Jack Rabbits,you eat them?

[mjbskwim]

Around here some folks shoot jack rabbits as pests.They kinda got out of hand a while back and folks were getting lots of shooting in for the farmers.
I shot a couple sunday and didn't know if I should bother taking them home. They didn't go to waste,trust me,the 2 golden eagles and the coyotes would take care of them in short order.
Now I understand that some have worms and all but that aside,are they worth taking home for dinner.
I mean they are twice as big as the cotton tails I have taken home
Recipes are fine to post also
Thanks
Mike

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[Sgt Nambu]

They are tough and stringy, all very lean muscle. They are subject to Tularemia, a serious bacterial infection that can infect humans. They must be cooked to a rocklike texture and don't eat the liver, heart etc. my understanding is that the pups are more edible than the adults, but still, infection! Ugh!

 

[Stomper]

Vermin... sewer rats of the plains!

 

[mjbskwim]

But they're so cute and fluffy. Maybe just keep the pelts.I don't know what for but hey.
I'll tell ya,the 17hmr does a job on a rabbit head

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Well, Stomp, that's a little unfair! They make superb targets!!!

 

[mjbskwim]

Not when there is 2 golden eagles hunting and various other birds of prey flying over.
Well too fast for me at least

 

[U201491]

They are full of parasites Warbels, and fleas can carry bubonic.
Leave em for the coyotes.

 

[mjbskwim]

They are full of parasites Warbels, and fleas can carry bubonic.
Leave em for the coyotes.

Glad that's how I handled them
Then come back for the coyotes?
Oh yeah,lined up on what I thought was a crow,but it had a hooked beak and a golden head.
I kept the $25k in my pocket

 

[gundog10]

I had a friend who would only hunt jacks in the winter. He would pressure cook them and de-bone, shred, and mix with chopped onions, pickles and mayo. Now I would never even try his jack rabbit surprise but when he brought it to work there would be a line out the door waiting for one of his sandwiches.

 

[IronMonster]

In my youth I shot easily over a thousand jack rabbits. Not uncommon to shoot 30-40 a night. Never once thought of putting one in my mouth.

They come in cycles (as I am sure you know) during the peak years there are so many that when you go out into the desert at night its like the ground is moving with them.

 

[fxdc]

I had a friend who would only hunt jacks in the winter. He would pressure cook them and de-bone, shred, and mix with chopped onions, pickles and mayo. Now I would never even try his jack rabbit surprise but when he brought it to work there would be a line out the door waiting for one of his sandwiches.

I have cooked them, and 99% is how you gut and clean them.

And he'll yeah when shtf and food is nowhere to be found I'd do it again ... only if I did the cleaning.

CAREFUL with the liver and heart etc

 

[mjbskwim]

I was told you can see if the thing has that Tularemia when you open it up.
I'll make sure to use gloves next time I get one and open it up.
Maybe sunday again

 

[mjbskwim]

Never once thought of putting one in my mouth.

Pretty much the thinking of folks around here

 

[Mikej]

Around here some folks shoot jack rabbits as pests.They kinda got out of hand a while back and folks were getting lots of shooting in for the farmers.

That was a LONG while back, when I lived in the Salt Lake Valley. As I Understood/remember they were thick like Mormon crickets in Southern Idaho. So thick that people quit shooting them and started rounding them up in enclosures and clubbing the jacks to death. As you might imagine once the media got a hold of THAT story, even back then, there was a public out-cry.

I really wanted to get up there at that time, but couldn't for whatever reasons. We hunted in the desert West of the Wasatch Front in high school. One time a buddy wounded a jack-on-the-run and a hawk/eagle of some kind had been watching and swooped down and grabbed it, way cool! Had friends that would spotlight 'em and something always seemed to go wrong/break and they'd end up walking miles/hitch hike through the night to get home. Lucky that I was never with them! For what ever reasons there are no longer any jacks out there.

 

[mjbskwim]

The infestation ran all the way to Montana. My neighbor said he would beat a 6 foot circle down in the brush shooting them up there.
He would use his 357 S&W

 

[fxdc]

I was told you can see if the thing has that Tularemia when you open it up.
I'll make sure to use gloves next time I get one and open it up.
Maybe sunday again

Good I forgot to mention Use Gloves and yes you can see/ tell.

I haven't eaten one in a while since I left nevada. And not sure if I could catch one now As I have a bum knee and not as fast as I once was.

LMAO !!!!!!

 

[Certaindeaf]

"Mechanical separation" via a handgun sent 88gr Speer 9mm HP at 1700fps is the real key (lol). nothing left unless you hold some toast out to catch the wafting bits

 

[mjbskwim]

haha
Yeah that Bolt dude would have a problem.

 

[Mark W.]

I've hunted and ate Jack Rabbits for 40 years now. In all that time I have maybe tossed a half dozen for something that didn't look right.

Hunt for food end of January to 1st of May at the latest The sick week parasited one die off during the winter.
Wear gloves when butchering We use garden shears or them replacable edge mechanics sissors things Sears sells to cut feet and head. Clean them like you would a deer within 20 min of shooting them.
If you see anything on the liver that looks not like perfectly clean smooth dark blood colored liver toss them
Some years hunting in Feb Mar we won't even see any fleas at all
Once gutted and skinned put them on ICE
When you get home wash them and cut them up.

For Cooking we like to Chicken fry the rear legs and stew meat the rest. A little Sweet booze in the stew helps break down the meat. I like to use Southern Comfort. If I am making a 2 quart stew I will use about a cup of SC the booze all cooks off.

I have 6 of them in the freezer right now from last year. If I wasn't so hell bent on getting my 48 Willys Jeep done this year I would be planning a trip to Silverlake this year as well.

YMMV

P.S. we hunt mostly with a 20" Wingmaster 870 w/8rd mag using low base game loads the $6.00 a box junk and .22LR rifles

 

[Sgt Nambu]

When I was a kid in NV the state government requested people to hunt and kill as many jacks as possible, due to a severe Tularemia outbreak.
My friends and I used to hunt them by sneaking up a twisty ravine with .357 revolvers! Get to a turn and edge around. Made for some fasssst action!