Spring Trapping
Contributors to this thread:Small Game
From: jmiller
03-May-23
Trapping spring beaver here in North Dakota was a long time coming. The river ice didn't start breaking up until the third week of April, I started out trapping on a flood and ended today. I always try to catch 10 and usually get a few more from other hobby trappers that don't want to mess with skinning a few beaver. I've got to get them put up and sent off to the tannery now and get the smoker going to make snack sticks and summer sausage. It's hard to beat a cool, calm spring morning on the river.
From: jmiller
03-May-23
From: jmiller
03-May-23
From: Altitude Sickness
03-May-23
A lot of high quality mittens there Jeff
From: jdbbowhunter
03-May-23
Nice. Beaver trapping n handling fur a lot of work, but fun ! Good table fare too.
From: Catscratch
03-May-23
I've never eaten beaver (the rodent). Used to trap a lot of them but never ate them. Sounds like I'm missing out!
You need to post more pics of what you make out of the critters you trap. Honestly some of my favorite posts on BS is your "build" posts. The knife build guy was pretty cool too!
From: TMac
03-May-23
Well done Jeff I always enjoy seeing the critters you trap.
From: Altitude Sickness
04-May-23
Catscratch, Jeff made the beaver mittens for me above. And the reddish coyote hat shown here. This day on the River the high was 9 degrees. The hat helped to keep me cozy
From: Altitude Sickness
04-May-23
And this skunk hat. You pick the liner material and style of the hat
From: jmiller
21-May-23
Spring trapping has wrapped up, finish putting up the dozen beavers I caught this spring. They are off to the tannery now.
From: jmiller
21-May-23
From: jmiller
21-May-23
Harvested nearly 40 pounds of meat as well, made it into snack sticks and bratwurst.
From: jdbbowhunter
21-May-23
Gotta think those snack sticks and bratwurst are good!
From: Catscratch
21-May-23
Does beaver taste considerably different than beef? Like deer tastes quite a bit different thN beef in my opinion. Where does beaver fit?
Some nice looking pelts. A couple on the left look big!
From: jmiller
21-May-23
It tastes quite similar to grass fed beef. Not at all like venison.
From: No Mercy
22-May-23
Congrats and well done Jeff!
From: Shuteye
22-May-23
The last year I trapped I caught a little over 60 beavers and 9 otters. I had an Amish friend that did the skinning. He could skin a beaver while I was just getting started. I skinned coons, otters, foxes and muskrats but most all the beavers were done by my Amish friend. Beavers are really good eatin' too. I did problem beaver trapping out of the season for the county and had to bury them by law. I could use any trap, rifle or shotgun in those cases.
From: Pete In Fairbanks
22-May-23
Lots of spring beaver trapping going on in Alaska now. Open water trapping is far easier than spudding through 3 feet of ice during the winter!
We don't eat much beaver meat because the market is so hot for selling carcasses! The dog mushers and bear baiters will pay $25 per beaver!
Pete
From: DonVathome
22-May-23
I am very curious what does it taste like? Tough?
From: jdbbowhunter
22-May-23
Some of the best game meat I've had.
From: Brian M.
22-May-23
Don, to me it tastes like beef brisket. I'll either cook in crackpot or grind it all and make burgers. I haven't found it to be tough at all.
From: Shuteye
23-May-23
I crock pot my beaver and they are tender. I used to give one to a friend and he soaked the whole beaver in a big container with his own mixture of spices for a couple of days. Then he would bake it in a big oven and people really liked it. It would be served at a wild game dinner and there would be nothing left but bones when the dinner was over.
From: jmiller
23-May-23
A buddy sent me a bunch of tanned beaver he had caught in Idaho, North Dakota and Alaska, wanting a blanket made. It turned out very nice! It's heavy and soft and warm!
From: Brotsky
23-May-23
Do not make jokes about eating beaver..do not make jokes about eating beaver..do not make jokes about eating beaver...just keep repeating it to yourself and walk away...
From: Catscratch
23-May-23
I hinted at a beaver eating joke but stopped short of what I wanted to say... Just walk away!
From: Catscratch
24-May-23
I looked at the beaver blanked on my phone last night and thought it was cool. Looking at it on my computer this morning and holy cow it's beautiful! Doing some mental math and coming up with some cost numbers. jmiller would you send me a message (if you don't want to price stuff on a thread) on what that thing would cost someone? Just to be clear, I'm not in the market but my curiosity is high.
