Hunting Rabbit -- After the Kill

[WayneConrad]

My nephew and I are going to teach ourselves to hunt rabbit. I've read about how to find thumper, and I have a book on cleaning and dressing small game, but I need help with what comes between the shooting and going home.

I'll be hunting in the Arizona desert, where daytime temperatures range from 40 to 70 in the winter.

My book says I want to remove the entrails as soon as possible for the best tasting meat. Do I then hang the rabbit from my belt until I get around to skinning at the end of the hunt? Do I skin in the field, or later at home?

The method of cleaning that looks easiest is to remove the skin first, starting at a cut on the back and pretty much tearing it off, and then remove the entrails and tail. That sounds easy, but I can't imagine hanging that from my belt. What do hunters who use that method of cleaning do between the kill and going home? Put the carcass in a baggie and toss it in your pack? With the warm winter temperatures here I'd worry about the baggied, packed carcass not cooling off quickly enough to prevent spoilage before I can get back to my car. Do I carry an ice pack in my pack?

Any hints and tips you have about this underdescribed area of small game hunting would sure be helpful. Thanks!

 

[~z]

With weather temps in the 70s, you may not see that many to stary with. Lower than that, I'd just dress them when you are done with the hunt, assuming you are not out all day. Otherwise, if you gut in the field, nature has provided all critters with the best zip lock bag around...their skin. Just gut, leave the skin on and hand them from a lanyard or rope around your belt. And keep in mind, with rabbits, smaller is better.
~z

 

[dakotasin]

the rabbit hunting i do is pretty close to the truck - they are just all over. so i walk for 15 minutes, then make a trip to the truck, then walk 15 minutes, and back to the truck... so, shoot, gut, skin, and in the cooler - in that order.

skinning is very easy as long as the body is warm still.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I usuall carry a pouch slung around my shoulder (I use an old claymore bandolier.) This contains latex gloves, kraft sandwich bags, side cutters, spare ammo and handiwipes.

Wearing the gloves, remove the hide -- slit and pull it off. Remove the legs by cutting through the small bones with the sidecutters, and take the head off with your knife. Then start at the ???? and slit forward all the way and dump the entrails. Put the skinned and cleaned carcass in a craft bag and stow it away in your pouch. Clean up with handiwipes.

When you get home, remove from the bag in the sink -- dried blood may cause the paper to adhere to the carcass, and running water will make it easy to remove. Scrape the carcass with a dull knife (a table knife is fine) to get extraneous hair off. Soak the carcass in salty water to get the last of the blood out -- you may have to change the water a couple of times.

Then follow your favorite recipe.

 

[Cosmoline]

Hare are fantastic game, though their population in these parts tends to go up and down dramatically. If your rabbits are anything like our hare, you should find them to be very easy skinning--much more so than a squirrel. The hide can almost be torn open by hand. You can just do a cut to get the guts out, and be sure to check the liver and give the innards a little sniff. The odor should be pretty clean, not stale or nasty. It sounds weird but the healthy hare I've taken have organs that smell fresh and clean (or maybe I've been up here too long). You need to have enough light to inspect the organs on site. The liver should be dark, smooth and free from spots or dead white areas. If you see odd little white dots on the liver and an elarged spleen, seal the body and scrub your hands and any exposed skin! It may be Tularemia.

 

[Guyon]

I was about to post about rabbit fever. Didn't know it was called tularemia.

Wear latex gloves!

Here's a link: http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbtulare.htm

 

[Bill2k1]

I would think a backpack with a small lunch bag cooler in it with an ice pack would solves your worries. After ya dress em up, just throw them in a ziploc and put them in your backpack cooler.

 

[Lennyjoe]

We usually see them the first 2 hours after sunrise. After that they are usually in the holes.

Bring a cooler with ice and chuck them in there when you transition from one place to the next. I usually don't clean them til I get ready to head back to the house. Then we clean them, the quail and doves out in the field. Throw them in seperate ziplocks and head to the house. Leave the guts and coats for the coyotes.

Thanks for reminding me. I have a dozen cottontails in the freezer that would go good on the grill this weekend in our 80 degree temp.

 

[birddog]

Get a hunting vest with a game bag in the back. They're usually plastic lined. Gut the rabbit and toss it in there. If it's exceptionally warm, you can carry a cold pack or a little ice, but if you're only out for a few hours, they won't cool down even on ice. Don't worry about trying to keep fresh game cold unless you're talking very extended periods or very warm weather. If that's the case, keep a cooler with ice in your truck and return frequently to desposit your bunnies.

 

[Napster]

no worries

I use a few 1/4 inch dia. cords with a a 1/2 brass ring on the end and approx 6 inch long . So I can put there ( rabbits) hind legs through the loop formed with the ring/ cord and tie them to my hunting bag or belt.

I do not dress/ skin them in the field but I do empty there bladder. Just press on the bladder and push downwards. Urin in a dead rabbit is not the best.....

I find it easier to dress them at home and I use everything including the pelt .

 

[22-rimfire]

I field dress mine immediately. Wear a hunting coat or vest with a game pocket. Keep them in the game pocket in old bread bags. Wear latex gloves during the gutting process as a precaution. DON'T FORGET TO PICK UP YOUR KNIFE OFF THE GROUND when you're done doing the chores. Lost a few that way....

I don't want no stinkin' wabbits flopping around from my belt and getting in the way when I stompin' around in the brush. Keep them in the hunting coat or vest. Besides that, the coat or vest is a place to keep your ammo and othe odds and ends you like to carry with you hunting.

 

[WayneConrad]

Thanks to all for the advice. It seems there are as many ways to handle the bunny as there are bunny hunters. As soon as nephew and I get smarter than the bunny, we'll find which of your methods work well for us. Thanks again.

 

[Gohon]

As soon as I shoot a rabbit I turn the rabbit belly up with the head towards me, about belt high. Place both hands around the rabbit just behind the front legs as if you are trying to choke the rabbit. First squeeze with one hand then slide the other hand just ahead of the other in the direction of the rear legs. squeeze again with the second hand and kind of work your way down the rabbit towards the rear. You will see the stomach start to swell as the entrails are being pushed towards the ???? of the rabbit. At a certain point all the entrails will pop out of the rabbits ???? and then just slang them off or pull then off and presto........ rabbit has no entrails and half the weight is gone. I then wait until I'm home to skin and wash then out. This really works..... give it a try.

 

[roo_ster]

As soon as I shoot a rabbit I turn the rabbit belly up with the head towards me, about belt high. Place both hands around the rabbit just behind the front legs as if you are trying to choke the rabbit. First squeeze with one hand then slide the other hand just ahead of the other in the direction of the rear legs. squeeze again with the second hand and kind of work your way down the rabbit towards the rear. You will see the stomach start to swell as the entrails are being pushed towards the ???? of the rabbit. At a certain point all the entrails will pop out of the rabbits ???? and then just slang them off or pull then off and presto........ rabbit has no entrails and half the weight is gone. I then wait until I'm home to skin and wash then out. This really works..... give it a try.

Now, THAT is something new.

Do you ever get spoiled meat from, say, a gall bladder bursting?

 

[22-rimfire]

Gohon said: "...and then just slang them off or pull then off and presto........ rabbit has no entrails and half the weight is gone. I then wait until I'm home to skin and wash then out. This really works..... give it a try."

I do exactly the same thing. Presto!

 

[MCgunner]

I grew up chasing rabbit and squirrel. Rabbits are hard to hit with a .22 on the run. When you get to where you can do that, you know you're gettin' good. If you can get a little time on target, it's easier, but problem is, from the time you flush the little beggar until he's gone, at least in the woods, ain't long. Shotgunning 'em is easier. In Texas, you can spot light 'em with a .22 at night and I've taken a lot of 'em this way with a revolver.

Cleaning cotton tails is easy. If they're warm, you don't even have to have a knife! The skin'll tear. Jacks are almost too easy. Out west, you can get close enough for handgun shots on 'em and they don't move out like cotton tails. In the winter, I've never worried about rabbit fever, cleaned hundreds of 'em without gloves. But, wearing gloves is not too much precaution and probably a good idea. Warmer months they can have parasitic ring worms, what my grandpa used to call "wolf worms" under the skin. They come off, but are sorta yukky when you're a kid. Warmer weather, rabbit fever is more of a concern. Cooking kills it, but like was said, wearing of gloves is a good precaution.

BTW, if you really wanna have fun, get a good Beagle.

 

[Northwet]

Make a slit along the spine

Then peel the hide down to the head, tail and paws of the rabbit. Cut off the above and then then clean out the critter.

Beware that ticks and fleas also like the rabbit fur.
North"wet"

 

[Gohon]

jfruser, I've never had a bladder burst on me. Everything just kind of comes out in one big blob. I know it sound weird and I know of no other game this can be done to but it does work. I have some uncles that grab the rabbit by the front legs and slang them down between their legs and kind of use a snapping motion and all the entrails go flying out behind them. I never could get the hang of that and usually got a bunch of crap plastered to my backside.