Oregon - Want to hunt rabbit for the first time this weekend.

[Joe13]

Can't watch it right now but is this the Air Force Survival method of swinging it between your legs?View attachment 519847

Maybe in theory but not really.

 

[DirectDrive]

Can't watch it right now but is this the Air Force Survival method of swinging it between your legs?View attachment 519847

Looks more like a Navy thing.

 

[bbbass]

In the Coast Guard we would use a basket to swing it.

I've been out several times and getting into hunting in general when you didn't grow up being taught is hands down the hardest skill I've tried to learn on my own.

Mmmm... My dad didn't hunt after he moved from Connecticut to S. Calif. He had three outdoorsy boys but didn't teach us. Not just hunting... anything really... he tried to teach me to drive by handing me the keys and saying get in... cost him some in body work repairs. Anyway, I picked up what I know from hunter friends and magazine articles, then my own experience. I'm still not much of a woodsman. BTW: hardest thing I've tried to learn is sight reading music at age 45-66 (current) with no classroom training.

They like "low country" with blackberry patches with grassy areas between the briar patches.

"DON'T THROW ME IN THE BRIAR PATCH!!!"

 

[Alex V]

Hi,

I've never done any hunting before, but hopefully this weekend I want to get out and hunt rabbit. I've taken a basic hunter's ed course, but outside of that, I have no idea where to start.

My understanding is that in Oregon, most rabbits are unprotected game, except the white-tailed rabbit and pygmy.

Now I'm trying to fine somewhere to go hunt, and I'm finding it somewhat challenging to figure out which places are OK and which places aren't. Most of ODFW's website seems to be pointed toward the rules for big game and birds.

So I've been looking through the ODFW map just reading about different places and trying to figure it out, but it's pretty overwhelming.

EE Wilson Wildlife Area sounded like it would work, but it's shotguns only. (We will have a shotgun and a .22 to use.)

I think White River Wildlife Area is open for hunting still... but I guess my point is I really don't know where to start. If anyone has advice on the best way to get started I'd greatly appreciate it.

Hunter's Ed really laid down the rules and procedures for hunting, but I don't feel like it did enough to prepare me to actually go outside and start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been thinking about doing the same and like you, have had no experience. Let me know how it goes for you.

 

[RVTECH]

but I don't feel like it did enough to prepare me to actually go outside and start.

That's not the intent of Hunter's Education.
I suggest you align yourself with someone who has outdoors and hunting experience and spend some time with this person in the field learning the basics as opposed to just heading out on your own in an unfamiliar area and no experience as you admitted.
I equate this with someone who only had the classroom portion of driver's ED getting behind the wheel and heading out into traffic for the first time.

 

[N Monty]

hardest thing I've tried to learn is sight reading music at age 45-66 (current) with no classroom training.

That's a difficult thing! I've studied it on and off through the years but never really "got it." It takes a lot of study and a little bit of a "knack." Some people pick up sheet music much more easily- I'm not one of them...

I've been thinking about doing the same and like you, have had no experience. Let me know how it goes for you.

Oh I'll post some kind of update when this is all said and done.

I suggest you align yourself with someone who has outdoors and hunting experience and spend some time with this person in the field learning the basics as opposed to just heading out on your own in an unfamiliar area and no experience as you admitted.

Well sometimes that' just how things go. I may have someone to go out with if things work out (these forums are cool) but if not... well, gotta start somewhere. Maybe it's different in Central Oregon, or anywhere else in Oregon, really, but there aren't a lot of friendly hunters to bump into in Portland. I'm probably the most gun/hunting inclined person I know, unfortunately.

Sometimes you've just gotta dive right in, or you'll never get around to it.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Sometimes you've just gotta dive right in, or you'll never get around to it.

I kind of agree with this. Those of us brought up with hunting mostly learned by experience. And only one way to gain experience. Of course hunting with an experienced person will get u over the learning curve a lot faster.

#1 you have to be where the animals are. Then you learn where they hide, when they are out foraging, what types of weather make them hold up vs out moving around etc.

I would briefly study tularemia and also how to keep ticks off you (or just really watch for them). When I used to hunt rabbits I killed several jackrabbits with tumors, skin lesions, etc. and it always made me worry about tularemia but never confirmed any of them had it. It was in the same region as Hanford nuclear site so maybe it was due to that. Never saw any with three eyes though ha ha...

 

[N Monty]

I would briefly study tularemia and also how to keep ticks off you (or just really watch for them). When I used to hunt rabbits I killed several jackrabbits with tumors, skin lesions, etc. and it always made me worry about tularemia but never confirmed any of them had it. It was in the same region as Hanford nuclear site so maybe it was due to that. Never saw any with three eyes though ha ha...

I might be in Portland right now, but I grew up in the country, so I'm more than familiar with basic outdoors skills like avoiding ticks. (I've plucked plenty of them off, too! Gross little things) But as for tularemia, I'm familiar with the basic "spotted liver" bit, and outside of that I'm hoping this cold weather has helped kill off any sick ones. It's been 10°-15° cooler out near Maupin/Redmond than here in Portland, so that's plenty chilly.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I might be in Portland right now, but I grew up in the country, so I'm more than familiar with basic outdoors skills like avoiding ticks. (I've plucked plenty of them off, too! Gross little things) But as for tularemia, I'm familiar with the basic "spotted liver" bit, and outside of that I'm hoping this cold weather has helped kill off any sick ones. It's been 10°-15° cooler out near Maupin/Redmond than here in Portland, so that's plenty chilly.

Cool. If ur after jackrabbits they will help make u a good shot for other animals. They are fast and fairly unpredictable.

 

[thorborg]

Cannon Beach is over run with the tasty ones but even though many have had enough and plenty irritated I doubt the will let you shoot them. But Jones Creak area (off hwy 6) is also nearly over run with them, They may be from the old smith homestead, again the camp area is off limits but maybe close to that area on the back roads they might have taken hold. I raised rabbits for 11 years. its good meat, (Not Jacks) low in fat as it does not marble, instead lying on the outside of the muscle so you can easily scrape it off. Also more meat and less bone and sinew than chicken legs

 

[BigGame]

OP:
The dad in my wants to say that I like everything you've said.
But use what tools they taught you in hunter safety. Go hunt, and be hyper-alerted to gun safety. Hyper.
Cheers, and good luck.

 

[N Monty]

I have another question.

If I actually get a rabbit, what next? Do I

- skin and gut it immediately?
- or should I wait and try to get another rabbit or two and clean them all at once?

- if I skin and gut it immediately, do I then go back to the car and put it in the cooler before continuing to hunt?
- or do I carry the rabbit with me while we keep hunting for more of them?

When I clean them, what do I do with the fur and guts? Do I pack them out, or should I just leave the for coyotes?

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[Member 34319]

I have another question.

If I actually get a rabbit, what next? Do I

- skin and gut it immediately?
- or should I wait and try to get another rabbit or two and clean them all at once?

- if I skin and gut it immediately, do I then go back to the car and put it in the cooler before continuing to hunt?
- or do I carry the rabbit with me while we keep hunting for more of them?

When I clean them, what do I do with the fur and guts? Do I pack them out, or should I just leave the for coyotes?

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Throw them in a pack. Or hang em on stringer. Skin and gut at the car at the end of the day. They get a bit stiff after an hour or so, I find it helps skin them. Gut em there too, you could pack everything out if you want to and dispose of it, or just toss it into the surrounding areas for other parts of nature to eat. Throw hem on ice and head home.

If you like, you can eat the heart and liver, some like them, I don't.

I've never tried doing anything with the furs, but you could keep them if you like and try your hand at it.

You can also keep a foot or two and have your own home made lucky rabbits foot!

 

[N Monty]

Throw them in a pack. Or hang em on stringer. Skin and gut at the car at the end of the day. They get a bit stiff after an hour or so, I find it helps skin them. Gut em there too, you could pack everything out if you want to and dispose of it, or just toss it into the surrounding areas for other parts of nature to eat. Throw hem on ice and head home.

You can also keep a foot or two and have your own home made lucky rabbits foot!

Thanks for the reply! Is there a time limit on how long they can wait for skinning/gutting? I'm not sure how much of the day we'll spend in the field, and I don't really have a good understanding of how long fresh game will last. Seems like the rules are very different for game than for a store-bought chicken or whatever. I'm guessing we're talking like ~4 hours?

Also the rabbit's foot is a great idea, would make a fun holiday gift, and would reduce waste. Seems very easy to do, too.

 

[WAYNO]

As we speak, it's 30-degrees in Culver. The days this time of year don't get much higher than refrigerator temperature, so small animals will cool on their own. So if it's a few hours til you get back to the truck, you'll be okay.

That said...There's more than just cooling involved here. Depending on where the animal is shot, you could have eviscerated contaminants floating around the body cavity, so I'm a bit more anal, and get the animal dressed quickly if there's a chance the guts have been perforated.

And to digress...It has been suggested that cottontail hunting is better around valley farmland. That may be partially true, but I've spent a lot of time in the Grasslands. Yes there's mostly jackrabbits, but since the grasslands have been bovine grazing for centuries, there's still volunteer alfalfa all over the place. The bunnies love this stuff, so there's still lots of bunnies in the grasslands along with the jackrabbits. I like to walk the sage brush, looking for pockets of grass. Keep your eyes open in hopes you will see the bunnies before they bolt, hoping for a head shot with a rimfire. Running shots, even with a shotgun will definitely be humbling.

 

[N Monty]

As we speak, it's 30-degrees in Culver. The days this time of year don't get much higher than refrigerator temperature, so small animals will cool on their own.

Hey Wayno. The weather reports for the weekend indicated it would be nice and cool, upper 30°'s to mid 40°'s. You make a great point- it's all contextual- the contaminants are a potential issue as well. I figure any shots to the gut will definitely be a "clean now" situation, as opposed to head shots.

You mentioned running shots will be humbling, my biggest concern is currently mangling a rabbit with a badly placed shotgun round. I saw a few pictures of rabbits people had hit dead-on with something big, probably a 30 cal, and it bummed me out. Just seemed really wasteful. I don't want to do that.

Most reports I read indicated that there were definitely still some cottontails in the Grasslands, and it seems like an often-recommended spot, so that's where I'm planning on going for this first trip. In the future I'll probably try to fin da spot in the valley, just because it's a lot closer, but I don't feel like trying to find a valley spot on this trip, since it's fast approaching.

Besides, I grew up in high desert and I really miss getting out into wide open spaces. Even if I don't manage to get any rabbits on this trip, I think I'll really enjoy just getting to be out east of Mt. Hood. It's been too long, and the city drives me crazy.

 

[RVTECH]

Pack guts out to dispose of later?
That's almost like bagging your own human 'refuse' out to dispose of later.
Guts and hide leave for the vultures & yotes - but at least dig a hole and cover the other if you have to 'go' while in the field.

 

[N Monty]

That's almost like bagging your own human 'refuse' out to dispose of later.

I guess it's all contextual, then. If every tourist that hiked Multnomah Falls dug a little cathole to put their dookie in, the whole Gorge would smell like manure.

I don't think I'm too worried about the guts, but I wouldn't mind trying to keep a hide to try preserving for fun. Reno911 brought up saving a lucky rabbit's foot, and that seems like a swell idea.

 

[bbbass]

Be careful of broken rabbit bones when cleaning/handling dead rabbits... am man died after cutting himself on a bone while cleaning a rabbit. Turns out the rabbit had bubonic plague. So if you can get some of those anti-cut gloves or at least be careful not to cut yourself with your knife or exposing an existing cut/wound to the rabbit insides.

 

[bbbass]