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Wanting to hunt rabbits to eat?
- Thread Starter manakiah
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.22lr is fine. You can even use a pellet rifle.
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Rabbit meat is one of the worst meats for nutrition, along with squirrels. You can actually starve while ingesting it
PS: I have gut shot jackrabbits with a .303 British.. they just screamed and had to be shot again.. lots of different "rabbits" out there
PS: I have gut shot jackrabbits with a .303 British.. they just screamed and had to be shot again.. lots of different "rabbits" out there
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A .22lr hollow point will work just fine for rabbits. I get my rabbits every year this way.
I use a head shot no farther than 50 yards. Good hunting, Andy
I use a head shot no farther than 50 yards. Good hunting, Andy
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A .22lr hollow point will work just fine for rabbits. I get my rabbits every year this way.
I use a head shot no farther than 50 yards. Good hunting, Andy
I use a head shot no farther than 50 yards. Good hunting, Andy
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I wouldn't use a shotgun. 
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Really ?
Cholesterol level in rabbit meat is much lower than chicken, turkey, beef, pork. (Alabama A & M University 1989)
Rabbit is lower in % of fat than chicken, turkey, beef, and pork. (U S D A circular # 549)
Rabbit is highest in protein%. (U S D A circular # 549)
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Protein poisoning is a form of acute malnutrition caused by excess consumption of any lean meat (e.g., rabbit) coupled with a lack of other sources of nutrients usually in combination with other stressors, such as severe cold or dry environment. Symptoms include diarrhea, headache, fatigue, low blood pressure and heart rate, and a vague discomfort and hunger that can only be satisfied by consumption of fat or carbohydrates.
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Although protein poisoning is possible if rabbit were your sole dietary intake, saying "Rabbit meat is one of the worst meats for nutrition" is simply not the case.
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Great post NW Outdoors! Les Stroud (Survivorman) ate rabbits on at least one of his episodes. He mentioned that one must eat the internal organs (and possibly the brain) to obtain the necessary fat to survive. I believe from my medical background that lipids are important for nerve transmission. So, you won't STARVE to death on either rabbits or caribou (as I have heard also), but you might not receive adequate nutrition from just that SINGLE food source.
As a side note, Lewis and Clark were "fat starved" on their expedition, as they were surviving solely on game meat (obviously) and their bodies were not used to that diet (living in Western culture), so while at Fort Clatsop (Astoria), they traded elk meat for dogs from the Chinook Indians in the area. Dog, like Wolf (which I tried to eat) is very fatty and gristly meat. William Clark, in particular, loved the taste of dog, but did not resort to eating his companion that he brought along on the expedition.
Caliber choice for rabbits???? Whatever you have in your hand. I used my .338 WM on a tasty-looking bugger and the behaded rabbit cooked up very well on a spit over a campfire!
As a side note, Lewis and Clark were "fat starved" on their expedition, as they were surviving solely on game meat (obviously) and their bodies were not used to that diet (living in Western culture), so while at Fort Clatsop (Astoria), they traded elk meat for dogs from the Chinook Indians in the area. Dog, like Wolf (which I tried to eat) is very fatty and gristly meat. William Clark, in particular, loved the taste of dog, but did not resort to eating his companion that he brought along on the expedition.
Caliber choice for rabbits???? Whatever you have in your hand. I used my .338 WM on a tasty-looking bugger and the behaded rabbit cooked up very well on a spit over a campfire!
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what do they taste like?
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I know the expression "tastes just like chicken" is worn out, but it very well may have originated in reference to rabbit. Except rabbit is better. All white meat, and if the proper variety (cottontail, or snowshoe) is very tender. Cooking methods include frying ("just like chicken"), roasting (with wild rice is very nice), and probably my favorite method is "bunny mcnuggets": tempura batter and deep fried boned-out morsels.
As a child in Nevada, it was my job to put cottontails on the dinner table (we were dirt poor, but I never knew it). My Winchester M67 single shot Boy's Rifle, and .22 Shorts worked without fail. Headshots were mandatory if only because it made the cleaning easier for me. I recall that I wrote a letter to a pen-pal in England then, advising him my score for one month was 50 rabbits (hunting after school and on weekends).
To skin a rabbit the 30-second method, make a small cut across the middle of the skin at the backbone (on a cottontail, you can actually make this skin split with your fingers). Stick the index and middle finger of each hand into this split, under the skin, and pull apart just as if you were trying to pull the rabbit into halves. The disrobing will stop at the ankles and the neck perfectly. Cut these off, and your rabbit is skinned. As a kid, I'd leave the hind feet on for a handle to carry him home with.
Cautionary advice that I learned then from old-timers in Nevada included examining the lungs when field dressing: If the lungs appear discolored or "spotted", that rabbit was a reject. The old-timers called it "Tuleremia". Another discovery that would disqualify a rabbit for table fare was if it had "warbles": an under-the-skin parasite about the size of a fat macaroni. Hunting rabbits primarily in the fall and winter months greatly reduced either of these discoveries.
As a child in Nevada, it was my job to put cottontails on the dinner table (we were dirt poor, but I never knew it). My Winchester M67 single shot Boy's Rifle, and .22 Shorts worked without fail. Headshots were mandatory if only because it made the cleaning easier for me. I recall that I wrote a letter to a pen-pal in England then, advising him my score for one month was 50 rabbits (hunting after school and on weekends).
To skin a rabbit the 30-second method, make a small cut across the middle of the skin at the backbone (on a cottontail, you can actually make this skin split with your fingers). Stick the index and middle finger of each hand into this split, under the skin, and pull apart just as if you were trying to pull the rabbit into halves. The disrobing will stop at the ankles and the neck perfectly. Cut these off, and your rabbit is skinned. As a kid, I'd leave the hind feet on for a handle to carry him home with.
Cautionary advice that I learned then from old-timers in Nevada included examining the lungs when field dressing: If the lungs appear discolored or "spotted", that rabbit was a reject. The old-timers called it "Tuleremia". Another discovery that would disqualify a rabbit for table fare was if it had "warbles": an under-the-skin parasite about the size of a fat macaroni. Hunting rabbits primarily in the fall and winter months greatly reduced either of these discoveries.
"warbles"/"wolves" as we called them where I grew up in TN could be cut out unless the animal was infested. But one or two could be excised to save the animal as table fare. They also show up in squirrel's. We were always told to wait until after the first killing frost before starting the squirrel/rabbit seasons as the frosts kill off the "warbles". Interesting tidbit about the lungs, we used to do a similar inspection on trout's gills if they had been on a stringer for a while. Want to get them gutted before the gills turn pale.
.22's are fine, I killed more than a few with my grandfathers .22 caliber air rifle also.
.22's are fine, I killed more than a few with my grandfathers .22 caliber air rifle also.
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My son and I would like to do some rabbit hunting anybody know of a good place close by, I live in Washington county (OR). we were talking about taking our 22's loading up the camper and taking off one weekend.
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Ken,
Real tough to find decent rabbit hunting here in Washington County, though its not because there's few rabbits. (just too much cover). Here's a try though: take a drive out to Spruce Run park on the Nehalem, and continue down the river on the road early in the morning or late in the evening. Lots of what I call "woods rabbits" in that area, but again, cover is heavy. Find a spur road there you can walk in the early morning or evening. Another key land feature to look for is areas infested with Scotch Broom. Bunnies really like it, and most of those areas you can actually see one once in a while.
Check your regs. Rabbits actually do enjoy the protection of seasons, and this is a good thing, since right now mommas are having their babies. Fall and winter is best.
Other than that, (and about 2 hours or so away,) check for public land around Madras, or (5 hours away) near Fort Rock/Silver Lake. Good cottontail hunting there, and you might get lucky and find a rancher who'd let you hunt bunnies. Again, hunt break of dawn or late evening. The "everybody knows about it" area for Jackrabbits is Christmas Valley. Jackrabbits populate in a cycle that some claim is seven years. (Increase, increase, increase, then none.) Coyote populations have them down where I don't think we'll ever see the good shooting we had in the 70's, but on an "up" year, the action can be hot and heavy.
Good Luck!
Real tough to find decent rabbit hunting here in Washington County, though its not because there's few rabbits. (just too much cover). Here's a try though: take a drive out to Spruce Run park on the Nehalem, and continue down the river on the road early in the morning or late in the evening. Lots of what I call "woods rabbits" in that area, but again, cover is heavy. Find a spur road there you can walk in the early morning or evening. Another key land feature to look for is areas infested with Scotch Broom. Bunnies really like it, and most of those areas you can actually see one once in a while.
Check your regs. Rabbits actually do enjoy the protection of seasons, and this is a good thing, since right now mommas are having their babies. Fall and winter is best.
Other than that, (and about 2 hours or so away,) check for public land around Madras, or (5 hours away) near Fort Rock/Silver Lake. Good cottontail hunting there, and you might get lucky and find a rancher who'd let you hunt bunnies. Again, hunt break of dawn or late evening. The "everybody knows about it" area for Jackrabbits is Christmas Valley. Jackrabbits populate in a cycle that some claim is seven years. (Increase, increase, increase, then none.) Coyote populations have them down where I don't think we'll ever see the good shooting we had in the 70's, but on an "up" year, the action can be hot and heavy.
Good Luck!
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Thanks for the advise, I think my son and I should do some scounting this summer for a fall hunting trip..
thanks again.
Ken
thanks again.
Ken
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Ain't that that truth! I remember back then it was nothing to shoot 25 - 30 jacks in a day - especially around the Post/Paulina areas. There was a near repeat of the 70's populations for a few years in the early 90's in Eastern Oregon. I am however seeing a lot more cottentails recently and I have a small but thriving population on my property and on a recent outing toward Fort Rock I saw lots of tracks in the snow wherever I stopped. This was in the area of Fort Rock south of Hwy 31.
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It's an extremely lean meat and if it's all you eat in a survival situation you will eventually die
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I won't eat them as well due to the fact of all the parasites they harbor. Ditto for pork and sea insects
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You could use a 410 shotgun, thats what we shoot squirels with.
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Try a Stevens 22/410 or a Savage model 24 in the 22/410 option. I think it is the perfect rabbit gun, and a great choice for a camp/survival gun.
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