# Looking for furbearer recipes...



## Last Man Standing (Dec 7, 2011)

So I'm looking to start trapping pretty heavy here soon, and I take using all animal parts that I can pretty seriously. I know that some of these critters are no more than a oversized rat but I'm willing to try just about anything. If anybody wants to share any recipes for trap game, water or land, I'd appreciate it!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I was waiting for someone else to go first.

There's been a few UWN discussions on cooking furbearers. I recommend using the UWN search engine. We've done raccoon, beaver and touched on muskrat here. I did a muskrat recipe on the old forum; I should revive it.


Here's a quick primer for cooking roadkills and trapped critters;

> Use only freshly "dispatched" animals.
> It's very important to remove all the glands, especially in the armpit and at the base of the tail, if applicable. Some of the glands in the front legs of muskrats and raccoons are a pain to remove so I uually throw those parts away.
> Discard any blood-shot meat that met wire or tire.  
> Cut the critter into pieces and soak overnight in lightly salted water.
> Drain, rinse and then parboil in a pot of lightly salted water. Throw in a little baking soda and some carrots. Change the water at least once. Parboil (simmer) until half-cooked. Rinse in hot water to remove all the off-flavored fat and oils. In addition to improving the flavor, this cooking method also tenderizes the meat.
> Use the parboiled meat in your favorite recipes. BBQ raccoon and beaver is popular and a "must-have" at the wild game feeds back where I come from. Muskrat can be prepared same as rabbit, although it is not as good.
> Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

Good luck.


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## Last Man Standing (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks Goob, This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I'm excited to try this out sometime soon. I figure that I'll try anything once, If I like it I'll do it again. If not I can chalk it up to a learning experience. Thanks again!


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

If you are planning to cook ***** be sure to remove all the scent glands from under the legs and by the neck. there is a site on the internet that has a good drawing of where the scent glands are. Muskrats and Nutria are good to eat too. But remove the scent glands. Young nutria when cleaned look just like rabbit and taste pretty close to rabbit also.


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## Last Man Standing (Dec 7, 2011)

Good to know ram. I didn't think there were any nutria in utah?


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

Good thing no nutria. They would eat out the marsh grasslands. No Alligators to control population here in Utah. Young nutria are tasty, used to get some from a friend who trapped them back when I was living in Louisiana.


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## Last Man Standing (Dec 7, 2011)

ram2h2o said:


> Good thing no nutria. They would eat out the marsh grasslands. No Alligators to control population here in Utah. Young nutria are tasty, used to get some from a friend who trapped them back when I was living in Louisiana.


Yeah, rodents can be awful if they're not kept in check. Sometimes I half-heartedly wish we had gators here. I'm sure I would get sick of them, but I saw a couple episodes of swamp people on history channel and I want to take one some day real bad.


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