Jackrabbits

Tanner · 01-05-2004, 03:10 PM

Did a little Jack rabbit hunting on Friday and had a blast (pardon the pun). My question is, has anyone tried eating them (aside from the old recipe with leather boot

) I have been doing some checking and am getting mixed answers on the edibility of these critters. Anyway, here are some pics of my two boys (12 and 15 yrs) first bunny shoot.

[ 01-05-2004, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: Tanner ]

Okie · 01-05-2004, 03:29 PM

They are excelent eating. It may be controversal but you can fry them just like chicken. To be on the safe side don't have any cuts on your hands when you clean them. They can be boiled and meat used to make chili. Picked off the bones of course.
Rabbit rough, Rabbit tough, Thank the lord I've had Rabbit enough. Old depresion years saying.

Chromaflage · 01-05-2004, 03:33 PM

Nice bunnies!! Any eggs?

That looks like a great time with the boys.

Tastes like chicken :grin: They are very tasty!! One question though - do you find Jacks and cotton tails in the same types of area? I have relatives that live on a hill in Prineville - there are rabbits all over the place. My dog loves to go flush them. But they look more like cotton tails to me - I'm no rabbit expert, but I don't think I've seen a Jack over there.

jokester · 01-05-2004, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Nice bunnies!! Any eggs?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">LOL @ ORS

Nice job to you and your boys on the bunnies Tanner!

-jokester

id. painter · 01-06-2004, 07:01 AM

I live in Jackrabbit land .. Can you say bunny bash. How many of you remember the big stink that the media raised over the local farmers having rabbit drives near Mud lake Idaho.The schools all let the kids out , ,, hundreds of people pushing the bunnies into a fenced area with bats and clubs.
We had litterly hundreds of thousands of them eatting entire hat stacks .
I remember going out with my .22 I walked up a little sage draw,, at the end of the walk rabbits started to dash out ,, like maybe 200-300 , it was unreal,,,, I dont know a single person who has eatten a Jack. Ive eatten Cotton tail and Snowshoe,, both were fine . id. painter

James in Idaho · 01-06-2004, 07:20 AM

I grew up in bubonic plague land (NM). Never ate any rabbits. In fact, I'm surprised you were able to stop 'em with those little bitty rifles. I always thought minimum cal was at least a .270. There was not much remaining after a hit. Fun on weekends (other than drinking and chasing coed's ) was working the side of big arroyos (big draws), spotting jacks at 100 to 300 yards, and sniping away. They usually freeze after the first miss, so you can dial in on 'em. Great practice for big game hunting.

Chromaflage · 01-06-2004, 07:29 AM

A friend of mine lived in Aussie land for several years....he's told me stories about night hunting for Jacks....spotlighting, and waiting for them to poke their heads out of theier holes...Iguess there are tons there.

id. painter · 01-06-2004, 07:35 AM

To James in idaho... Morgan (my pup ) is fetching about 50% of the time on geese.
Last weekend my son shot a Hun. and she fetched it right back. I get the feeling that she will be fetching upland birds very well , next year.
Ill probably force fetch, my next pup. id.p.

Chromaflage · 01-06-2004, 07:43 AM

id.p. - [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

wade · 01-06-2004, 08:04 AM

ORS, Jackrabbits are easy to ID by the ear tips. When they're running they ride high and the ear markings are easy to spot. Plus they're considerably bigger than cottontails.

I have eaten many rabbits. If I shot one of those jacks I'd make dumplings. Fried they'd be like shoe-leather, rabbit meat on anything older than a few months is fairly tough because it is completely lean. its still really tasty though but you'd need a box of tooth picks.

Kevin

James in Idaho · 01-06-2004, 09:29 AM

Id. Painter:

Great news, geese are just a big bird for a small dog. My new pup is retrieving his teddy bear about 100% of the time, and usually brings it back. Started leash work, you'd think I was killin' him. Pretty funny, a lab puppy rodeo!

id. painter · 01-06-2004, 09:53 AM

My Belle (bird dog) never let a goose intimidate her . When she hit a bird that was it.
Morgan is having a bit of trouble making a Goose behave. Last week- end she had the funniest fight with a winged bird. The big old bird was snapping and flapping . Morgan (pup) started going in with her butt first(her rump took all the beating) and then at the last second she would spin around and grab the bird. Wish I had it on vid. id. p.

dla · 01-06-2004, 10:14 AM

Tanner: I don't like frying them because they're a bit tricky. They go from tender to tough to tender. If you pass the first "tender", you'll have to simmer them for an hour to get to the second "tender".

I bake them because I can just forget about them, overcooking them completely and they nice and tender. Indeed they are like chicken except that there is no white meat. I like to peel a bunch of spuds and let them bake as well. The spuds turn yellow/brown with a bit of a skin, but that's the way I like them.

I sure wish I lived close to bunnyvilla nowdays. There's not many cotton tails out here on the west side. I see them once in a while, but not often.