Hypothetical situation/question with a snared rabbit

[Cryov]

Lets say you are out in the woods on a trip or survival excercise and you set some simple slipknot rabbit snares. You check all your snares one last time before calling it quits for the day. While sleeping a rabbit gets snared and manages to die from the elements or choking itself out and you discover this rabbit a few hours after you get up. How would you know if the rabbit is still good to eat?
I had a friend years ago who did something similiar to this and he cooked up the rabbit but didnt tell me its been sitting out for awhile before he collected and processed it. I can still to this day taste that spoiled rabbit meat when i think about it. Id love to avoid that taste if at all possible, so anything to help would be appreciated.

[Rick]

There was no spoiled meat unless the temps were high and it had been out for hours. If it's hot then you want to process the meat as soon as possible. I've been rabbit hunting and carried rabbits in my coat all day and I've never had a problem. But that's when temps are cold, too. You'd be surprised how much you can get away with on meat as long as it isn't contaminated with fecal matter or urine.

[crashdive123]

Yep - sounds more like incorrect processing than spoiled from age.

[Cryov]

Sounds about right, it was a 110 degree summer so it could have been the heat. However now that you say it, he probably did process it wrong, more than likely cut an internal organ he wasn't suppose to.

[shiftyer1]

I see your in Texas, i'm in central TX and only eat rabbits after it freezes. We have found way to many bad rabbits when it warms up.

[Cryov]

Yeah shiftyer1, I use to live near Amarillo and they have crazy cottontail/jackrabbit/prairie dog problems. I am use to just shooting them with my .17 hmr or prairie dog fishing and processing them. I recently moved just south of Ft. Worth and can't find a rancher down here as of yet to let me go on their land and hunt rabbits. Also it is a lot more wooded here so I figure trapping would be the better alternative than trying to shoot. Been paranoid about leaving rabbits out over night in a snare since that incident with my friend. Never gonna trust him to make rabbit stew again however thanks for clearing things up!

Also as a side note, it bothers the hell out of me when people call Dallas/Ft. Worth area North Texas. Our state is freakin cross shaped and Amarillo is North Texas, I consider dallas/ft.worth to be east or east by north east Texas.

[Rick]

There is an old saying that most everyone knows. Perhaps you do too but I'll repeat it just in case. Only take rabbits in months that have an R in them. That would be September through April.......or the colder months.

[1stimestar]

Isn't the rule of thumb for rabbit "only eat rabbit in months that have Rs in them"? So that would knock out the summer months.

[crashdive123]

There is an old saying that most everyone knows. Perhaps you do too but I'll repeat it just in case. Only take rabbits in months that have an R in them. That would be September through April.......or the colder months.

Isn't the rule of thumb for rabbit "only eat rabbit in months that have Rs in them"? So that would knock out the summer months.

Déjà vu all over again.

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

Your in prime time Bubonic Plague territory. DO NOT eat rabbits until the second frost and then only in cold months. Then there is the whole issue about hunting and trapping out of season.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/info.htm

[hunter63]

I hear an echo, echo, echo, echo

[Rick]

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[Cryov]

Your in prime time Bubonic Plague territory. DO NOT eat rabbits until the second frost and then only in cold months. Then there is the whole issue about hunting and trapping out of season.

Rabbits are such a wide spread problem in Texas that they are not ever out of season. As for permits for them, you only need them if you are on designated hunting lands. That is why I need to find a rancher down here who'd be willing to let me hunt/trap on his land.
Eating rabbits you get in the months of R sounds vaguely familiar. Sadly my experience comes from Boy Scouts, 4H, my dad, and self teaching. So some subjects I excel in, others I know little about.

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

Rabbits are such a wide spread problem in Texas that they are not ever out of season. As for permits for them, you only need them if you are on designated hunting lands. That is why I need to find a rancher down here who'd be willing to let me hunt/trap on his land.
Eating rabbits you get in the months of R sounds vaguely familiar. Sadly my experience comes from Boy Scouts, 4H, my dad, and self teaching. So some subjects I excel in, others I know little about.

Looks like your right about hunting rabbits (no season) in Texas. I couldn't sort out if it was legal to trap them. I used to live in NM and we waited for the second hard frost.

[hunter63]

I'm sure a lot of people consider rabbits a valuable food source in a survival situation, but with many small wild animals, they are a major disease carrier,... don't do you much good if they make you sick.

Anything left out in 100+ heat surely wouldn't last long........guess that's why everyone seems to cut up their deer and put in coolers full of ice in Louisiana.

[Rick]

Man! Fried rabbit. Some gravy. Fried potatoes. Home made biscuits with molasses. It just doesn't get much better than that! Okay, you could substitute squirrel if you want.

[newzealandsurvival]

can rabbits have diseases in America / Canada, what diseases ? sorry for the ingnorance but all we have is TB and that is very rare, cooking the meat well gets rid of the TB anyway. interesting about the meat spoiling, it must have been really hot weather ?

[crashdive123]

A few are......

Rabies
Tularemia
Tick Fever
Powassan Virus
Myxamitosis

[Rick]

Don't forget Halitosis.

[intothenew]

They are also susceptible to warbles. I have never seen one on a rabbit, only squirrel, season opens much earlier on squirrel here. Supposedly, it is OK to eat the meat of a warble infected animal. I would, but only in a must situation, they're nasty.

To the original question, kinda sorta, you may can prevent the problem by using the techniques described by Beowul65 here. Non-lethal, leastwise until you decide.