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#175296 01/21/10 01:39 PM
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I'm curious---and a bit mischievous for raising it here---about shooting rabbits with shotguns. I attended a hunt with beagles and once was enough for me. Do hunters eat what they've shot? Do they clean them in the field? The stench of pierced paunch and bladder is a turn-off for my palate and plate.

Hereabouts we sort of stalk rabbits with .22s and shoot them in the head. A buddy holds their rear legs and it's all skinned, gutted, packed away in plastic bags in a few minutes. My "record" time is two minutes. I can't imagine carrying around rabbits soaked by inner liquids in warmer climes. Ugh.

That's just me, of course. I'd like to hear from other members here.

Last edited by King Brown; 01/21/10 01:43 PM.
King Brown #175303 01/21/10 02:17 PM
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.22's.....shoot running and moving only.........great practice and fun.....'peel' 'em and gut 'em and remove the heads and feet straight away, eat just the cottontails,.....same since I was eight years old.......hunt jacks, cottontails and snow shoes......


Doug



PA24 #175305 01/21/10 02:26 PM
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S&W gets the nod here as well.
Cleaning them in the field has always been how we've done it. Heck, in NE you couldn't carry the total otherwise.

Shotgunning them is done as well, but is really frowned on by the local houndsmen.

We took a garage door opener and put on a 200ft cable. Attached a piece of drywall with bent welding rods, and then ran it back and forth for practice.


Out there doing it best I can.
ClapperZapper #175315 01/21/10 03:05 PM
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Last time we were in South Dakota, we shot several nice cottontails during our pheasant hunt. When we cooked up the pheasants we threw in the rabbits. Simple recipe, saute some onion then the meat with a dusting of flour and salt and pepper and make a simple light gravy. Could not tell the difference in the taste of the pheasant or rabbit. Excellent.


R. Craig Clark
jakearoo(at)cox.net
ClapperZapper #175316 01/21/10 03:06 PM
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You lift my heart! I could hit running squirrels even when they were leaping from branch to branch when I was shooting a .22 every day as a kid. It wasn't even remarked on; all of us could do it. You're keeping the tradition.

King Brown #175320 01/21/10 03:22 PM
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Why did I read this post today?

I put a brined bunny in the slow cooker this morning. Red potato, onion, carrot, celery, mushroom soup, bacon fat, beef stock....I put considerable prep work into this potential masterpiece and aticipated a nice stew when I got home from work. Just your reminder of pierced paunch and bladder stench will likely put me off my feed. You may well have unwittingly made my dog's day.

In Michigan we would head shoot them with .22's late in the season when they were the only open game. The few rabbits I now bag are incidental game, unluckly to cross my path when I'm after birds, and therefore killed with shotguns. Occasionally one gets minced, but no more so than birds. I do think cleaning mammals is several degrees nastier than birds, regardless of how they met their end.

To answer your question: It happens. Most are okay. If one stinks of inner liquids like you describe (ugh the thought), I toss it. Are you saying the shotgun minced the rabbits or the beagles had some raw nibbles? Heavy loads?

At least two of my friends are not the least bit agreeable to shooting rabbits and squirrels in the presence of their bird dogs. I guess they don't want their dogs to diverting attention and energy to rabbits or looking up trees?

RyanF #175322 01/21/10 03:29 PM
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I can probably handle the busted gut stench, but I can't handle the Warble or Bot Fly or whatever the heck those vile things are.


Dodging lions and wasting time.....
Ken Nelson #175335 01/21/10 04:42 PM
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I guess your Grandma never served up any Hassenpfeffer?

It's the only reason I ever shoot any rabbits anymore.


Out there doing it best I can.
ClapperZapper #175336 01/21/10 04:52 PM
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Nope no Hassenpfeffer.

My Mom would fry em' to perfection though. I think she seasoned the flour with a bit of sage.......good times.


Dodging lions and wasting time.....
Ken Nelson #175339 01/21/10 05:17 PM
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Rabbits are what a .410 was created for. I use 2 1/2" 4s since one 4 anywhere important will kill a cottontail just fine and it leaves a very visible track in the critter so you can find and extract it before cooking. And there are just enough 4s to kill 'em and not pepper 'em. I suspect that most rabbit .410s are full choke and their patterns with 4s are patchy but lethal. You do have to be careful not to shoot the hounds or the houndsmen, but I still think it's safer than quail, who tend to fly between hunters. A little restraint is called for, that's all....

I also like to shoot cottontails on cold mornings with an air rifle or .22 with CB Longs.

No reason to carry them around uncleaned; it takes about 10 seconds to clean one and pop the skint and gutted carcass into a plastic bag. You need to carry a heavy knife or a really sharp hatchet to whop the heads and feet off, tho. Very tasty; the "schmoo" of the uplands.

I was raised on a cattle ranch and spend time in the so-called third world each year. Smellproof. (There are MUCH worse smells in this world than rabbit guts. Think Haiti.).

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