First Casualty of the season
- Thread starter Midwest_Hunter
- Start date
NBK said:
Thanks its an old Remington Sportsmen 48 Semi Auto 16 gauge. It was the first gun I've ever purchased.
Breacher said:You eat it? Rabbits are a dime a dozen in my yard. Kids want to eat them.
No someone told me that they are not good eating and that they were just a menace. Is that not true? (still learning things about cali hunting) If it were a cottontail I would have no problem....
If you need help eradicating them, I got a bow to help bring them down quietly and make some food outta that.... lol
Haha. I live in a development and have to be very careful with the neighbors. Otherwise we'd have a rabbit killin bbq.
Jacks are hard to get right. My dads uncle swears by soaking them in milk over night and then braising them the next day.
I hunt both cottontails and jack rabbits and eat them both.
Granted, the cottontails take much less "seasoning" or "prep work" to be considered pallatable by most, but the jack rabbits are very edible. Think of it as cottontails being like chicken meat (white) and jack rabbits being like beef (red meat). Because of what the jack rabbits eat and the lack of fat in the meat, the flavor of the meat is very strong and not typically sweet or juicy.
A couple of weeks ago I brought a jack rabbit back to camp (along with a few cottontails) after a short morning of hunting. I deboned it and proceeded to put the meat in a ziploc bag with olive oil and a litte of each of the following: oregano, basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Make sure the mixture of olive oil and spice coat the meat and let it set for a minimum of 15 minutes. I then put it on the grill and cooked it well. It was very tasty and even the kids at our camp started stealing the meat off of my dinner plate (since I was the main one eating the jack while leaving the cottontail for the other less adventurous of our group).
There are many ways to utilize jack rabbit meat (I cook it many different ways). If you are cooking it in a pan or grilling it the olive oil is the key to making it more flavorful due the the lack of fat in the jack rabbit meat. The olive oil adds the flavor that is missing. Many use recipes that are used when cooking goat meat to cook jack rabbit since goat meat can have a very strong flavor also.
I've been told that I'm crazy for eating them, but I figure if I'm going to spend a few hours tracking them down and shooting them, then I'm going to figure out a way to eat it, but that is just my way of thinking. However, that doesn't apply in my case to coyote, skunk, possum or ground squirrels (though if the coyote had a nice pelt I would skin and tan it for sure ).
Granted, the cottontails take much less "seasoning" or "prep work" to be considered pallatable by most, but the jack rabbits are very edible. Think of it as cottontails being like chicken meat (white) and jack rabbits being like beef (red meat). Because of what the jack rabbits eat and the lack of fat in the meat, the flavor of the meat is very strong and not typically sweet or juicy.
A couple of weeks ago I brought a jack rabbit back to camp (along with a few cottontails) after a short morning of hunting. I deboned it and proceeded to put the meat in a ziploc bag with olive oil and a litte of each of the following: oregano, basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Make sure the mixture of olive oil and spice coat the meat and let it set for a minimum of 15 minutes. I then put it on the grill and cooked it well. It was very tasty and even the kids at our camp started stealing the meat off of my dinner plate (since I was the main one eating the jack while leaving the cottontail for the other less adventurous of our group).
There are many ways to utilize jack rabbit meat (I cook it many different ways). If you are cooking it in a pan or grilling it the olive oil is the key to making it more flavorful due the the lack of fat in the jack rabbit meat. The olive oil adds the flavor that is missing. Many use recipes that are used when cooking goat meat to cook jack rabbit since goat meat can have a very strong flavor also.
I've been told that I'm crazy for eating them, but I figure if I'm going to spend a few hours tracking them down and shooting them, then I'm going to figure out a way to eat it, but that is just my way of thinking. However, that doesn't apply in my case to coyote, skunk, possum or ground squirrels (though if the coyote had a nice pelt I would skin and tan it for sure
).
I've been told that I'm crazy for eating them, but I figure if I'm going to spend a few hours tracking them down and shooting them, then I'm going to figure out a way to eat it, but that is just my way of thinking. However, that doesn't apply in my case to coyote, skunk, possum or ground squirrels (though if the coyote had a nice pelt I would skin and tan it for sure
I sure hope you don't have any skunk recipes! Although I have seen a ground squirrel recipe around here lately...
SoCalRebelHunter said:I've been told that I'm crazy for eating them, but I figure if I'm going to spend a few hours tracking them down and shooting them, then I'm going to figure out a way to eat it, but that is just my way of thinking. However, that doesn't apply in my case to coyote, skunk, possum or ground squirrels (though if the coyote had a nice pelt I would skin and tan it for sure
I sure hope you don't have any skunk recipes! Although I have seen a ground squirrel recipe around here lately...
ICK! No way... I don't think I would even attempt to skin a skunk. One wrong cut with the knife and everything gets stinky. No ground squirrel for me either. Yuck! To many diseases those critters carry and they are crazy infested with fleas.
If someone I trusted said they knew a way to prepare possum or raccoon, and they had some... I might try it just to see how it tasted. I'm adventurous, but not that adventurous.
Please forgive me if this is an ignorant question. A friend and I were talking about eating rabbit and he said something about not eating wild rabbit in months with an R (might have been a different letter, the beer we were drinking obscures my memory) due to a parasite or some such thing.
Here in Southern California is that really a consideration? He is from the deep South so maybe there it is different there.
Here in Southern California is that really a consideration? He is from the deep South so maybe there it is different there.
I've seen them with worms and it's pretty nasty. My grandpa always said he'd only eat them if they were killed in the months WITH an "R". It's been my experience that the only time I've seen them with worms was the summer months. But hey, maybe I'm just finding the weird ones...
ICK! No way... I don't think I would even attempt to skin a skunk. One wrong cut with the knife and everything gets stinky. No ground squirrel for me either. Yuck! To many diseases those critters carry and they are crazy infested with fleas.
If someone I trusted said they knew a way to prepare possum or raccoon, and they had some... I might try it just to see how it tasted. I'm adventurous, but not that adventurous.
I've done a lot of fur trapping back in the Midwest and I have eaten all sorts of things from rabbit to muskrat to raccoon. The only critters I hold prejudice against are mustelids (weasel family), and canids. If I end up with a fresh 'possum sometime I'll give it a try and let you know, but I can tell you raccoon is darn good. A little gamey, but fatty and moist and it takes to seasoning well. I prefer it parboiled, shredded, and then lightly seasoned and simmered again.
Here's one thing I never understood: People using "disease" and "parasites" as excuses not to eat critters. ALL animals have parasites of one sort or another, that's why we COOK them. I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you cook your meat, no matter what species, you're safe. Rabbits and ground squirrels included.
I’m not sure about when you can eat rabbits , but the rule for coyotes is you should always shoot them on days that end with Y
;D
;D
SoCalRebelHunter said:
My grandpa (who grew up here) told me the same thing. He said when he was a kid he shot a bunch in the summer and when they went to clean them they were full of worms.
I have read that the 'month's with r' or 'after the first frost' is really a weeding out mechanism. When the cold comes, the ones with parasites die and you are left with only clean ones. If that's the case, then some must not have worms during the summer, in order for there to be any left by winter. By that rationale, I have been hunting them since July and haven't found any with worms yet. And they've all been delicious.
In general, parasites and disease tend to move through a population. So I figure if I run into one with parasites I will try another area.