Who here still eats rabbit?

[eastbank]

i sure do,when i do it takes me back over 60 years to when i lived on a farm and my brothers and i shot them for food along with any thing else my mother would cook and that was damn near any animal we brought home,times were tough as my dad was reactiveated during the keorean war. eastbank.

 

[Kiln]

My father in law said he intended to use an 8 guage for rabbit hunting this year, I'm wondering if there will be anything left to take home afterwards. For me I find the .410 more than adequate.

 

[bigfatdave]

browned my rabbit in a frying pan with oil and bacon grease.

If there was a drooling smiley, I might actually use a smiley here ... I've got a pair of local butchers and I save the bacon grease from their stuff, the stuff you buy at the grocery store or WM isn't worth the trouble after you've had the real thing! (I've used the grease from heavily peppered bacon for bunny a few times - it is fantastic)

You know how when people say "it tastes like chicken" but then you eat it and it doesn't?

Well, modern grocery-store chicken doesn't taste like chicken, really. At least the boneless skinless white meat doesn't. And have you seen the individually-packaged BSCB? Each one in its own little pouch for one-person meals ... sort of sad, and the "meat" is essentially animal-derived tofu, flavorless and only capable of picking up flavor from the cooking process or a marinade/brine.

I'm not a tre-hugging hippy, but if you folks have a Whole Foods or other hippy-mart in your area, try their free-range and/or organic birds, they're close to the real free-range birds we raised while living in north-central Pennsultucky while I was in H.S. those actually have flavor.

 

[beatledog7]

I didn't vote in the poll because there was no "I have eaten them and will either hunt rabbit or buy domestic rabbit in the supermarket (if it were available)" option.

 

[Kiln]

I'm not a tre-hugging hippy, but if you folks have a Whole Foods or other hippy-mart in your area, try their free-range and/or organic birds, they're close to the real free-range birds we raised while living in north-central Pennsultucky while I was in H.S. those actually have flavor.

Unfortunately, having lived on a farm the first half of my life, I know all too well how good home grown food tastes vs store bought. If people only knew how good real home raised animals are they'd have trouble going back.

I've had and eaten home raised: rabbits (better than free roaming rabbits IMO), chickens, ducks, and cows.

If I still had access to those critters you can bet I'd be eating them rather than buying the crap they sell in big chain stores.

 

[j1]

Ate just a very few rabbits years ago and they taste better than chicken to me.
i am a little nervous about rabbit borne parasites of diseases so have not eaten one recently.

 

[bigfatdave]

Kiln, look for a local butcher, they are still out there and some of them are very involved in the raising and "disassembly" of the critters. One near me has poultry grown to their specifications by a farm that pretty much is exclusive to that chain of butchers, and the other actually takes in cattle themselves in back from local farms - bypassing the whole feedlot concept nicely. That second place is where I get rabbit most often, they informed me that it comes from a nearby farm and I can get it fresh (quartered) or frozen (whole or quartered) ... although it isn't always there.

Eating local, in this case, pays off nicely.

 

[sixgunner455]

I've always heard "wait til the first HARD frost" to hunt rabbits.. as it will kill off the sick ones.

Rob, the problem with that is that in some locations, there isn't a hard freeze to wait for. And, as stated earlier, if the animal is healthy, it doesn't matter what time of year it is.

 

[alsaqr]

Also if I remember correctly some rabbits were afflicted with some kind of rather large worm which could be detected with an experienced hand?

We call them warbles: Its the larvae of the bot fly. They're gone after the first good frost.

http://www.pestproducts.com/pests/nuttysquirrel.htm

 

[788Ham]

CoRoMo,

I don't know what part of the state you're in, I live about 12 miles East of the Republic of Boulder, we're seeing a deluge of cottontails here, must have been the mild winter. Several years ago, my buddy and I went out East to Wiggins, CO., along Bijou Creek, there were jacks out there by the hundreds! In one day we shot up a carton of .22's and 6 boxes of 12 ga., I don't know if we made much of a dent in the population or not, but damn we had a good time! Too bad the G&F made such a drastic limit on those jacks.

 

[spclpatrolgroup]

I will only take a rabbit after we get a good week of freezing weather, that takes care of all the parasites. The best way I have to cook it is to put teh same kind of spice you would put on a chicken on it, put it in a cast iron pan with a couple strips of bacon over it, and put it in teh oven, finger licken good.

 

[rajb123]

Radioactive blue fin tuna has been caught off the California coast and it came from the nuke accident in Japan. Consequently, it is off my menu. The FDA has no plans to test anything for radioactivity, so beware.

Bunnies around here are probably not radioactive, but they are off my menu too.

 

[T Bran]

Down here we dont have a lot of choices just marsh bunnies. They dont get very large so it takes a couple for a meal. I havent had one for many years but as a kid I ate lots of them and loved it.
A few years ago I bought a dwarf bunny for my wife as a pet. I was totally surprised at how smart a rabbit is easy to house break as well as coming when called. Kinda ruined me for rabbit hunting as it is way too much like hunting dogs after having one as a pet.
I can give you no info on jackrabbits but it wouldnt take much effort to try one and see if it is worth your time. Heck any excuse to get to the field is a good one.

 

[BBQLS1]

Didn't vote. No option that fits me.

I've eaten rabbit when I was young, but haven't since. I'd hunt it if I had time, but most of my free time is dedicated to deer season.

 

[JEB]

i have only had the chance to eat it once and it was really good. my problem is that i am never able to find one when i go hunting for them.

 

[Kachok]

I have not had rabbit in years, but I do love it.

 

[velojym]

I'd add: I have and would, though I wouldn't go out of my way to pursue them. Prepared artfully, it's mighty tasty stuff.
Even with the prospect of "rabbit starvation", it's still a valuable form of protein even when you really do need to find some fat and starch to supplement it.

 

[Crazy Carl]

Love rabbit. YUM. 'n if there's no good huntin' local, they ain't hard to raise.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

Mother in law makes a roast rabbit that is unbelievably good.

Better than most high end restaurants.

 

[armoredman]

I've never had rabbit. The wabbits out here have a skin disease, so I'm told, that renders them unfit to eat. The closest I could get to it was Albertson's grocery store was rumored to carry domestic rabbit, but they closed.
If I could A) find a place to hunt rabbits that were fit to eat, and B) find someone to go hunting with who actually KNEW something about it, I'd C) eat rabbit.

 

[pdosh]

It's been years, but they are good. I also raised rabbits for a year or so. I had 5 does and a buck. I never sold any of the young. Rabbit was so good, I didn't want to eat chicken for years.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wankerjake]

I've never had rabbit. The wabbits out here have a skin disease, so I'm told, that renders them unfit to eat. The closest I could get to it was Albertson's grocery store was rumored to carry domestic rabbit, but they closed.
If I could A) find a place to hunt rabbits that were fit to eat, and B) find someone to go hunting with who actually KNEW something about it, I'd C) eat rabbit.

Well if you're in AZ, that's bunk. The rabbits are indeed fit to eat. All rabbits can carry diseases, not just in AZ. Tularemia or "rabbit fever" is not even close to a skin disease, and is by no means local to AZ. There has already been good discussion on this earlier in the thread. Rabbits are everywhere, all over the state. Wear gloves while skinning/cleaning, check the liver for white spots, cook thoroughly. Simple as that.

 

[hang fire]

With year round season here in Arizona they get a little passe for eating, wife does makes a good chili with them though. I still take them if they look young enough for fryers.

Same thing for doves here in AZ, used to like dove hunting, but now with open season all year on the Asian doves, just too much of a good thing I guess.

 

[hang fire]

Asherdan: When July 1st comes I'll be able to start box trapping Peter again.

When growing up most all farm kids where we lived knew how to make and use box traps. My Mother taught me how to build, bait, and where to set so the local game warden could not see them. (not that he even bothered to do so) I always had at least half a dozen secluded in fence rows &c, times were tough and meat was meat.

 

[langenc]

If my neighbor would quit feeding the cats maybe Id have some rabbits.