Muskrat-Beaver on the dinner table?
Small Game
Where I hunt there is a creek and it is stocked and I mean loaded with muskrats. Some of them are the size of small raccoons.
It got me thinking today while watching them.....tasty or related to the possum in terms of eating.
What about Beaver?....Not that Beaver the animal one.
I tried raccoon last year for the first time and I must say I was impressed. Up at our cottage last summer I busted one out from the winter I saved and we just picked meat off and cooked it right there over the fire. No salt or pepper and several of us said wow in surprise.
Muskrat can be danged good, similar to rabbit.
They're pretty much herbivores, like deer and cottontails.
Beaver is commonly cooked. I've had it smoked, grilled and simmered down in a crockpot long and low and served as BBQ sandwiches.
I wad on a survival camp out many years ago and we hit a muskrat with a rock and killed it. Boiled it and won't ever try that again.
Get permission to trap them they are bringing good money.
Wait......Don't all men like to eat a little beaver????!!!!???? :0)
Welcome to Junior High, HH, sorry...
HuntHard,
I have had smoked beaver, and it is excellent. Those that are soaked in brine first, tend to be even better tasting....at least for me personally.....
Never tried it, but I just don't want to eat rats. I just plain dislike squirrels, muskrats and beavers. Just too ugly in the face to eat imo.
Both meats are good table fare. Beaver is excellent when made into jerky. They are both vegetarian animals.
I used to cook the muskrats I trapped for pelts, they were darned tasty
I have had beaver, very good. I have also tried beaver tail. After reading Undaunted Courage I was inspired to give it a try(Lewis and Clark stated it was their favorite). Remove the tail from the carcass and put it on the grill as is. Once the skin bubbles remove it from the grill and remove the skin, cube the meat. Saute it in butter and garlic. It taste like sauted fat, not my thing but if I was was pushing a giant boat up the Missouri river across the country I imagine the calories would be welcomed.
You want to make sure you remove the castor sacs. Also use a separate knife for removing them and skinning the beaver. If you get any of the castor on the meat you will ruin it. It is very good meat. Had pulled BBQ muskrat at a trappers gathering this spring, dang it was good!!
mmmmm...sautéed fat! yum!
Anyone tried shaved beaver? You know sliced thin. LOL
Extreme, I prefer "original recipie" but to each their own
You guys are giving our family secrets.
Beaver meat is good but Fred Eichler gave his wife and me cooking instructions on how to cook the tail. He must of been darn hungry back then because though we all tried it, we never reached for another bite!
So, Bear Track.....what you're saying is that your wife only likes your tail eh??????!!!!!
I like hunting beavers and running a shaft into them... but really not much into eating them, at least not very often.
Clarification... My wife is a good cook and her beaver is very tasty.
Ghostbird, wife caught ya?
I knew Fuzzy would be all over this exotic coo-zene stuff.... heheheheh...
Smelled beaver used for bear bait once.... Don't think I could ever get that out of my mind if it was sitting on my plate....
Skinned OTOH.... different animal all together.... even when I was in jr high.... =D
You guys have to know Ghostbird. What he writes may make you smile, but to hear that southern gent say it would add a whole new level of funny!!!
Here's what our cooking instructions were: Throw it in a hot oven till it swells up like a football, peel the hard skin off and eat the inside. Was not good at all, even covered in salt or ketchup! We sure laughed as that one is now off our list of things to try.
Fuzzy, just playing it safe!!!
Like most game animals the taste is very dependent on how you clean it. Nothing worse than a gamey tasting beaver! Yuk!!! ... I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Did someone route this thread to another website? I always thought there was more class on the Bowsite!
"I always thought there was more class on the Bowsite!"
Umm...no.
That's been my problem in life all along.... always skipped class to go have fun.....
Sorry, Dwayne, not a chance of class on Bowsite, especially when people can over reference something sexual over and over, and think they're being funny and original.
Start a thread on crossbows or baiting and then watch how fast kindergarten comes to bowsite.
I am having bobcat back strap tonite the best
TD, They say once you get past the smell you got er licked!! LOL
Ken Taylor is a regular here who lives in an Indian village in northern Quebec.
He would always tell me how beaver is a delicacy and the meat from the skull was the tastiest...Me...I pass...lol
aw come on writer, acting like you're in 7th grade once in awhile don't hurt nothing ' ;)
Sorry if my humor added to the derailment of this thread.
Lord help us all. God forbid there is a little funny banter on Bowsite. A little humor never hurt anybody. If you don't find this stuff at least a little funny, then I feel sorry for you. Some of us don't have to be serious all the time and we enjoy some sophomoric humor. It's like having a good laugh around the internet campfire. Laugh a little, or laugh a lot... it's good for you!
GhostBird out!!!
I sure have no problem with funny and am no prude. Yet when I see threads deteriorate like this one I have to ask if this is the bowhunter image we want to portray to our sons, daughters and wives we would so like to have join our ranks.
Sorry, I forgot there may be women around the campfire... I thought they were all at home cleaning the beavers we just shot!!!
Words to live by men: If it smells bad don't eat it. This applies to anything you might wish to try up to and including haggas and beaver (innuendo or otherwise).
Exactly how long DO you want to talk about beaver and rat recipes???? Special sauces?
good grief.....
I was gonna post the obligatory Naked Gun beaver clip.... but this works.... =D
Ghostbird, that was the best. Ever.
Kill this thread. Nothing but a degeneration.
A degeneration from rat stew and beavertail pie?
While that has a small bit of humor to it on it's face... a smirk maybe..... Ghostbird had me choking on the coffee coming out my nose....
I'll second that degeneration ..... been called worse.... and took it just a seriously..... =D
People are fairly stupid in what they determine as clean. Muskrats, beaver, squirrel are infinitely more clean than industrially raised chickens, hogs and beef. Frankly, it makes sense that a grass fed groundhog would be delectable. But people get queasy when you mention it.
I can't count how many people tell me squirrels are dirty because they are "a rodent." Visit a Tyson chicken facility I say. Take a tour of Smithfield Foods. If you can eat store bought bacon and chicken, you are eating the nastiest, most potentially hazardous food available. Not that there is anything wrong with bacon. Or chicken. I'm just asking for a smidgen of critical awareness and logic.
"I'm just asking for a smidgen of critical awareness and logic. Owl"
Your at the wrong place friend. This is Amurica! We don't need no stinking whatever it was you said! Lol, Mike
Mike, we lease to a diesel mechanic in our shop. One of his employees has a big ole' jacked up truck with the license plate: MURICAH . I get a laugh every time I drive out of the parking lot. :)
No need to feel sorry for me, I can find plenty of humor in life...on things that are funny. The same ol' tired lines, over and over, to me, aren't.
And I don't mind stepping back to the 7th grade occasionally, Those were the best two years of my life!
Check with Sito or my other friend, they'll vouch that I can laugh and cut-up. :-)
I'm with Owl. Folks are often illogical about food choices. I've eaten various wild animals, birds, fish, plants, and bugs that more 'civilized' folks turn their noses up at without even trying. Some of them have proved to be some of the most delicious and health-promoting things I've ever eaten. Meanwhile, many of those with their noses turned skyward have no idea where their food comes from, how it was raised and treated, its nutritional value or lack thereof, what body parts are actually in it, bad things added, good things removed, or what it ultimately does to them.
The documentary Food Inc. is an interesting video for anyone vaguely interested. I believe it's on youtube.
I have beaver at game dinners here in ct....Pulled BBQ Beaver...it was excellent
I've skinned too many rats....it's a smell I never want to put in my mouth.
A friend brought some roast beaver to work a couple weeks ago and it was damn good!
Owl is never clueless....know the snake your picking up
Never could figure out why people turn their noses up at the thought of wild game. Its about as healthy, clean and organic as it gets.
Pig Doc, I have been to some of the farms where my food came from (past tense). I also have friends, coworkers, and family members who live on, work or worked on dairy farms, beef cattle farms, butcher shops, and in proceesed food production industries... and while I wont eat most of what they turn out, they aren't as bad as much of what's out there... industrial feedlots and productions like Owl mentioned. Not all American farms are created equal. Some of them are safe, healthy, humane, and a LOT of them aren't.
I don't eat much beef nowadays, but when I do it's 100% grassfed by a friend of mine.
Modern ag produces some very unhealthy meat items. I try to avoud supermarket meats myself.
"Check with Sito or my other friend"
LOL !
I cant speak for anyone else, but I caught the humor of that statement. You just proved you don't need provacative innuendo for humor.
Nice one, Writer.
Pig Doc, You'd do well to not make uninformed assumptions about dissenting opinions. If, however, you wish to persist, please tell me what I have seen and experienced relative to the subject matter.
"Check with Sito or my other friend" I caught that also tonyo. Funny stuff.
I trapped a few beaver a couple years ago out of the cleanest mountain stream you can imagine and wanted to try some. Even google'd some recipes and was excited about it. Unfortunately, I was going through some sinus issues at the time and couldn't get through skinning one without throwing up several times. And back in the day, I skinned lots of coons and ate them back in W.Va where I grew up. Skinned lots of possums too but wouldn't eat any of them. Still want to try beaver because the meat looked as good as anything.
I had a neighbor when I was a kid that ate possum. He trapped them live, caged them, and fed them green stuff for a couple weeks before he ate them.
I was always too picky to try it.
"I have no idea what you have seen and experienced." - That was simple. Thanks. You don't possess enough acronyms to eliminate first hand experience or common sense. Speaking of common sense, why is there a NPBFSC and PBAWC, etc. if those issues have not been and are not still a concern? Again, thank you.
Wow, I thought I derailed this thread.
Are they now farm raising muskrats & beavers?
On Marylands Eastern Shore You can order muskrat in some resturants. On a TV food show one night. Don't know if I would eat it though.
Pig doc. It makes sense you would promote those meats because that is how you make money. I love bacon, but science has proven that fried bacon and pork is detrimental to your health. Pork is a top carrier of trichina worms that can kill you dead once they reach your brain if not cooked thoroughly. One of my classmates in nursing school took care of a patient whose brain was infested with said worms. She said he was rendered retarded, had no control of bowel or limb, and was dying a slow, horrible death. There is a reason pork is forbidden for consumption in half the world today. The Jews and Muslims and half a dozen major religions and ethnic groups know the pig is a filthy animal. It's proven that fried bacon contains carcinogens that cause cancer. Pork fat causes atherosclerosis or plaque in the arteries. Pig tissue has the closest makeup to human tissue, that is why we can use pig heart valves in a human heart. What else do you want to know?
I lived in eastern North Carolina for five years, and hunted on or beside several huge hog operations.
I stopped Duck hunting when I saw Ducks swimming and feeding in the holding pond for the big Swine operations down there.
Once in Eastern NC, a holding pond dam broke, washed down into the New River, and killed hundreds of thousands of fish, all the way to Willmington, and into the ocean.
Noticed right off the warnings on the antibiotic feeds delivered to the hog farms.
Noticed every morning how the hog operations would place their "stress hogs" in a big dumpster.
(hogs that are penned from birth, shoulder to shoulder, never develop mentally, and can get stressed out and have heart attacks just by farm hands showing up to hose down the wood slat floors in the barns)
The stench from the hog barns, with crap from 10,000 hogs or more, would actually burn your eyes and nose. It did the same to the Whitetail, and thus I was very successful placing arrows in deer because they could not smell me as good.
I buy pork locally, from small farmers, not the big penned up 10,000 head operations from mass produced, stressed out, and full of antibiotics pork producers.
I do not believe that mass produced pork will kill you, but I do not believe it is healthy, either.
Pig Doc, your resume' makes my point. If conditions were not so 'nasty and potentially hazardous' , the "proactive" measures would not be necessary. If you didn't go kamikaze on my comment you wouldn't look so hysterical.
I think industrial grade farmers and processors are doing generally good work within the context of the industry and market. Does not preempt or change the nature of the conditions, however. Just the way it is.
Thank goodness for safe cooking temps., too. Safe temperature guidelines perform a really good "mop up" function in the farm-to-table safety paradigm.
Pic Doc is real dirt bag. Last time I challenged him, he said he was going to **** my wife. This time he sent me a PM. Here it is word for word : "I see you are still nothing but a f***ing lawn mowing moron. That may be the stupidest post I have read this year. Thought you might have wised up by now. Guess not"
Too bad you are not as good a man as some of these farmers you talk about.
"... Muslims and half a dozen major religions and ethnic groups know the pig is a filthy animal."
Yes, but they also strap dynamite to their chests and blow themselves up in cafes, believing that 72 virgins await them in heaven for doing so. I'm thus disinclined to take their dietary advice or anything else related to health and welfare.
We're having venison curry tonight :)
It's very reassuring sitting down with your family to eat meat that you killed and processed yourself. Besides the fantastic taste, this is why I'm a meat hunter.
I've heard beaver is fantastic but have never tried it. I've seen it eaten on Bizarre Foods and Dead Meat. Both shows seemed like the people cooking it knew WTF they were doing. Both hosts said it was very good.
I would bet that eating muskrat, you'd have to be really careful with the dissection.
You "smell" a guy who does not not need an advanced degree to know animals raised in excrement are not as clean as those, say, not. And, again, your profession validates my quote.
I've seen the farms. I've been in the plants. If you want to say modern production is clean, you are on a fool's mission. If you want to prove that modern practices have greatly mitigated those conditions, you have a good case based on percentages. It does not contradict my point.
As far as cooking temps, trichinosis is not the only concern. E.coli is pretty wicked too...
To be fair, I am only basing my opinion based on my first-hand experiences. Since you have been on boards and visit hundreds of farms, give a few links of the clean industrial farms and I'll be glad to perform a little do diligence. I have no vested interest in denigrating industrial meat production.
Thornton, Pig Doc has a habit of blowing anything remotely critical of big ag way out of proportion. And he gets ugly about it. He is poor ambassador but don't take it personally.
"Trichinosis in swine comes from garbage-fed pork, not confinement pork," - - - - " Bigger trichinae risk would be from the backyard farmers tonyo is advocating. "
PigDoc,
Just for the record, I do not know of any Farmers that feed slop to their hogs. I do have two places locally to buy Pork. The latter is a local Farm that also runs a USDA inspected Butchery. His hogs are only penned about two weeks before slaughter. I think they call it "Corn Finished" or something like that.
He also advertises his beef cattle as grass fed and corn finished.
Free range for the most part.
Tony
PhD, Princeton . .
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(Plain Highschool Diploma, Princeton, Kentucky)
;^)
Got to protect the paycheck.
"Not that there is anything wrong with bacon. Or chicken. I'm just asking for a smidgen of critical awareness and logic."
Owl, how dare you to politely ask for a smidgen of critical awareness ? My God, man, this is Bowsite, you are supposed to use "Internet Blogging Rule No. 1", which is "Go ugly early".
;^)
Thanks for reading the whole post, Dr. Oliver. ;)
If I recall the last trichinosis deaths I have heard of was from one of those nice clean natural organic black bears...
Or you could leave a gut shot organic (non-GMO of course) deer out all night and recover it in the morning... gut it, drag it through the dirt and grass back to the truck, drive around a few hours showing it off, hang it in the garage for a week, skin it, cut it up on an old wooden table while knocking back a few with your buddies, who Lord knows have even washed their knives much less their hands.... then give half of it away to friends and relatives.... even with all that there are few widespread problems, just isolated incidents... or maybe the friends and relatives just toss it out anyway...
If a person may think the industry health standards are lax I would suggest they look into opening their own meat processing plant and find out how "lax" they really are.
In all honesty.... some folks are screaming "fire" and there isn't even any smoke, mostly just stirred up dust from a few with some agenda of their own, mostly one not ever directly related to their dust cloud .... they just think there could/should be a fire. But there is nothing out there resembling any crisis. Period.
I'll take a slab of bacon at the market over somebody handing me a dead muskrat carcass all week long and twice on sunday.... but to each their own....
TD, agreed, I am not keen on eating meat processed by someone I don't know. I also am not keen on eating food cooked by someone I don't know.
Those are the primary reasons I hunt and self-butcher, and rarely eat out.
By the way, I am employed as an inspector in the public Food Safety sector.
then there's this:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/factoryfarmtotable-restaurant-proudly-serves-local,34673/
I fried up some beaver backstraps last winter after trapping a couple. I brought them to card night at my granpa's place and everyone went back for seconds. Grandpa was a little confused that night and realized 1/2 way through the meal that he was eating beaver. The look on his face was priceless!!
Right on Pig Doc...
We want to hear more about guys eating beaver or some of those musky "hood" rats.
My family trapped and I was a skinner for many years from childhood.
We often wrapped coons, beaver and sometimes possum to give to folks to eat. I have seen so many parasites and worms crawling out of them that along with the musky scent, I simply do not regard them as a food item. If you like the meat eat it, not for me.
Wow how did I miss this one? 4 minutes of my life I can't get back..... What If you hunt beaver with a Rage BH and it deploys prematurely or fails to deploy at all? I have concerns
"What If you hunt beaver with a Rage BH and it deploys prematurely or fails to deploy at all? I have concerns "
Jack, you left out "bait", "crossbow", "High Fence", "TV Hunter", and "Boat mounted ATV with spotlight".
Bacon wrapped muskrat is good eatin'.
Bacon wrapped anything is good eatin
Nothing worse than premature deployment on a beaver....
"It's a post about muskrats and beavers. Someone decides to hijack it and turn it into a shot at the livestock and meat industry - completely uncalled for, and weirdly supportive of HSUS anti-meat rhetoric. Apparently some here support the HSUS anti-meat agenda."
I presume your comments mean you are supportive of putting downers into the food supply? Or do you support the HSUS anti-meat rhetoric as well?
Do you recall of the top of your head the USDA standard for the tolerance for salmonella contamination in chicken? Back when I was working for the California Beef Council and finishing my second degree in agriculture, I believe it was 30%.
If this imbroglio finds Matt posting again, it is worth any annoyance heretofore endured.
Any. That stated, I have deliberately refrained from specifics despite Doc's provocation. No one here wants to drag the meat industry through the muck unnecessarily.
My OP was only to frame the issue of eating wild game within the context of societal consumption habits. In hope to rephrase and allay further conflict, let me offer that anyone willing to eat industrially produced meat should easily accept the cleanliness, if not the palatability, of wild roaming critters.
I believe this crowd knows both the spirit and letter in which I made my comment. We all eat meat. We, better than the non-hunting general public, are informed as to the health and handling of our protein. We also partake of the food market and know the importance of proper preparation of both domestic and wild meat.
If the above leaves anyone unsatisfied, I ask he/they PM me and we'll sidebar anymore potential ugliness. Matt, we all hope to witness a reprise of your Bowsite contributions.
Randy/Owl, I have never seen you eat meat, or offer serious harm to a warm blooded animal, therefore I believe you are a PETA mole....
wait... no...my bad, you're legit ;)
Care should be taken.... pretty soon you'll be known as Warm n' Fuzzy..... =D
Mole.... never eaten one of those either.... can't even make a joke with "innuendo" about em... well, ok, maybe a MM or Eva Mendes one if you call it a "beauty mark"....
Fuzzy, Anyone who has seen me shoot may secretly suspect I could not bring myself to harm an animal. :)
I was once nominated for the "PETA Bowhunter of the Year" award. I don't think it was a compliment, either. :-(
I am totally flabbergasted!! Thank the Hunting Gods that Pigdoc outed Owl, just when you think you know a guy BOOM ya find out he has been a secret squirrel for PETA! Their goes my faith in mankind:< Randy does this mean the possibility of us hunting together again is just a fantasy?
yeah, well like he said Dave, just because he bowhunts, doesn't mean the animals are in danger of harm ;)
OK, I have seen Owl bring a deer out of the woods, and he even gutted my deer for me that same day.
I cannot claim that I saw him shoot that deer, but a retired Army LtCol told me he saw it. That same Colonel says that he has witnessed Owls kids shooting straight.
Mark Twain once said, "Southerners are polite to the point where they are mad enough to kill you." Owl is a true Southern Gentleman.
All that said, I have personally witnessed what Owl can do with a knife in mere seconds . . . . .
. . . . so, don't piss him off is my advice.
:D
"OK, I have seen Owl bring a deer out of the woods..."
- Tony, you missed the furtive attempts at resuscitation and the 5 really embarrassing cell phone calls to JCC 911.
"All that said, I have personally witnessed what Owl can do with a knife in mere seconds . . . . ."
- That usually entails a few stitches, a co-pay and 35 letters from Riverside Medical mailed to the house. :)
(Looking forward to some upcoming bird hunts with you and the LtCol. soon)
Dave, you and Cecil know me better than most. So, by keenly honed reflex, I completely disavow anything you have to say.
"By the way, I am employed as an inspector in the public Food Safety sector. "
Fuzzy, was that you that shut down 3 Chinese Restaurants in Fredericksburg? If so, don't stop with just 3, keep going, man !
no Tony, due to my work area, I shut down Chinese restaurants further West ;)
Owl, keep them reflexes sharp, missing even one disavowal around me n Dave can get risky ;)
by the way, just to keep ya sharp; 'dis a consonant: "C" ........ and 'dis a vowel: "E"
"no Tony, due to my work area, I shut down Chinese restaurants further West ;) "
Was it because GhostBird reported some skanky smelling and tasting Chinese Beaver ?
Ouch that might have hurt if you had spelled it right. LOL
Fuzzy, we all figured you made it to 3rd grade. Quit shown' off. Dave, to you that would be post-grad work. lol (Don't shoot me... I've seen the hat..)
Tony, check yourPMs.
