Varmits

Nebraska · November 13, 2019, 10:19:49 AM

I looked a liitle for a Varmit thread before I posted this so if there is one feel free to merge it into it. I got the beaver that was trying to plug the outflow tube on the pond day before yesterday, it (they) got a couple 10 year old cottonwoods and a flowering pear, plus a fair amount of the neighbors corn before I got this one. I got one in June as well. No damage so far to the Walnut plantation. I hope that's it for them for a while. Ive only had a couple

over the years I think the flooding pushed them out of the bottom below me this spring. My tech wanted to see it so she had to have a picture. She was pretty fired up.

btulloh · November 13, 2019, 10:22:42 AM

That's a big one. Good score. They sure can cause a lot of trouble.

Southside · November 13, 2019, 10:23:57 AM

Pelt looks dry, I am guessing you didn't get him with a 330?

Nebraska · November 13, 2019, 11:47:01 AM

@Southside ,Honestly to tell you the truth they have always scared the (insert your word of choice here) out of me. Not sure why but trapping as a kid was that way. Part of it is if I accidently caught a non target animal I can let it go so I'm pretty much a leg hold user. and heck if I damage said animal....Well I usually can fix it... I'm pretty soft hearted spent too much time fixing broken animals to injure one with out a specific purpose. Hmm I'm getting hungry though and some deer chilli sounds kinda good though. Just figured out the what's for supper question. 8)

Texas Ranger · November 13, 2019, 12:17:42 PM

Had a brother in law that ate beaver, was particularly fond of the tail. Kinda like eating ground hog.

Southside · November 13, 2019, 12:24:19 PM

Neighbor used to take the frozen carcass and feed them to his dogs, their coats were very slick and the dogs were fat, but boy oh boy did those farts stink!!! ;D

WV Sawmiller · November 13, 2019, 07:20:13 PM

That's a fine looking beaver! I always thought varmits were various carnivores but I guess they can be anything (Anybody? :D) that's a piddlin' nuisance. My mom did a running battle with beavers there in N. Fla for years. They would dam up the wet weather stream at the run off from the 4 lane highway and created a pretty decent pond that had a few fish, frogs and lots of snakes. She'd go down near there and clean out around a particular maple or bay of such and get all the briers and honeysuckle and such cut away and come back the next morning to find a pencil shaped stump. My brother always told her the beavers thought she was marking them for them to come cut. I told her try putting sugarcane out for them and maybe she could rot their teeth and give them cavities and such (She never knew it but I was rooting for the beavers). :D The state finally paid a trapper to come catch them to keep them from flooding and getting water across the highway. I have eaten them and they are okay. I can't imagine a cleaner meat as they only eat willow bark and such. The first one I ever skinned I left outside and my dogs ate every bit of it and they would not eat a coon. They are the hardest animal I ever skinned as there seems to be no layer of fat between the meat and the hide and I had to cut it way every step of the way. If anybody knows an easier way to skin one I'd love to know, not that I ever think I'll ever shoot another one.

WDH · November 13, 2019, 07:48:20 PM

A varmit is anyone or anything that crossed Yosemite Sam ;D. Also, they was galoots and idgits to deal with too :D.

thecfarm · November 13, 2019, 08:01:06 PM

I only had beaver once. I would eat it again!! Wife cooked it lke a pot roast. It's a dark and I do mean dark brown. It tasted just like a pot roast. If I had a blindfold on,I would of thought it was a pot roast. Someone gave it to me,so I have no idea about how big it was.

Nebraska · November 13, 2019, 09:01:13 PM

@WDH .....I promise ifens I ever catches me a trophy sized galoot I'll post it right up here....idgits are too common meet them most every day.
Thanks that reference made me smile. I may skin it tomorrow, kind of would like to get him mounted standing by that little cottonwood tree. It's one of those things I really don't need but it would be a cool coffee table...at least to me....

WDH · November 14, 2019, 07:11:54 AM

:D

Roxie · November 14, 2019, 03:01:45 PM

Idgits. :D :D :D

Either that is one enormous beaver, or that is one tiny little lady.

trapper · November 14, 2019, 11:05:49 PM

FYI in areas that have long winters and food runs low they recycle their stools to survive.

WV Sawmiller · November 15, 2019, 12:37:58 PM

TMI :D

WV Sawmiller · November 16, 2019, 06:28:44 PM

Back to Yosimite Sam - isn't he he the fella who likes to shoot idjits in the brisket 47 times hand-runnin' with his trusty 6 shooter without ever reloading. :D

KEC · November 16, 2019, 08:24:08 PM

To cook a beaver, choose one from clean water. Skin and eviserate it (skinning time improves with practice). Cut off the feet, head and tail (discard). I cut the carcass in half and freeze for later. I have a very large stainless steel cooking pot and I put the beaver and lots of water in the pot and put on the wood stove for several hours. Do not boil; it makes meat tough. When it is well done, remove from pot, discard the water, remove meat from bones, discard fat and anything you don't like the looks of. Put the meat in a crock pot and stir in store bought barbeque sauce. I like honey/hickory. Heat through but do not cook; that degrades the sauce. Serve on burger rolls. I've take this to big game dinners and it goes fast; the last time it was gone before I could get any.

Nebraska · November 16, 2019, 11:27:32 PM

@Roxie , Julie isn't very big But I guess that thing weighs about 45 #.
@KEC If I would've cooked it I would've made it tough my first instinct would be to boil the heck out of it. Learned something... don't boil a beaver.

KEC · November 17, 2019, 01:12:11 AM

Oh, I forgot to mention to carefully remove the castors and oil sacs by the hind legs of the beaver before cooking. Beaver pelt prices are currently low, but the castors and oil sacs can be sold and considering the price of quality meat at the supermarket the meat is worth a lot. All predators love beaver and it is great trapping bait.

Logger RK · November 17, 2019, 07:50:59 AM

It's not to fun shearing where beavers have also cut. I cut about a 20 inch Aspen & thought it was heavier then normal cause it started to pull me over,then I noticed the 20 inch they had cut that was tangled in the tops. Did manage to throw it forward before going over sideways. And they leave the stumps to high. I told the wood buyer,if I could get them to directional fell it wouldnt be so bad.

WV Sawmiller · November 17, 2019, 08:59:26 AM

@KEC mentioning removing the castor glands reminds me one time as a teenager I was duck hunting at a flooded sandbar on the Escambia River in N. Fla and my buddy had told me if I got a chance at any beaver he wanted them. The head of a dark wooly critter appeared in the flooded willows as it came swimming by so I shot it in the face with a load of #4 shot. Turned out instead of a beaver in the rising water it was an otter. I quickly grabbed it before it could sink and took it home to skin. While skinning the hide hung at some point near the anus so I gave it a sharp tug to pull it free. Evidently that was where his scent gland was located and I succeeded in spraying it all over the right side of my face and neck. Boy did that stink and even though I scrubbed it as much as I could it was still several weeks before I could go in the woods without all kinds of animals trying to get intimate with me. Must be real powerful stuff.

Old Greenhorn · November 17, 2019, 09:14:13 AM

:D :D :D :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Good story, it's how we learn.

Nebraska · November 17, 2019, 09:33:21 AM

I'm glad the k9 variety isn't nearly that bad,that is a funny story. I had an excavator in yesterday to reset a couple tubes the floods this spring almost washed out under my driveway beside the pond, it happened to be right beside where I caught the beaver. Took a couple bites out of the bank where they were working no lodge tunnels in the bank there. I wonder if they were nested back in the grade where the tube came through, easy spot if they were that gig is over now. > ;D 36 in culvert 30 feet long packed back in tight.