Rabbit hunting

[dk17hmr]

After asking everyone in the house if they wanted to go rabbit hunting with me this afternoon, and being rejected by everyone I said piss on it grabbed dads 22 pistol threw on my drop leg holster and set off. We have about an acre of Christmas trees behind the house that is absoultly full of rabbits this year, I was gone about an hour and very got out of those trees everytime I would kick out a rabbit I was follow it and kick out an differnt one.

I finally got a sitting shot on a bunny so I drew and doubled tapped...missed twice, he took of I followed him with the irons and shot 3 at it running, hit it in the lungs with one of the shot. I thought I missed it because I saw another rabbit take off on the same path, like I said this acre is full of rabbits.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/dk17hmr/rabbit22.jpg

I only got a safe shot at this one but I probably kicked out 5 differnet rabbits.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Well done, I have an old Browning medallist, shoots great.

[MT Gianni]

Good job, I like 'em browned with olive oil and baked at 325 for about an hour. GIanni.

[danski26]

Slow cooker with cream of mushroom served on a bun is my fave. I take the easier route doug, 20 ga OU Beretta silver snipe......nice shootin with that 22!

[omgb]

While quail hunting back in November I ran into a regular rabbit wren, had to be 30 cotton tails and maybe 15 or so jacks all in a 1/4 mile by 1/4 mile strip of land. Thing is, it's in Los Angeles county which means shotgun only for rabbits. Sad really because I'd love to go for them with my .357 carbine or maybe even my 32-20. Cottontail is pretty good but so far, in 50 years of living I still can't find a way to make jacks edible.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Are jacks/jackrabbits hares? They need to hang until they are just about off then stewed.

[Treeman]

Hanging isn't essential (though it could help) Parboiled and fried makes jack tasty as does boning and using the meat in a pot of chili. The parboiling or stewing will take care of the toughness. As far as flavor....Jacks have dark strong meat. I like it. So long as a person isn't anticipating the flavor of cottontail there is no need to be disappointed. Accept things for what they are and they get a lot better. Every time someone tries to sell rabbit as "tasting like chicken" venison as "tasting like beef" bear as being"just like pork" etc. I cringe. That is a set-up for disappointment. Animal flesh has differing flavors. Accept that and enjoy the diversity.

BTW, I have it on good authority that Cormorant tastes just like Loon which is about like them Baldy Headed Eagles. :^)

[omgb]

Yup, jacks are hares. There's no season or bag limit on the either. Rabbits run from July 1 through Jan 30th with the bag limit set at ten each day and ten total in possession.

[omgb]

My problem with jacks is really the same problem I have with Sage Hens, it's the sage and creosote. When animals have been eating that stuff it goes right into their meat. A little sage goes a loooooong way. Creosote in the meat is like what happens to milk when the cow gets into garlic. It's a naturally occuring plant here in the high desert and it's a major part of the blacktailed jack rabbit's diet. I'm thinking that Chili might be the answer to the problem.

[carpetman]

You might be able to make chili out of jacks. Certainly not stew. Nobody wants to find a hare in their stew.

[gregg]

DK hold on I will be right over to help you out.
Wait I got to get my 36A Marlin out. Been cut to
16 3/4 inchs and shoot a 113gr soup can over
10 gr unq. Its a rabbit killing fool. ;-)
Jacks I will get back to you how the wife fixed
them over rice?

[Dale53]

DK 17hmr;
Good show!! That's the way to do it..

Living here in the Midwest, I have never shot nor tried to eat a Jack Rabbit.

However, Cottontails are high up on the pecking order of good meat. Snow Shoe Rabbits (Varying Hare) are down right wonderful. Both of these critters benefit greatly from being taken with a handgun. If they are close, I go for head shots. If they are a ways off, a shot through the "slats" will do just fine with no practical meat loss. I prefer center fires as a rabbit gun and have taken them with .44 Special on down through .38's and .32's.

Frankly, a .32 or .38 wadcutter is about perfect for edible small game.

One time, my wife had a church group over for a luncheon and one of the ladies noticed my Shooting Plaques on the wall. Then they asked my wife if I hunted. One of the ladies mentioned that she was extremely fond of rabbit but didn't care for the lead shot you might run into when eating them. My wife innocently stated, "My husband doesn't shoot them with a shotgun. He uses a handgun and they only have a single hole in them with no lost or "shot up" meat." I just smiled and said nothin'...:drinks:

Cast boolits, forever!!:Fire: :Fire:

Dale53

[dk17hmr]

Got that guy soaking in salt water. Thinkin I might head back out tonight with my dad 38 with my 120gr TC cast bullets...or maybe my 1911 with light 230gr cast....or maybe the 357 loaded with 38's...to many choices and not enough holsters.

I have been taking a different approach when hunting rabbit with a handgun, as long as I am by myself I wear earplugs when walkin. I think I am pretty tough but them short guns are loud.

[Larry Gibson]

dk17hmr

Good hunting, good shooting. Out here in Washington and Oregon we either hunt rabbits or we shoot rabbits. The snow shoe hares and brush bunnies (cottontails) that we eat, like yours, we hunt. Like danski26 I like to cut them up and let them stew in cream of mushroom soup for a few hours (warning; keep the kids away from the pot or all you'll have left is the soup!) Jack rabbits we just shoot. The jacks like to bunch up at certain times of the years and when you get into a bunch of them it makes for some fast and fun shooting. I like to sit in an over watch position over such an area with the long range varmint rifle as the smell often brings in coyotes, badgers, crows and other varmints. I started off hunting hares and brush bunnies in the thick brush after a snow with.22s also but gravitated to a 5" M15 S&W .38 Special and then to a .32 H&R magnum. Great sport, thanks for bringing back the memories.

Larry Gibson

[mainiac]

treeman, that is funny!!! The commorants follow the salmon stocking trucks from southern maine up here to where i live. When they dump these salmon in our streams, the commrants eat most of them, and those that survive,eat all the food for our trout. All in the name of the famous sea run atlantic salmon, that is GONE GONE GONE. When are they going to see this!!!

[TDB9901]

Doug,

Sounds like good fun and eatin', but do indeed stay with those earplugs.

I didn't think I needed them when I was young and macho, and now wish I'd been smarter. Permanent tinitis ain't fun, as many of us old farts can tell you.:(

[John F.]

<<<Permanent tinitis ain't fun>>>

Very true!! Firing some guns can bring about instant, permanent and significant hearing impairment with just one shot.

If you fire a gun without ear protection and notice ringing in your ears, it is a sign of hearing damage. If you get to an audiologist within a few hours of the event,
they can treat it to help minimize the damage, but you have to get there soon.
I don't recollect the exact time but I believe it is 48 hours or less. I'd bank on "less", if it happened to me.

Hope this helps!
John

[versifier]

mainiac,
Some years back we had a game warden (and avid trout fisherman) who referred to cormorants as "web-footed starlings" and said as far inland as we are, they should be considered an invasive species. He would then abruptly change the subject to something like the weather forecast. [smilie=1: I miss him, the new one is clueless.

[Marlin Junky]

Doug,

Sounds like good fun and eatin', but do indeed stay with those earplugs.

I didn't think I needed them when I was young and macho, and now wish I'd been smarter. Permanent tinitis ain't fun, as many of us old farts can tell you.:(


Any of you fellow tinnitus sufferers ever try this stuff:
http://www.taoofherbs.com/products/144/NaturalCare/RingStop.htm?source=google&keyword=ad-ring

MJ

[MtGun44]

At that price, I may try it. Mostly scared it would make
mine worse. Too many years of shooting and behind
loud aircraft engines, besides tons of antibiotics as a child.
Saved my life but didn't help my ears any. :roll:

Anybody know anything about this "RingStop" stuff at the link
in MarlinJunky's post above?

Bill

[REDTAIL]

Here in NYS the rabbits are scarce due to the foxe's & coyote's taking their toll on them just like the once abundant woodchucks were here in NYS over the years thats why we try to shoot all the coyotes as much as we can, and foxes too, they put a hurt on the turkey's too

[Ivantherussian03]

Wow!! I thought we were the only place with snow on the ground.


Now you need to tan the fur and make a hat

[Bullshop]

Anybody wants to hunt rabbits (snowshoe hare) c'mon up. We are at the top of a cycle.
Last year our best day out was I believe 48. Best ask Jr. to be sure, he can remember better than me.
Normally in a day hunting its more like 20. We use them two ways. We either de-bone and grind them and mix 50/50 with moose or caribou for sausage, or we can them like a stew with taters, carrots, cellery, and onions from the garden. Either way good eatin.
If we get some young ones early in the season that are not yet eating bark we will fry them up fresh. C'mon up and bring lots a ammo. We have way more fun rabbit huntin than moose huntin. Lots a shootin and little work rabbit huntin or little shootin and lotsa work moose huntin. Wut ya think?
BIC/BS

[dk17hmr]

Wow!! I thought we were the only place with snow on the ground.



Right now its still pretty green. But in mid-Feburary when I started this post we had a little bit of snow.:-D

We shouldnt have snow until last week or so of November.

[Bullshop]

Right now, what is it about oct 5 we have about 6" in the valley and its getting deep in the mountains. Good rabbit hunting because there not all white yet.

[Down South]

My ears have been bad since I was a child too. Plus like some above I’ve worked in an industrial atmosphere all of my life. Saw mills, oil field, turbine engines and so on. I hardly have any of the high frequency hearing left. I guess that’s good. Most women speak in a high tone voice. My ears have rang for so many years now I wouldn’t know what to do if the ringing were to stop. It would be nice if a bottle of pills could cure the problem.

BTW, I got a nice cotton tail the other day with my .357 Mag.