Rabbit hunting
- Thread starter regulate34
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Life is good, eh?
Pretty close to every day man. Dunno if you are not reading the places I am posting, or what?
Life is good! Bought a hunting lic., but didn't buy any deer tags this year. Freezer still full.
5 nice bucks off the property this year, one more hit by a car and collected by an old native guy with a cane, off the side of the road, and the place still has bone everywhere, including at least two non-typicals, one with drop tines, the other had at least 13 points on the one side that my brother counted. Some really great genetics around here right now. Counted 18 mulie does in the field the other day too, so next year looks good too!
I even saw rabbits here for pretty much the first time, well, since I was a kid. Saw them in three different places, over a couple days. Cool stuff!
What do I have to do to get you traveling out this way? Got a spare room if you do, anytime.
Cheers
Trev
Rabbit hunting >>>>>> don't shoot bunnies!
agreed! There are not many around here, hardly ever see one and near zero for tracks. I took a few decades ago when I was young, but never did find a good way to cook them. I'm not a big fan of stew, so don't say stew is the best way to go with rabbit. Beef or venison is good enough in stew for me. I'd just as soon let them bunnies live to run! Besides, my grand-daughters want Easter eggs! No bunnies - no eggs!
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Pretty close to every day man. Dunno if you are not reading the places I am posting, or what?
Life is good! Bought a hunting lic., but didn't buy any deer tags this year. Freezer still full.
5 nice bucks off the property this year, one more hit by a car and collected by an old native guy with a cane, off the side of the road, and the place still has bone everywhere, including at least two non-typicals, one with drop tines, the other had at least 13 points on the one side that my brother counted. Some really great genetics around here right now. Counted 18 mulie does in the field the other day too, so next year looks good too!
I even saw rabbits here for pretty much the first time, well, since I was a kid. Saw them in three different places, over a couple days. Cool stuff!
What do I have to do to get you traveling out this way? Got a spare room if you do, anytime.
Cheers
Trev
A visit could be arranged for the spring Trevor.
I do wish to collect info from locals in your neck of the woods for intel regarding the rockpiles along the nearby river banks.
I have to get my butt in gear and get some panning experience right here in Alberta too!
Nice to hear you have a wealth of wild critters in and around your farm Trevor.
Cheers
PS: Today's hunting trip was a total scrub. It started to actually rain this afternoon. Home is a half hour drive, so safety takes precedence over a full day hunt. Today the bunnies win. lol
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My Gal is NDN so it's kind of a traditional thing for her.
Personally I'm a tad soft on the Bunnies too, but...sorry Bugs.
I'd imagine stewing with make them nice, it works on Shanks of Venison.
the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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I haven't specifically hunted them since leaving southern ontario over 30 years ago. Cottontails are excellent table fare which were what we hunted there over beagles. Used to bust alot of brush piles pushing those little brown and white bunnies.
I snared a few snowshoes up north at the family cottage as a teenager but they are harsh eating when compared to a cottontail so I never bothered much with them except for the odd request from friends of the family who wanted them. I cannot remember when I last shot one? It has to be close to 30 years?
I snared a few snowshoes up north at the family cottage as a teenager but they are harsh eating when compared to a cottontail so I never bothered much with them except for the odd request from friends of the family who wanted them. I cannot remember when I last shot one? It has to be close to 30 years?
Sold my Hunting truck at the start of summer and have yet to replace it.
Rabbit hunting would be hard on the Harley there would be loads of storage for carry dead bunnies though.
BTW, my firearm of choice is a CZ 452 with a soon to be here Leupold 2-7X rimfire scope
Got any pics of your success?
Tight Groups,
Rob
you need a early 90's jeep man.... I hunted out of one for the past 8 years and did real well hehehehe
haven't been able to ride for about 15 years , I miss the yearly runs with my brothers from Whitby On.
my buddy rides his FXR on our fly fishin trips and has 2 custom 3 piece rod holders stickin out the back. good stuff.
I just sold the jeep, caught the 1st gen dodge cummins bug hard ..... talk about a hunting truck
as for bunnies.... I hunted bunnies every winter with a buddy and his dogs till I got married 8 years n change ago..... the wife will cook and eat anything I bring home with the one rule.... no bunnies LOL
one day I'm gonna break that rule
let's hear more about bunny hunting.
A visit could be arranged for the spring Trevor.
I do wish to collect info from locals in your neck of the woods for intel regarding the rockpiles along the nearby river banks.
I have to get my butt in gear and get some panning experience right here in Alberta too!
Nice to hear you have a wealth of wild critters in and around your farm Trevor.
Cheers
PS: Today's hunting trip was a total scrub. It started to actually rain this afternoon. Home is a half hour drive, so safety takes precedence over a full day hunt. Today the bunnies win. lol
Remnants of at least three different mining operations here on the river flat below the main part of the farm. Worth a look. Whole damn river is staked out, though, other than a few spots that are tourist gold panning locations supposedly. BC went to an on line staking system, that I think was to the general detriment, as it has changed the whole business model to being about trying to be the first to click on the grid square, then trying to sucker some rich Chinese guy into buying the claim without him knowing that he won't actually be able to develop a mine there. Lots of mining history to see that is worth the trip, in the general area though. A friend of mine has done some study of the placer mine sites on the lower Fraser and has a lot of the stuff mapped out.
Be glad as heck to have you out here!
Bummer about the rain. Bloody warm here too, ground is almost thawed and mud is everywhere. Sorta preferred a little cooler, but only a little!
Still working over the bunnies at Ray's? The survivors should have you figured out by now, no?
Cheers
Trev
1) Fist full of sea salt in a basin of water - submerge the hare(s) and put in the fridge for 24 hours.
2) Remove hare(s) and rinse well.
3) Put hare(s) in pressure cooker for 40 minutes, with about an inch of water (or stock, or apple juice, maybe with some wine or liquor) and herbs if you wish, in the bottom.
4) De-pressurize the cooker and then remove the ultra-tender and juicy meat off the carcass(es) and use it however you wish.
It is basically like dark-meat turkey. You should get about a pound of meat off a hare, on average.
Put it on pizza. Make a sandwich (with mayo, lettuce and tomato). Make a stir-fry, or a teriyaki over rice. Make "pulled hare" by shredding and adding BBQ sauce. Throw it in a soup. Make a "hare Caesar salad". Mix it in an Alfredo sauce and put it on Linguine.
The possibilities are literally endless.
Don't throw out that liquid left in the bottom of the cooker. It makes an excellent base for a soup or stew later in the week (or longer, if you freeze it).
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Here's a couple pics from a snowshoe hare / grouse hunt from a few weeks ago (before we had snow). Two or three of the hare were taken by my Dad with the Henry 17HMR. I took the grouse and 2 or 3 hare with the 20 gauge Franchi. We had a great day. We added one more hare later in the day, not in these pics. My Dad hadn't hunted in about 40 years.
The rabbits were in the thick thorn bush (like what is behind us in the photos). We had had some snow previous to this which had melted. There was still the odd clump of unmelted snow in the thick stuff. As we circled the bluffs of thick stuff, we looked very carefully at every clump of snow. Some of them turned out to be hare. It was much to thick and thorny to push through. I literally had to crawl into it for a couple recoveries. The 20 gauge was really the better tool for the job. We missed a couple with the .17 which were probably deflections. I was surprised and impressed with how well the 20 gauge #6's managed to get in there.
Looks like y'all had a great day out!
I said in the past, that to really determine if you were in to the bunny's 'safe zone' the bush pretty much has to be thick enough that if you jumped up and threw yourself onto it, you would not fall through it to the ground.
Moving quietly around it is sorta possible, but through it quietly...No way!
Have fun! Keep having fun!
Cheers
Trev
This certainly rings true based on my experience hunting them in northern AB (Cold Lake), but here in BC I find them in more varied habitats. My favourite spots, which often lead to bag limits, look more like this:
Often enough, they are just sitting out in the open, thinking they are invisible:
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I've killed a fair amount of them myself but I'm not quite bored of hunting them yet, for many reasons. First and foremost, I love hunting but I am a meat hunter so my winter hunting must be focused on something I want to bring home to the table. Here in my neck of the woods, that comes down to one species. Beyond that, it is absolutely incredible exercise - out there on snowshoes in the wilderness for many hours on end. Then, there is the tranquility; nobody else is out there - crisp air, pristine snow, the smell of conifers filling my nose... nothing else like it! Whether I limit out or not is secondary, but commonplace. Some days I might only get 2 or 3, but those days are few and far between.
Being that we prefer to only eat wild meat, the hares add welcome variety to our table, beyond the ample supply of mule deer meat and the odd treat of grouse that I've squirreled away for special occasions.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
^Myself I side with ironsighter's thoughts. Certainly Trevor and myself have done pretty darn well in the recent past.
Nice outing Rob F! That is the exact kind of bunny country we used to find equally fruitful just due north of Regina. And thank you for sharing.....
Nice outing Rob F! That is the exact kind of bunny country we used to find equally fruitful just due north of Regina. And thank you for sharing.....
