doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rabbits

And do you know why they leave the head on those store bought rabbits ?

King,
I grew up in Nebraska. There wasn't much that my dad did not hunt:
Pheasant, bobwhite, fox squirrel, cottontail and jack rabbits were the most
common game in our household. While I enjoyed eating all of the above,
like you I could just never get over the smell of rabbit innards.
Plus skinning an old bunny or squirrel could be a real chore.
Now when I'm bird hunting I never shoot furry game. My cocker
loves chasing them and I don't want him to get the idea that
they are more important than pheasants or grouse.
I'm sure if my dad were still around he'd think I was nuts.
-jim

What? You guys use a gun to shoot rabbits? It was delicous BBq'd over a Mesquite fire. JW

I often hunted rabbits with a recurve bow when I was a kid. They often wouldn't run far when spooked and it was pretty easy to nail them with an arrow when they stopped.
Later, and even up til now while still-hunting whitetails in Vermont with a few inches of snow I just keep an eye out for that 'black marble' there in the whiteness and put the crosshairs of my .270 on the eye... no muss, no fuss and no mess either.
I don't have a recipe for snowshoes but I cut them into quarters and the back makes the fifth piece. I put the pieces on the grille, flip them once after three or four minutes and leave them for another three or four minutes. No rub, no basting with some sort of masking flavor concoction - just plain rabbit meat. It is very good and is kinda like the dark meat of a turkey.

I realize I maybe a novice, by comparison to some here in my hunting experience, so please enlighten me to the distinction between shot through rabbit and shot through bird? I have detected an odor among dead goose, wet pheasant and shotgun shot rabbit. I fortunately or otherwise am unable to select the better smell from the group, but then I may not be holding my nose at the proper angle?

To prove it isn't cat...Geo

Pete

Kurt, there's a difference between size, contents of the plumbing and skin of rabbit and bird . Liquids from pierced bladder and paunch of rabbit often soak through the diaphanous skin to the fur. A bird's plumbing is significantly smaller, skin tougher and any leakage from inside is usually blood. You're right on the nose angle. My wife often points to the shower when I can't smell a thing.

I use to hunt contontails with my Win. 63, actually was my Dad's then when I was young. Now that age has crept on me I use a neat little Belgian 24 ga. with no. 5 shot. Have always cleaned rabbits and squirrels as soon as I killed them.

My Dad's friend said he ate so much jackrabbit during the depression that couldn't hockey out in the pasture. When he would squat down to go he would just hop off.

My Dad's hunting buddy Mr. Page had a unique method of field dressing. If he encontered a cottontail while out bird hunting he would shoot it in the head. They he would massage the abdomen. Then, holding the front feet, would snap it like a bullwhip and send all the innards out through the anus.

I grew up on a farm and Mom would fry them up like fried chicken with cream gravy. My gun of choice was a single shot bolt action 22.

Best,

Mike

Edit - I changed it from "Then, holding the back feet" to "Then holding the front feet"