Hares and Rabbits

[pgvoutdoors]

I just returned from a backpacking trip to New Mexico and while out there I came across a fair amount of these jack rabbits. If approached slowly you can get very close to them without spooking them at all. This would make them very easy to hunt.

Here in Ohio we have an abundance of cotton tail rabbits. These rabbits spook easily, but always seem to run only a short distance before stopping. This first stopping point is where you get them.

[trax]

Never eaten jackrabbit, but I hear they're a mite on the stringy side (course you boil anything long enough, lol) Back home I'd just whistle at cotton tails or snowshoe rabbits and they stop and sit up, and ping! rabbit stew.

[pgvoutdoors]

Well I have to admit, those jackrabbits were a little on the skinny side. I don't think I would pay for a hunting trip for them. But, in a survival situation I'll take all I can get.

[Rick]

Don't you guys carry a pressure cooker with you? Nice and tender!

[Ole WV Coot]

Tried one once, chipped a tooth but a little goes a long long way.

[BraggSurvivor]

In the late spring I take the .22 or .410 and pop a couple young cottontails. I salt and marinate in pure honey overnight and deep fry in oil the next day.

Another way is plain old vegetable barley soup with boiled rabbit meat.

Making me hungry............

[canid]

don't get me started on the pressure cooker. what can't you do with one of those. the only problem is deciding between the 8qt and the 18qt.

the jack rabbits around here spook verry easily, and they will sometimes bound away a good 50 yards for no clear reason. they are almost the only hare we have around. luckily, they're plentiful.

what i don't get is why so many people are shy of 'gamy' game and stringy texture. i mean, we eat jerky don't we? pheasant and vennison? i guess i just love the taste of meat. especially when i'm hungry.

[crashdive123]

Ha! I ain't skeerd of nutin!

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[Gray Wolf]

these jack rabbits. If approached slowly you can get very close to them without spooking them at all.

pgv, did you take a good look at that rabbits eyes!

[crashdive123]

Zombie rabbits?

[Gray Wolf]

I don't need no stinkin gun for Zombie rabbits, I'll get that sponge!!

[Rick]

I like mine fried, thank you. Just like chicken (the frying part, not the taste.).

[Beo]

I have eatn more rabbit than I can remember, personally I like them cooked over an open fire or boil them in a pot for several hours till the meat just falls off the bones and pitch in some potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, radishes, and rice and have a good stew. Mmmm Mmmm Good.
As PGVOutdoors said here in Ohio they tend to run in short bursts, and cliping one after the first sprint is easiest, in Kentucky and Tennessee they kinda do the same and taste the same too. Most I have found here are pretty full bodied same as Kentucky and Tennessee.
Beo,

[Ole WV Coot]

Everything eaten in this area is fried. We don't have cholesterol problems, keeps the veins & arteries well lubricated.

[Beo]

Yeah I don't do the whole non fat thing, I eat what I want, red meat, cheese and so on, my grandpap drank, smoked, ate fried foods, cheese, and just about everything else. He lived to be 89 and died of a tumor not caused by any of that stuff.
As Remy said, Live Everyday Like Its Your Last Battle. Those words are so true.

[smokelessfire]

crash, thanx, that jackelope pic is now my desktop background. i have a question for all, my friends are partially self-sufficient, and eat rabbit alot, but they told me they dont eat them until after the first frost, because supposedly they have a liver disease or something, and that after the first frost it dies or goes away. this really sounds absurd to me, considering my cousins from kentucky raise rabbits for food and eat them year round. any advice?

[Beo]

I live in Ohio and eat rabbit from here, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and have eat'n them from the east coast in NY State, Mass, and Conn. and been fine, most times I boil it though and make a good stew. Does sound dumb to me though.

[BraggSurvivor]

Anyone here eatin muskrat? Same texture and flavor to me.

[Beo]

No and i'm telling the Captain & Tennille, you can't eat Muskrat you love them...
Ohhhh Muskrat Luuuuuu... uuuuuve!!!

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight
Doin' the town and doin' it right
In the evenin'
It's pretty pleasin'

Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And Sammy's so skinny

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

Nibbling on bacon, chewin' on cheese
Sammy says to Susie "Honey, would you please be my missus?"
And she say yes
With her kisses

And now he's ticklin' her fancy
Rubbin' her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and Sue starts to giggle

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

La da da da da ...

How frig'n gay is that (Not that there's anything wrong with man to man love'n, although I find it sick and nasty)

[canid]

around here we have a lot of tularemia [in the animal populations, it's still rare as heck in humans]. the disease is actually named for the nearby tulare county. this disease, rabies and a few others tend to infect mammal populations, particularly of social species, as they become dense and the contact paterns between individuals and groups overlap, and either inhibit normal feeding behavior or the ability to accumulate subcutanaeous fat [eg. chronic wasting disease in deer]. these infected aminals tend to die during the cold season.

general precautions, such as discarding any diseased organs like liver [showing discolored, usually whitish lesions], heart, etc, avoiding other organ meats, proper cooking of any and all parts used and safe handling of hides, furs, fluids [wearing gloves, and for the truly paranoid; facial mask/respirator] for the are generally considered adequate measures.

it's just about safe handling and preperation. it's an odds game. remember that 5-10% of tularemia cases in the US for example are transmitted by contaminated water, and an unknown percentage from deer flies.