Rabbits! Field dressing/butchering/cooking, etc

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jory

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Hey all,

I finally got lucky and bagged my first rabbit over the weekend! I had been out a couple times earlier in the year, but a lack of experience spotting them and/or bad luck left me empty handed.

Anyway, after getting one on the weekend I realized that I had to rely on my less than stellar knowledge of the anatomy of a rabbit, and a memory of a couple youtube videos in the winter as my guide to skinning and field dressing it. It all went well; it was less challenging than I assumed and while I probably wasn't very efficient, I got it done.

After getting it home and cleaned off I turned to youtube again to learn how to butcher it. Again; not very efficient, but I think I made it work.

While everything went reasonably well, I do have a couple questions for next time:

1. Aside from a nasty, spotted looking liver, what else should I be looking for to make sure that the rabbit I have is a healthy one to eat?

2. Where do you find is the best spot to place your shots? I assume a head shot would be ideal, since you don't risk ruining meat and/or puncturing guts? My shot on the weekend was a spine shot just above the front legs, which worked fantastically. It was lights out for the rabbit, and 0 meat wasted.

3. What is everyone using for a rabbit gun? I'm sure a .22LR would be perfect; I do plan on using my .17HMR because I love it. I considered a 20 gauge, but I'd prefer not to risk hitting guts with the spread.

4. When I broke the rabbit down, I removed the front legs, rear legs, and cut the ribs away to keep the backstraps/saddle; did I miss anything else that I should have kept?

5. How does everyone prefer to cook their rabbit?
 
Head shot only with a 17hmr. It will rip them apart. The 17mach2 was a much better round for edible game

I use a 22lr and a 12 ga loaded with 7/8oz #7.5 shot with an open choke it works well. I grew up hunting over beagles and the 12ga was the prime choice. When i go without dogs i take a rimfire most times.
I hunt cottontails. Shoot them. Twist the head off. Cut from between back legs thru to the chest and pull everyrhing out and put it in my vest. When i get home run fingers under hide behind ribs and pull. The hide comes right off. I generally bbq them whole but they can be broken down to legs and backstraps.
 
20ga or 22lr with standard velocity loads will work fine. If using a scattergun let them get out a bit. If theyre close aim so the edge of your pattern takes their head.
 
I like head shots, or just behind the front leg.

22 rimfire for the most part. A wounded rabbit from a shotgun (too far away, shooters fault obviously) is an awful sound to listen to.

I prefer in chicken stock/broth, slow cooked for a long time. I never did master roasting them.
 
Easiest way to skin and field dress a rabbit is to make a cut along the back ,pull the skin apart,reach in and grab the body with one hand and pull the skin down to the legs and neck, cut off the paws and head and now you have a skinned carcass.Takes 2 minutes.Slit up the belly and gut it. Cook it anyway you want,we cut it into 4 pieces ,roll it in seasoning and bake ,fry or barbeque like chicken
 
If you can hang the bunnie by a foot. You barely even need a knife. Just tear the skin at the ankle and pull skin off right to the head. One slit down the belly and a cut around the neck. Pull the entrails out and twist the head off. Wahla!

For nice tender rabbit soak in buttermilk overnight. Or debone, chop into small pieces, boil for 1 min drain then fry in butter , salt and pepper. I made it through college eating rabbit.

if you want to hunt and shoot at rabbit use a .22 semi. If you want to harvest rabbit to feed yourself use a shotgun, your success will be much higher. Number 6's for cottontails. Number 5's for snowshoe hares.

Jack rabbits/ European hares IMO taste like chit! Killed and ate a couple in my day. Best table fare is the cottontail. Snowshoes are good early in the season but in a long cold winter they eat cedar and that is what they taste like.....cedar.

Oh and if you are serious about bunnies buy a beagle. My success went up by 95%. They are better rabbit hunters than we could ever think of being.
PS: be aware cottontail will hole up if pushed to hard. Snowshoes generally will not as they can easily out distance a 12" beagle. Cottontails make a small circle. snowshoes often make large circles when the dog is on a chase. If you're mainly going to hunt snowshoes in snow I'd suggest a 15" beagle.
 
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Shot them with 22 and usually shotguns when i am up north. I coat it in flour (whole or pieces), fried in bacon fat and braised for maybe an hour in a beef stock, red wine and veg. Or i bone it out and #### it in a cream sauce (sometimes with grouse).
 
Are you talking about jackrabbits or snowshoe hare?

We only have hares here on the east coast, so I can't comment on them, but when it comes to hares, I typically use a 20ga or a .22. Something short barreled for busting through thick tangled stuff is best.

When I use the 20ga I typically try to use #4 or #5 shot. I find sometimes the smaller shot sizes get hung up in the meat and you find pellets when eating them. When you get the larger shot sizes they pass through much better.
With anything I try for a head shot, but a chest is ok with the .22 as well. I'm always trying to not mess up much meat, but there isn't much on the front legs anyway, so it's not the end of the world if you lose a little there.

For skinning/cleaning them it works well with 2 people. One person holds them by their back feet and the other can just start at the tail and grab some fur and you can pull it right off without needing a knife.
Once the fur is gone start at the back end of the stomach and work your way forwards being careful not to cut the stomach or intestines. Then you can usually tip them up and dump out a lot of the guts, and pull out whatever else needs to come out.

I used to just leave them whole and cook them that way, but I found it was much easier to store and deal with them quartered up. You can take your knife and cut off the two back legs and pelvis from the rest of the rabbit, you cut with your knife down each side at the end of the back straps and follow the pelvis bones to the spine, then break it off there. Then you can take the two back legs off at the hips and have most of your meat there.
Then I will usually take off the two front legs cutting up behind the shoulders.
After that you separate out the big meaty part along the spine by cutting up along the base of the ribs, then cut off the head/ribs from the spine and you've got your 5 pieces to cook.

The two ways I cook them most often are to add them to meat pies, where you just roast them with whatever else you are cooking.
If not in a meat pie I like to braise them. Put the pieces in a roasting pan and fill with water until they are a little more than half covered, season them however you like and cook in the oven for 30 or 40 minutes (usually 375ish, it doesn't need to be exact). Then flip them for another 30-40 mins. After that dump out most of the water, put of your favorite bbq sauce or marinade, etc and cook for another 10-15 mins to cook the sauce and you're all set.

They are a dry, lean meat, so if you just cook it without the water or anything it dries out pretty easily and can get tough, but don't be afraid to experiment a bit with it.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys!

I believe this one was a jackrabbit.

I should have mentioned that I plan on using FMJ's with my HMR. My .22 isn't out of the question either, I just find that .17 to be a laser beam and I love it.

I have a 20 gauge as well, but I was hesitant on using that, as I'm not sure I want pellets tearing up the innards when I hit one. Is it not an issue?

As far as cooking goes, we took this one and trimmed all the meat off and mixed it 50/50 with bacon in the food processor, with some thyme, sage, garlic, and jalapeno. That mixture got pressed into some really tasty burgers!
 
Most of the rabbits I ever dealt with were the white snowshoe bunnies in the heavy Alberta woods.

Head shots were best and cleanest. Brutus and I would walk through the heavy bush slowly, looking for bunnies under trees, and watching for movement. I don't think I ever actually saw a rabbit other than as a very brief glimpse, other than in winter time.

For skinning, it's mainly a matter of carefully nicking the skin and pulling. I saw some idiot of youtube that cut the legs off his rabbits with a cleaver. Aside from leaving a nasty broken off bone end, he cut a LOT of hairs into his cutting board, then proceeded to get rabbit hair all over his carcasses. That stuff is a PITA to get off! Better to carefully nick the skin and remove the skin by pulling, and carefully cut around the joint to remove the feet. Clean and good looking! Insert a sharp point of a knife and cut up from the inside out, that way you don't cut hairs loose.

I suppose you should wear a rubber glove while eviscerating them, but I never did. A slit up the belly, same as the start for removing the hide, and you can pretty much clean out the innards with a two finger reach and pull. Heard of swinging them by the legs to empty them out, seems like too much effort. And too much chance for flying guts and blood.

I would part off the hind legs at the hip, then either cut the legs off the hip or split the hip with a kitchen knife. The saddle, the biggish lump between the rear legs and ribs, stays whole or gets filleted off. Ribs and front legs get split into two pieces, neck can stay with one. Done. Vary to suit your needs.
 
jory said:
I have a 20 gauge as well, but I was hesitant on using that, as I'm not sure I want pellets tearing up the innards when I hit one. Is it not an issue?
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Since you're aiming for the head, or slightly beyond the head you usually end up with some pellets around the heart/lung area, but not usually too many back any further. Of course you occasionally do, but it would depend where you are hunting and seeing them.
If it's open enough to get a reliable shot with a .22 or .17 then that works great and if that's the case and you're farther away a shotgun pattern would be way too open.
Most of the time that I tend to see them they're in pretty heavy brush, so by the time you made it through all the sticks and twigs and such I like the reliability of the shotgun in those cases to go through if a branch is in the way instead of deflecting away and it's close enough that it doesn't really open up very wide. I typically use a Mod choke when out looking for rabbits as opposed to a more open one when looking for grouse.
 
jory said:
Thanks for the tips, guys!

I believe this one was a jackrabbit.

I should have mentioned that I plan on using FMJ's with my HMR. My .22 isn't out of the question either, I just find that .17 to be a laser beam and I love it.

I have a 20 gauge as well, but I was hesitant on using that, as I'm not sure I want pellets tearing up the innards when I hit one. Is it not an issue?

As far as cooking goes, we took this one and trimmed all the meat off and mixed it 50/50 with bacon in the food processor, with some thyme, sage, garlic, and jalapeno. That mixture got pressed into some really tasty burgers!
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Excuse my ignorance here but... jackrabbit hunting in July ??
 
smokin'stoegie said:
Excuse my ignorance here but... jackrabbit hunting in July ??
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Never closes in a couple Western Provinces. Gotta read the Provincial regs.

Compared to the screwed up mess of Ontario's regs (and parts further East) the Western Provinces are pretty much the Wild West.

Grind them fine enough, or braise them long enough, and they are plenty tender enough. :)

As a side note, I caught a couple very young Jacks many years back. Cute factor right off the scale. But then, all baby animals are cute! Little buggers looked like a ball of gray dryer lint perched on top of a set of hind feet!
 
trevj said:
Never closes in a couple Western Provinces. Gotta read the Provincial regs.

Compared to the screwed up mess of Ontario's regs (and parts further East) the Western Provinces are pretty much the Wild West.

Grind them fine enough, or braise them long enough, and they are plenty tender enough. :)

As a side note, I caught a couple very young Jacks many years back. Cute factor right off the scale. But then, all baby animals are cute! Little buggers looked like a ball of gray dryer lint perched on top of a set of hind feet!
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There ya go.. lol...not a lot of sense for me to read BC Hunting regs,, living in S/W Ontario. Thanks
 
I use .22lr and head shots, or .223 rem with 40gr vmax over varget 3400+fps, and hit them anywhere. I've used 20ga, but got tired of spitting out pellets, and didn't practice enough to reliably bracket the head, which is the ideal shotgun tactic.

I slit down the back, pull the hide off and use snips on the legs. I don't bother to gut it, but cut off the quarters and backstrap. Rabbits and hares are stinky f'ers, and the spine and ribs have almost no meat and a ton of tiny bones.
Cook it like chicken wings in sauce in a slow cooker or braised in the oven. Can't wait til they open here in August.
 
smokin'stoegie said:
There ya go.. lol...not a lot of sense for me to read BC Hunting regs,, living in S/W Ontario. Thanks
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No worries!

I have lived long enough to consider hunting, in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC. Ontario didn't happen as I was a student and very busy, Quebec wanted me to be there a full year to get residency, and by that time, I was packing to leave. But I hunted a LOT in Saskabush, Northern Alberta and here in BC.

Each Province has had very different ways of treating essentially the same situations.

Hearing the Eastern dudes talk about having to carry a case or sock for their guns so they can walk out in the dark without being accused of being poachers, for instance, makes me OH so glad to be here in BC where folks don't much give a damn whether you wish to lug a gun around with you at any time of the year.

Similarly, rabbits are considered not a lot higher than vermin, in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and even at that, there are only a few guys that go to the bother.

My bud Brutus, here on CGN hooked me up to the idea, while I was living in Cold Lake Alberta, and it made for a great reason to go for a wander about in the otherwise dead time in the winter, after the big game seasons were done. Lots to be learned about what is out and about the neighborhood, poking around in the snow and paying attention to what leaves tracks hither and yon, too. Good times!
 
Yeah, we're pretty lucky out here in AB when it comes to having lots to hunt year round. It may not be as thrilling as big game (not that I'd know) but I love hunting grouse, and now i'm more motivated to go out for rabbit more frequently.

What's the general strategy for finding them? I've been told to just find a thick, treed area and walk 10 feet, stop and look around under trees, walk another 10 feet and repeat, etc.
 
jory said:
Yeah, we're pretty lucky out here in AB when it comes to having lots to hunt year round. It may not be as thrilling as big game (not that I'd know) but I love hunting grouse, and now i'm more motivated to go out for rabbit more frequently.

What's the general strategy for finding them? I've been told to just find a thick, treed area and walk 10 feet, stop and look around under trees, walk another 10 feet and repeat, etc.
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General strategy? Go where the rabbits are! Seems simple and condescending, but if you are not in the bush where they feel at home, you probably won't see any.

I said here on CGN a couple times, that if you can jump and launch yourself like a crowd surfer at a concert, and actually land on the ground instead of getting hung up in the bushes, that you probably are not in thick enough cover.

They really feel at home in places where the visibility is about 4 feet. Most of my shots were at 10 yards or less. Shuffle through the bush, look carefully, shuffle some more, rinse repeat. Because their cover is so dense, they have a pretty close comfort range before they will move, but because of that density, seeing them first is a bit of work.

Brutus said he had luck staking out a likely spot on a trail or cut line and waiting for them to come out to feed at dusk, but I never did. But I never really put a bunch in to rabbits other than in mid winter. YMMV.
 
Two years ago, the snow came late. The bunnies all changed colour before the snow came. You would be amazed at how many marshmallows there are in the woods! My son and I went out every night until the snow came and killed them with a variety of guns, ranging from .22's to shotguns. He started grinding them up in his meat grinder and making "bunny balls", which were quite tasty. I use the old branch through the back leg, pull the fur off in a tube and then one easy cut to let the guts come out.
 
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