Bucks and Rabbits

It's not just hawks that put a big dent in rabbit populations. Cats have done as much, if not more. More and more "barn cats", not to mention people releasing cats in the country when they decide they don't want them anymore. Add that to lawmakers getting death threats when they suggest doing something other than neuter and release-and sometimes even then.
 
This ^ is a major problem around our farm. Unknowning persons having too many cats and they don't realize how much damage they are
doing to the environment. Cat are good hunters and they prey upon rabbits, quail, (all birds) snakes, rodents, lizards and more. This has been
written about in National magazines. DM
 
Rabbits like many animals tend to revolve on a 10 year pattern where you will have 2 or 3 lean years then they start building back up til they peak again ... it's mother natures way of conservation.

We sometimes fried them up or browned them and made a gravy/broth and baked them or put them in a mushroom gravy in a crockpot and slow cook them all day til the meat melted in your mouth ... but I think our favorite way was to grill them and bbq them ... grill them then put them in a bbq mix and let them simmer on the grill a few hours til they were nice and tender.

Usually used a Buck Woodsman or a slip joint was plenty to clean them.
 
Agreed, rabbits revolve on a cycle. With built in environment fluctuations. Like drought, cold winters, lightening strikes and burned areas. Even
natural predators like coyotes. I've seen blacktailed Jack rabbits migrate for miles to find water or leave a burned area. Cold winters produce die offs and the coyotes survive. But when humans introduce a good predator like cats (0r some other) the natural cycle of the food chain takes a big hit. And the food animals like quail, rabbits and deer suffer. DM
 
coywolves have solved feral cat problems down here. used to be everywhere round my place in the swamp and jungle. now cant find one if ya tried. kinda miss the strays. they kept the citrus rats under control...now exploding populations of them. rat snakes barely put a dent in citrus rats.
 
You're spot on about feral cats or even house cats let outdoors to run ... the can decimate quail, pheasant, rabbit, and other small game populations rather quickly.
 
brownshoe said:
Well maybe the rattlesnakes can put a dent in the cats :)
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Good thought, but don't cats fare pretty well after rattlesnake bite? Sure they'll be pretty sick for a while, but at minimum would get far away to escape the snake? That, and it would take a pretty big rattlesnake(LARGE diamondback or timber) to be able to eat one if it was able to kill and find it.

ETA-In any case, as a hunter, I'd much rather compete with the natural predators like the hawks and yotes than the introduced ones.
 
This recipe sounds great. How does it do on jackrabbits?

DocT said:
When I had the joy of rabbit hunting, I would clean them with my 301 or 303. More knife is not needed, even with the largest hare. Rabbits are best if they are cleaned on the spot and allowed to cool quickly. Like antelope, if you do not cool them quickly and get the entrails out they will get gamey tasting.

When I got home, I would cook them. Sometimes i would batter and fry them. However, one of my favorite ways is to cook them French style.

I would put just a little extra virgin olive oil in a deep frying pan and "brown", but not cook, the rabbit pieces I previously cut up. After that, I would remove the rabbit and add flour to brown for gravy. When that was ready, I would add a can of chicken broth and make the gravy. Then I would add a cup of white wine, garlic, pepper, and salt and put the rabbit back into the pan. The whole thing would go, covered, into the oven at 350 F for an hour or so, until the meat was coming off the bones. The smell alone will make your tongue slap your brains out.

How do you folks cook them?
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When I was young in northwest Arkansas, we put out rabbit traps--a homemade wooden box with a door made up that would slam shut when the rabbit ate on the apple sliver on a stick.

Later in life, I hunted in northern Texas and brought 23 large jack rabbits home for my wife to cook. I waited until I got home to clean them (big mistake). I cleaned about four of them and went in the house for some water. When I went back in the back yard, about 8 dogs had jumped the fence and were eating and dragging the rabbits all over the yard. Then the smell hit and everyone in the neighborhood smelled the jack rabbits and started to complain. My wife told me to get rid of all of what was left and she wouldn't cook them (and I couldn't blame her).

A lesson learned about cleaning rabbits in the field.
 
Roamad said:
This recipe sounds great. How does it do on jackrabbits?
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I really could not say. I have been told that white wine is the normal choice, but sometimes a dry red wine is the right one for some redder and gamier types. I have not eaten a Jack rabbit like this.
 
Bucksway, glad your pets had a good life in the wild. Most pets get released do not fair so well.
 
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Well, well, those are some nice size rabbits. Is that a 870 w/ a poly choke? Nice photo. DM
 
If you clean them as soon as you shoot them, and let them cool, they taste much better.
 
Thanks David; that's a well used, late 1940's Winchester Model 12 pump chambered for 16 Gauge. It's my dedicated rabbit gun, with the Poly you can adjust choke based on field or swamp hunting. I haven't been in a few years, need to change that this season. OH
 
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