creek on my place.

 

[dirtykid]

So if your "hunting" them with a rifle i assume ? does that mean that your taking shots at them while they're swimming ? Holy Ricochet batman !!! I also may have tried that when i was young (shooting at a flat surface) but years wiser now I wouldnt consider it unless i was certain of WHERE my bullet was heading should it not penetrate animals body and stay there,, dosent sound very safe, I would consider throwing some body-gripping traps in the water or some #2 coil-spring footholds set near the shore-line about 6-8" deep below waterline,, and yes they are a challenge to skin, kinda like coyote's it's 95% pulling and 5% cutting,, using a "scalpel" will almost ensure hide-damage so use a good hunting knife with a blunt point and when your "pulling" skin down from tail to head look for the skin to form a white-ish "film" and GENTLY make a slice along the meaty-backside,, around here most beaver are in-rut by late-march so their hides get beat-up from fighting which greatly devalue's the fur-value

 

[forgetitohio]

I live in Beavercreek,OH. "Home of the battling Beavers".
When I'd hunt them in the 60s-70s I'd get a shot and maybe nail one if I was lucky. LOL

 

[rszwieg]

I've shot a couple for damage control, but mostly defer to steel traps and cable snares.

 

[memphisjim]

Nope but a buddies dad had one jump in his canoe he said they are vicious creatures

 

[The-Reaver]

Nope, my state doesn't have any beaver.

 

[Sav .250]

I thought you "trapped" Beaver.

 

[Steel Talon]

Yep, back in my sportin days I was always on the hunt and extremely successful at it.....After pelt sales tanked in the late 70's not so much.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I've hunted and shot many over the years, I always used either a .22 LR semi-auto with 40 grn hp or .22 mag in a bolt gun also using 40 grain hp ammo. NEVER had a ricochet(to my knowledge. Beaver are very hard to skin and flesh using the proper equipment. I can only imagine the difficulty you had using a scalpel! Use a bolo knife next time.

 

[slicksleeve]

When I was a teenager, my assistant football coach had an infestation on his land. His son was my age, and he would go out and chop a hole in the dam. That night we would stand around the pond with shotguns and buckshot. Coach would not let us use a rifle around the water. I shot one one time, it weighed 41 pounds. All that hunting was most likely illeagal, but was fun still.

 

[Jason_G]

Nope but a buddies dad had one jump in his canoe he said they are vicious creatures

ROFL! that is hilarious. I'd hate to think what those teeth could do. Reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy talking about the guy that got his nipple bitten off by one.

I posted this on TFL, but I'll do the same here in case someone has tried this and can attest to its success or failure:

Has anyone tried compressed air to separate hide from meat? You know, where you cut a little hole, insert an air gun nozzle hooked up to a compressor and blow air between the skin and meat. Never tried it on beaver, it does work on some game animals, and works great on turkeys. Just wondering if anyone has tried it on beavers so they can say whether it works or not.

Jason

 

[NonServiam]

I know the idiom, and was very happy to put it as my Facebook status the weekend we went hunting "Went beaver hunting. No no, you misunderstand, the furry kind." My fiancé amazingly took it very well

If you want to salvage the beaver, you better shoot it while on land. It will do one great kick when shot, and if in water it can drift pretty far. If you pierce the lungs, it will sink as well.

Certainly, no rifle in the water. Ricoheting would be horrible. Always safety first, particularily in populated areas.

As to ammo, 6.5x55 and .308 seems to be preferred calibers here in Norway. Use regular big game ammo. They can grow quite large.

 

[arkrunner]

skinning a beaver

I had an old timer that told me to cut small hole near the tail and use a air hose. Blows them up like a ballon and skins them at the same time. ??? never tried but might work. Elton

 

[NonServiam]

Out of respect for the animal, I always try to use every part, but didn't get to eat beaver meat. I hear it's a ... particular ... taste?

Looking forward to getting the skin back from the guy who prepares it anyway

 

[shiftyer1]

I've always heard that beaver tail was almost a delicasy. It was a mountain mans favorite. I've not had it but thats what i've always understood.

 

[dirtykid]

the old "air-hose trick" may work on spring-summer beavers (when the skin is thinner/less fat) but up here when we can trap-em (winter into early spring) they are all fatted-up and skin still sticks to hide like cement the average beav i trap is around 25-pounds and i can skin-em in about 40-minutes each (have to be carefull or fur-buyers deduct for obvious rookie mistakes) their rear-quarters look meaty-enough to maybe contain a sizeable portion of food but i havn't been able to bring myself to slice off a chunk and cook it,, I kinda classify them the same as muskrats (A RAT that swims) so the meat dosent get wasted as i use it to trap other animals and the castor-sack even though it's a pain to remove and collect enough to make it worth-while also gets used to trap/attract MORE beavers !! i call it recycling !

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Out of respect for the animal, I always try to use every part, but didn't get to eat beaver meat. I hear it's a ... particular ... taste?

Looking forward to getting the skin back from the guy who prepares it anyway

I've hunted and eaten them. Skin them using an Air hose. Cut a small hole near the tail. Stick your finger in and lossen it a bit insert Air blower and pull the trigger if your AC produces at least 80 pounds of PSI it will blow up the beaver like a beach ball. Clean them like any other critter.
Soak over night in a pan covering the meat with Salt Water. Rinse and pat dry. Salt and Pepper and bake in a oven like a roast at 350 bout 2 hours. Or Salt and Pepper and place in a Smoker or on the Grill and cook till done then add BBQ sause the final 10 minutes of cooking.

They taste alot like Beef to me.