American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 23 Dealing with Beavers
Lin Yu'an did not deal with the beaver immediately, but instead restored the lasso of the first trap and carefully checked the condition of the wire and anchor.

After confirming there was no damage, they were cleverly rearranged back to their original positions. Beavers are social animals, and there must be more than one in this den.

Although the other beavers may have already fled the area, he still held onto a sliver of hope.

Then, with a hint of anticipation, Lin Yu'an walked towards the location of the second trap.

Upon reaching the second trap, the same situation occurred again! The steel cable connecting the anchor pile was taut, and there was even a beaver underwater!
However, this one was smaller, weighing about sixteen or seventeen pounds, and had clearly drowned.

"Two traps, two beavers!"

"It seems the reconnaissance the day before yesterday and all the hard work yesterday paid off! The wire snare trap has a 100% success rate! Now the fat source is no longer a problem!"

Lin Yu'an tied the two beavers together, lifted them with a stick, and carried them on his shoulder to the riverbank, far from the sanctuary.

The terrain there is open, making it easy to operate and also avoiding unnecessary trouble caused by the smell of blood too early.

He faced the camera, his face still brimming with barely suppressed excitement, as he tossed the larger beaver in his hand.

"Look at this guy! It weighs at least twenty pounds! This is not just a good meal, every part of it is valuable! Its fur, meat, and even its glands have special uses."

"However, we must handle it very carefully and professionally before consuming it, paying particular attention to hygiene and safety to avoid parasite infection."

He took out a sharp, high-carbon steel multi-tool and a whetstone from his backpack.

First, I carefully sharpened the blade on a water-dipped whetstone to ensure it was as sharp as new.

“A sharp knife is essential when dealing with animals with such thick fur; otherwise, it will be very difficult and the fur may be damaged.”

Lin Yu'an laid the drowned beaver flat on a large, pre-cleaned rock, belly up, as it needed to be treated first.

"The first and very important step in treating beavers is to prevent the growth of bacteria in their internal organs, so the internal organs must be removed as soon as possible."

"When opening the abdomen, you must be very careful to avoid puncturing the intestines or bladder, otherwise the contents will contaminate the meat, which would be a great loss."

He carefully made a small incision at the junction of the beaver's chest and abdominal cavities with the tip of his knife.

Then insert two fingers and push up the abdominal wall. Using the tip of the knife, follow the guidance of the fingers to cut open the chest cavity upwards and the abdominal cavity downwards.

This can prevent direct incision from damaging internal organs.

After exposing the internal organs, Lin Yu'an carefully separated and removed the beaver's intestines, stomach, and bladder, throwing them far away into the flowing stream to prevent the smell from attracting scavengers.

"When discarding inedible parts, they must be handled properly to avoid attracting other predators."

He then began to carefully separate and remove the edible internal organs, such as the heart and liver.

"Beaver livers are very large and rich in vitamin A, making them a great source of nutrition. Their hearts are also edible."

He carefully removed the entrails and placed them on clean leaves that he had prepared beforehand, intending to cook them after taking them back to the shelter.

While processing the beaver's internal organs, Lin Yu'an specifically pointed to two pear-shaped, yellow glandular sacs near the base of the beaver's tail.

"Look, this is the famous 'beaver'. In Europe over the past few centuries, beaver was a highly sought-after and precious spice that could be used to make perfumes."

"From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the craze for beaver fur for making hats and the profits from their glands led to the large-scale hunting of beavers."

"Of course, we don't need this gland right now, but it's still interesting to learn about it."

After cutting off the two scent glands intact and throwing them into the lake, he said to the camera:

"The internal organs are all taken care of. Next is a small task: skinning!"

As he spoke, he carefully used the tip of a multi-tool to make a small incision along the midline of the beaver's abdomen, starting from its lower jaw and extending all the way to the base of its tail.

"Beaver fur is very thick and warm. If processed properly, it can be made into hats, gloves, or used as bedding, all of which are excellent materials for keeping warm."

After cutting open the abdominal skin, he made incisions on the inside of the beaver's limbs, from the ankles towards the midline of the abdomen, so that the entire skin could be peeled off relatively intact.

Lin Yu'an used one hand to grasp the edge of the cut fur, while using the back of the knife or his fingers with the other hand to carefully separate the skin from the subcutaneous fat and muscle tissue.

He tries to avoid cutting directly with the blade to prevent tearing the skin or removing too much fat. "When peeling, you should follow the muscle fibers, separating little by little from top to bottom or from outside to inside. When you encounter areas where the fascia is tightly connected, you can gently break it with the tip of the knife."

"Beavers have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, which is also a valuable source of energy. When skinning them, you should try to keep the meat intact so that it can be scraped off later to render oil."

Under the sunlight, he peeled off the reddish-brown beaver fur completely, with some bits of meat and fat still stuck to the inside of the pelt, which would require further cleaning.

Lin Yu-an unfolded the skin he had peeled off and showed it to the camera: "Look, it's a fairly complete beaver pelt."

“We need to clean it as soon as possible, scrape off the remaining fat and meat, and then tan it, otherwise it will spoil very quickly.”

After skinning the beaver, Lin Yu'an began to cut the beaver meat. First, he removed the limbs from the body, and then he cut the body into several large pieces along the spine. The beaver meat was dark red and looked very firm.

"Beaver meat has coarse fibers but is high in fat, making it ideal for grilling or stewing."

Lin Yu'an's tone began to become very serious.

"If you are lucky enough to catch a beaver in the wild, please be careful! It is safe to eat beaver meat to avoid parasite infection."

"Wild animals, especially mammals like beavers that frequently live in water, are very likely to carry various parasites, such as trichinella, liver flukes, Giardia lamblia, and so on."

"This is the origin of the beaver curse! Be extremely careful!"

"Eating it raw or undercooked can be extremely harmful to the human body, so remember to make sure it is fully cooked before eating!"

He held up a piece of cut beaver meat and said, "First, during the cutting and cleaning process, you need to carefully observe the surface and inside of the meat to see if there are any obvious insects, cysts or abnormal spots."

"If you find anything suspicious, just throw the whole beaver away. Don't take any risks!"

"Secondly, regardless of the cooking method, the core temperature of the meat must reach at least 75 degrees Celsius and be maintained for a period of time."

"My personal suggestion is to boil it in water. High temperatures can kill the vast majority of parasite eggs and larvae."

“I plan to boil some of the beaver meat we have today and then smoke it to make jerky.”

"Boiling in high-temperature water can thoroughly disinfect the food, and the fumigation process also has a certain sterilization effect, providing double protection!"

"Pay special attention to internal organs, especially the liver! The liver is a place where parasites easily accumulate."

"Therefore, before consuming beaver liver, in addition to being thoroughly cleaned, it must also be fully cooked and carefully inspected for any lesions."

Lin Yu'an had secretly stored the beaver in the Golden Finger space beforehand. Based on the phenomenon that the Golden Finger cannot kill living things, it should also be able to eliminate parasites.

As Lin Yu'an spoke, he repeatedly rinsed the cut beaver meat with stream water to remove blood and impurities.

Although the beaver had handled the area, he had specifically examined the cross-section of the muscle and found no obvious signs of parasites, which relieved him somewhat.

After processing the first, larger beaver, Lin Yu'an carefully processed the second one using the same method, a process that took him nearly three hours.

In the end, he obtained two large piles of cleaned beaver meat chunks, two sets of edible offal, and two complete beaver skins.

Lin Yu'an, beaming with satisfaction, said to the camera, "Today's harvest has been tremendous!"

"Now we can prepare a sumptuous beaver meat feast! I can't wait!"

Here's the second update today~ I'd also like to take this opportunity to report on the results to all the original shareholders.

As of now:

1. This book has a collection of 1200 copies.

2. The number of readers who followed the article the day before yesterday was 325.

3. Ranked 37th on the Urban Channel's New Book Ranking.

In summary, editor Jiang Cha said that with these results, securing the first round of financing (one round of recommendations) is absolutely no problem. All original shareholders, please continue to patiently wait for the (Qidian Coin) returns after the IPO!
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(End of this chapter)