IV report and....Tuleremia??

[WaterDawg]

Me and and a bud hit the IV yesterday for some scouting and shooting. Dove volume looked really good in the northern valley. Cruising the east highline between Niland and Calipat also looked really good with lots of birds in the dead bushes on the desert side. Hit some ECD spots further south and did OK.

Shot three cottontails. Upon field dressing noticed that all three had one to three white spots on the liver.



Red flag. But, I kept them on ice because I've never had a problem with infected rabbits from anywhere in So Cal. Googling produced this group of photos of rabbit liver showing Tuleremia.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pic...srr1-jVAhUEjFQKHQy6Dp0Q7AkINw&biw=375&bih=627

Mine didn't look nearly as bad as most of the examples shown, but not completely unlike a couple of the examples. I was able to extract one of the largest spots and it felt like a cist, pretty solid. The rabbits looked otherwise healthy, no signs of distress. Also googling I couldn't find any reports of Tuleremia in the IV, ever. I have the rabbits on ice, trying to decide what to do with them.

Any input from you guys would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[ilovesprig]

Eat them....................


ps......If you filet them, you don't have to see all that stuff....Just sayin'

 

[WaterDawg]

Eat them....................


ps......If you filet them, you don't have to see all that stuff....Just sayin'

Ok Steve but you get the first helping Seriously do you think these rabbits are infected?

 

[ilovesprig]

Ok Steve but you get the first helping Seriously do you think these rabbits are infected?

No.....And I'll gladly eat the them.

 

[WaterDawg]

No.....And I'll gladly eat the them.

You eat a lot of rabbits, Have you seen white liver spots like this?

 

[longbowhunter2]

no one is going to stick their neck out. it's up to you to decide if it's OK or not., here it is ~ disclaimer :know and under stand what you are eating is safe. yes that spot was not bad , I would have cooked it up. if you do it like Steve said , de-bone it, then you would not have even seen it. just cook it good.
I my self like the bone in my Rabbit Stew. never touch a contaminated game with bare hands.

I very much want to see if the organs are clear. if I suspect or it does not look good, play the safe side and leave it for the coyote's . just watch out for a law called wantum wastes. don't let mister green catch you.

the main issue is at least you are a ware of the what to look for....

 

[WaterDawg]

no one is going to stick their neck out. it's up to you to decide if it's OK or not., here it is ~ disclaimer :know and under stand what you are eating is safe. yes that spot was not bad , I would have cooked it up. if you do it like Steve said , de-bone it, then you would not have even seen it. just cook it good.
I my self like the bone in my Rabbit Stew. never touch a contaminated game with bare hands.

I very much want to see if the organs are clear. if I suspect or it does not look good, play the safe side and leave it for the coyote's . just watch out for a law called wantum wastes. don't let mister green catch you.

the main issue is at least you are a ware of the what to look for....

Thanks Longbow. I've always inspected the liver for spots (tuleremia) and watched for larvae (botfly). I've never seen either until this incident. I'm not looking for an online biopsy by an SCH viewer, I was just wondering if others might have more experience with this situation. Also, if you just filet the rabbit so you don't have to look at the guts, how do you know you're not eating meat from a sick animal?

 

[longbowhunter2]

Thanks Longbow. I've always inspected the liver for spots (tuleremia) and watched for larvae (botfly). I've never seen either until this incident. I'm not looking for an online biopsy by an SCH viewer, I was just wondering if others might have more experience with this situation. Also, if you just filet the rabbit so you don't have to look at the guts, how do you know you're not eating meat from a sick animal?

exactly, that is why I do not bone my rabbit. I like it whole. but Steve ways is OK to , a we can see he is very much healthy... I have run into like 3 or 4 rabbits that were sick out of hundreds. summer or winter months. I have seen worms in fish too. Look at pork, it must be well cooked . Rabbit is no different. the main issue is getting physical contact with bacteria. no bueno.

 

[Bonejour]

You do not have to eat the rabbits to get tularemia from them; just handling the raw meat with bare hands is enough to pick it up. You should always cook rabbit well, and that will prevent you from getting Tularemia from ingestion, but you could still get it if you didn't wear gloves while cleaning the animal. I wear leather gloves when I'm hunting cottontails and never touch the carcasses with bare hands. An ounce of prevention



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[Bonejour]

Thrive, baby.